Bartender Shares How Many People Gave ‘Zero Dollar Tips’ On A Saturday Night — But It Was ‘Additional Gratuity’
People pointed out that the customers did in fact tip.
@noahglenncarter / TikTok / Maksym Fesenko / Shutterstock Tipping culture in the U.S. has sparked an ongoing debate between those who believe that tipping service workers is mandatory and those who think that tipping is an optional act of gratitude.
However, if you choose not to tip when dining out, some servers won’t be happy about it.
One bartender took to TikTok to share a collection of her receipts from a Saturday night shift that left her baffled.
The bartender was upset after she appeared to receive no tips from six of her tables during her shift.
In a since-deleted TikTok video, the bartender from Atlanta showed viewers six customer receipts ranging from $14 to $120.
All of them left no additional gratuity, with “$0” being written next to the option.
“Bartending on a Saturday night in Midtown Atlanta,” she captioned the video.
While she was annoyed she had not been tipped by any of the six orders, other TikTok users noticed that an additional gratuity had automatically been added to the bills.
People called out the bartender for expecting an additional tip on top of the already added gratuity.
TikTok user "@noahglenncarter" reposted clips from the original video and explained why other people were criticizing the bartender.
“People got mad at this because if you look where the '$0' is it says 'additional gratuity,'” Noah points out. “If you don’t know what a gratuity is it’s basically a tip that is automatically placed onto your bill.”
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TikTok users claimed that the bartender could not be upset about not receiving a tip since she was already tipped via the additional gratuity and slammed her for acting “entitled.”
“Tipping isn’t mandatory. But in this case, she was already tipped with the tip included in the bill,” one user commented.
“Now she’s upset for wanting more?! Entitlement.”
“I usually tip at least 20% but if gratuity is added automatically they get $0,” another user shared.
“Gratuity in ATL [Atlanta] is like 18-20%. The tip is included in the total,” another user noted.
Others believed that even if there was no added gratuity, tipping was optional.
“TIPS ARE OPTIONAL they aren’t mandatory,” one user wrote.
“I tip based on the quality of service. Nothing is mandatory,” another user commented.
However, others argued that servers rely heavily on tips to make a decent living.
“If you want to go out to eat, you need to tip. It is how servers make money,” one user wrote. “If you can’t or don’t want to tip don’t go out to eat.”
“People should tip. That’s most of their paycheck,” another user shared.
“People who don’t think she’s right have never worked in the food industry,” another added.
Others called on restaurants and other businesses to pay their workers better so that they would not have to depend on customers’ tips to pay bills.
The current minimum wage in Georgia, where the bartender claimed to work, is $7.25 an hour.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.