Server's Viral Video Sparks Debate On Whether People Should Eat Out If They Can't Afford To Tip Properly

A server's viral TikTok video has sparked a debate on whether people should eat out if they can't afford to tip properly. Watch the video below:

The discussion comes after an Applebee’s waiter took to social media to complain about a small tip. 

The video shows a receipt where the sum of the bill is $73.45 (£55.35), and the tip amounts to $6.33 (£4.77). 

The receipt read ‘you [were] great, holidays are just rough right now’, followed by a sad face. 

TikTok user @kingj023241 posted the video with the viral ‘Oh No’ song playing in the background, and it has now amassed over 660,000 views. 

The waiter captioned the video ‘your thought?’, inevitably prompting a debate in the comments surrounding just how much we should be tipping our waiters. 

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One user said: “They wanted to take their family somewhere nice and at least they tipped.”  

Another wrote: “Tips are not an entitlement. Tips are not mandatory. They gave what they could. Be thankful.” 

On the other hand, many users believed the family should have simply stayed at home, rather than pay for a meal they couldn’t tip. 

One wrote: “If money was that tight, why go spend almost $80 on a meal?” 

Another commented: “Eat at home then!” 

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In the UK it is customary to tip between 10-15 percent of the overall bill. 

However, 15-20 percent is the norm over in the US, with this family’s tip amounting to only eight percent of the overall dinner’s cost. 

The debate comes during the same week a Hooter’s waitress revealed the telling signs she knows she’s not getting a tip - when a customer says ‘I’ll just have a water’.   

She said: "I'm not saying you can't order water, but if there is a single guy or a giant group of teenagers and they all order water, no food, I automatically know I'm not about to get a tip."

The waitress also lifted the lid on people’s general misconceptions of Hooter’s and its employees, with some mistakenly convinced that ‘Hooters is a strip club’ or that ‘Hooters girls are dumb’.  

"I have a master's degree - this is my side job," she said.  

Topics: Food And Drink, TikTok, US News

Abbi Murray

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