Server Says A Couple Refused To Leave Her A Tip Because She Asked One Simple Question
The couple apparently took offense to a question that most restaurant servers are required to ask customers.
andresr from Getty Images via Canva Pro If you've ever worked a food service industry job in your life then you know the absolute nightmares of dealing with difficult customers; of putting on a smile and hoping that by the end it's all worth it when you receive that rewarding tip. For one server, in particular, that unfortunately wasn't the case.
A couple refused to leave the server a tip after she asked a simple and innocent question about their bill.
Posting to the subreddit "r/mildlyinfuriarting" — an online public forum where people can share the hilarious mishaps that happen in their everyday lives — a restaurant server shared an image she had taken of the receipt that was left by a couple she had been serving, who wrote a dignified statement about why they refused to leave a tip.
According to the server, she had approached the couple before giving them their check and asked them a routine question that most restaurant employees are supposed to ask: "Are you splitting the bill or paying together?"
Photo: Reddit
Apparently, the couple took great offense to that question and found it "rude" that she had asked them if they wanted to split their check instead of assuming that they would pay together. On the bill, the husband used the server's pen to explain that, because of her question, they were refusing to leave a tip.
"No tip because it was very rude to ask why my wife and I if we wanted separate checks," the husband wrote. To make matters worse, the overall total of their bill was for a $65 meal.
In the comments section, many people sympathized with the server's lack of a tip and even pointed out that the couple was probably not planning on tipping at all, and just used the excuse of her asking that question as some sort of reason not to.
"Looking for any excuse not to tip," one Reddit user wrote, while another user added, "If they didn’t want to tip, they could’ve just paid the bill and left like every other sane person would’ve — but no, gotta make sure they come up with some sorry excuse, mixed in with an insult, just so that they can sleep soundly at night."
While the tipping culture has its faults, servers depend on tip money as part of their livable wages.
Paying restaurant servers a livable wage instead of relying on tips from customers has been a topic of debate for quite some time. Unfortunately, that's not the case and we don't live in a society where tipping restaurant servers is optional.
It's important that if you're going out to eat, you're tipping the staff who are working tirelessly to provide you with a pleasant experience. Especially since many tipped workers, including waiters and waitresses, don't make that much to begin with.
According to a 2014 report by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley, 13% of tipped workers live in poverty, compared with around 6% of non-tipped workers.
It's made even worse when knowing that the federal minimum wage has steadily increased over the last few decades, while the federal minimum wage for tipped workers has been frozen at $2.13 since 1996.
Restaurant servers work hard to create pleasant dining experiences for customers who choose to spend their meals dining out, and their livelihood is often impacted by the tips they receive. So, the next time you dine out, even if the restaurant is striving to provide its employees with fair wages, consider leaving a tip as a token of appreciation for the dedication that servers put into making your meal enjoyable.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.