It all started with a plastic cup that looked different from the others.
Earlier this summer, 26-year-old mother Abrianna E. sat down at a restaurant and noticed her drink came in the same smaller cup the children had. That little mix-up soon became a viral TikTok moment.
“At first, I didn’t really notice,” Abrianna tells PEOPLE. “I just thought maybe they gave me a big to-go cup or something, because I asked for no ice. But then I looked around, and all the kids had my cup, and all the adults had the bigger red ones.”
She found the mix-up both funny and surprising. “I was sitting there like, they think I’m her sister,” she remembers, as her mom and stepdad joined the table.
Later that day, she shared the story on TikTok with the caption: “problems being 26 years old only 4’11 and 78 pounds.” She added: “why is this still happening[?] idk what to do to appear older??? I thought having a baby would help.”
The video quickly went viral, getting millions of views and thousands of comments. While many people found it funny, some made unkind remarks about her size and appearance.
“I realized that there’s a lot of mean people,” Abrianna tells PEOPLE. “It was hilarious, but some commenters made fun of how I looked. I was laughing to myself because I didn’t even know I was going out that day — I just threw on socially acceptable PJs and glasses that weren’t even mine.”
She says the comments didn’t bother her too much. “It’s kind of here nor there to me,” she says with a shrug. “I take it with a grain of salt.”
If anything, the attention made her think about how small style choices affect how others see her. “It makes me realize that I can possibly look like a child if I wear graphic tees,” she explains. “So let’s not wear graphic tees anymore.”
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Still, she isn’t giving them up completely. “Yes, just for the house,” she says with a laugh.
Abrianna thinks her small size is the main reason for misunderstandings. “People look at height and weight more than anything,” she says. “I’m itty bitty, but if I had more meat on my bones, people are less likely to mistake me as a child.”
She remembers that when she weighed more, this happened less often. “When I was about 120 pounds, people didn’t think I was a kid very often,” she says. “But now that I’m 76 pounds, people are like, oh, that’s a 12-year-old.”
This time, the mix-up stung a little more because she was there as a mom. “The mom is probably the one carrying the car seat and diaper bag, and then taking the baby to change their diaper in the bathroom,” Abrianna says. “I did all of those things and still got confused for a child.”
She laughs at the irony, remembering how she and her mom tried to prevent the confusion. “I told her, let me carry everything in, because I knew people were going to think she was my baby’s mom if she did,” she says. “And then it still happened — they thought she was my mom.”
Moments like this could make someone embarrassed, but Abrianna handles it with humor. “I didn’t directly say anything to the staff, because I have anxiety,” she explains. “I just kind of laughed about it where he could sort of hear me.”
Her approach comes naturally after years of similar situations. “I don’t really think about it, to be honest,” she notes. “I just live my life, because I barely pay attention to my surroundings anyway.”
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The viral video caused a lot of reactions online, but it hasn’t changed how she sees herself. “Despite people’s opinions about how I looked in the video, I’m still going to be doing me at the end — my comfort level matters above whatever their opinions are,” she admits.
She’s clear about the lesson she wants others to remember. “You can’t always judge somebody by how they look,” she says. “You could get it wrong very, very easily.”
In a world where TikTok is full of quick, awkward stories, Abrianna’s post connected with people for being relatable. The experience hasn’t made her bitter. “It’s not the best I could look, and it’s not the worst,” she says. “At the end of the day, I know who I am, and that’s what matters.”
“It’s part of me,” she continues. “And I’ll always keep being myself, no matter how old people think I am.”
