Man sparks debate after admitting he tips on behalf of his wife’s ‘annoying’ restaurant habits
To tip or not to tip? That is really not the question when you're in a restaurant as the serving staff probably rely on your tips so they can actually afford to live off their job - especially in the US.
No, the question instead tends to be how much of a tip you should leave when it's time to get up from the table and head home.
While most people tip as a percentage of the bill (how much is appropriate is a matter of some debate) there are some who have their own system.
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One man caused quite the stir after he took to the internet to ask if his own method of tipping was wrong or not, especially as he rather dropped his wife in it in the process.
Taking to Reddit, he explained that he paid the 'normal gratuity' but on top of it he'd add on extra amounts every time his wife demonstrated an 'annoying habit'.
The man said she'd picked up certain habits from her family including frequent complaining, often sending food back if it wasn't 'absolutely perfect' and asking for 'needless requests/substitutions'.
He gave an example where his wife complained about the restaurant not having a particular drink, asked five questions about one item on the menu, asked for a new drink because the other one had too much ice and sent back her meal despite it being 'exactly what she ordered'.
For each of these he stuck another $5 on the tip and wrote it out onto the bill. He admitted that, after getting away with it a couple of times, his wife had noticed and was 'mad' at him.
Wanting to know if he was in the wrong he threw the question out to the internet.
By and large most people thought he was alright, with one person saying it was a 'great' idea they hoped 'will give her some perspective'.
Someone else said they imagine that the servers 'enjoy the little fun' of getting a bit more of a tip after dealing with a difficult customer.
A third agreed that he really wasn't in the wrong and suggested that he challenge his wife to 'go out to dinner without a single complaint' and see if she recognises her own behaviour.
However, others thought he was in the wrong as his extra tip didn't make up for his wife being rude to staff at restaurants they went to.
A restaurant owner waded into the debate and said the damage done couldn't be solved by tips, claiming that other customers suffered as it meant the kitchen was 'pushing back their orders' to deal with the complaint.
Plenty said if this was happening every time they went out to eat then they shouldn't be going out to eat, while one set of comments devolved into a discussion among kitchen staff on the ethics of spitting in food.
The vast majority said that despite the stereotypes of spitting in a returned dish, they would 'never tamper with food' and at worst might vent their stress at a difficult customer by 'crop dusting', which involves walking past a table with a complaining customer and farting as they went by.
In the end, the man updated people to say that his wife had seen the debate and was 'going to try to be a better customer' after seeing people give their verdict.
Topics: Food And Drink, Money, Reddit, Social Media
Joe Harker