Man Refused To Tip On A $100 Bill Since He Was Trying To Save Money — The Next Day, He Returned To The Restaurant
He claims that he did not intend on spending so much on a meal, but that does not mean his waitress should be punished.
Menirva Studio / Ground Picture / Shutterstock After a man and his girlfriend went out for dinner, he was surprised to see that the bill was higher than what he was planning on spending. Wanting to save money, the man decided not to leave a tip, to the dismay of his waitress.
However, after sharing his story online, the Internet flamed him for his selfish decision and prompted him to return to the restaurant to make things right.
The man chose not to tip at a restaurant when he saw how high the bill was, trying to save money.
Sharing his story to the subreddit, r/AITA, the man revealed that he and his girlfriend recently went out to a restaurant for dinner, where he ordered a coffee, the couple split an appetizer, and each ordered their own entree.
According to the man, he was provided with great service. “The waitress was fairly nice and refilled water when it got low,” the man wrote.
When the meal came to an end and the man and his girlfriend received the check, it totaled more than what they had anticipated. “I hadn't paid much attention to how much we spent until the bill arrived and realized we had spent $108.77,” the man wrote.
While he admits that he was taught to always leave a minimum tip of 20% or more of the total bill to demonstrate gratitude for good service, he decided that on this particular evening, he wanted to save money and did not leave a tip.
“My GF [girlfriend] is broke trying to deal with her issues and I've been helping her out and trying to take her out and show her a good time to get her mind off things,” the man explained. “I planned to pay and wasn't gonna ask her to cover the tip, but I didn't want to spend an extra $21 on top of an already expensive meal out so I just paid the bill.”
Photo: PR Image Factory / Shutterstock
As the man and his girlfriend exited the restaurant, they were chased down by their waitress.
“She asked if she did anything wrong,” the man wrote. “We were confused and said ‘No why?’ She told us that we didn't leave a tip, that she ‘was a waitress who made money off tips’ and that it was how she made a living.”
The man explained to the waitress that he “hadn’t intended to offend her” and complimented her on her service.
“I explained that I was lacking attentiveness to the amount I would comfortably pay so I made a judgment call to not leave the tip,” he wrote. “She was clearly furious underneath her smile trying to keep calm.”
The man acknowledges the struggles that servers in America face, and recognizes that many of them depend on customer tips to be a decent portion of their paycheck. “I don't know her financial situation or personal issues. It might be the only thing giving her stability in her life,” he said of his waitress.
However, the man admitted that he was “offended” that the waitress followed him and his girlfriend out of the restaurant to “berate them for being cheap,” claiming that he made a mistake by ordering more off the menu than he intended to and increasing the tab.
“I could've afforded the extra $21, but I was uncomfortable with spending over my normal limit,” he wrote, adding that his girlfriend used to work as a waitress and resonated with their server’s frustration.
The man asked other Redditors if he was in the wrong.
Most people criticized the man for not leaving a tip even though his waitress provided him with great service.
They pointed out that the man could not refuse to tip due to his own mistake of spending more money than he planned to.
“Don't order more food than you can afford to pay for, including the tip,” one Redditor commented. “You grew up with this drilled into you. This did not catch you by surprise. You made a conscious choice to stiff the waitress even though you had enough money to tip her normally.”
“Just because you failed to realize what you were spending doesn’t mean she should be penalized. You said she did her job,” another user noted. “She sincerely wanted to know what she had done wrong, and when you told her that the only reason she didn’t get a tip is because you’re a jerk?”
“You’re a grown-up. Pay better attention and own up to your mistakes,” another added.
After reading through Redditors’ responses and some self-reflection, the man followed up with his post and shared that he would be correcting his mistake.
The man returned to the restaurant the next day to give his waitress a $55 tip.
Although the waitress was not at the restaurant when he returned, the man spoke with the manager and other servers to determine her identity and leave her the tip.
The man shared a photo of the receipt to prove his good deed, along with a message for his waitress. “I was cheap even though I didn't have to be. I'll be sure to set aside any personal beliefs or opinions from here and in the future like I should've originally. No excuses,” he wrote.
Photo: Reddit
Redditors commended the man for fixing his mistake and owning up to it.
Although minimum wage servers make on the job varies depending on the state, the average U.S. server earns an hourly rate of $11.91, according to Zippia. For the vast majority of servers in the country, customer tips make up a substantial part of their income.
Although tipping culture in the U.S. may have gotten out of hand, it is still important to consider your server and recognize all of their efforts to provide good service. If you can afford to provide a generous tip, it is best to do so.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.