A teacher schooled a customer at her second job and learned a lesson about getting fired for cause.
Melly (@picklejuicelover33) says her last table of the night at the restaurant where she worked did not tip her. Afterward, she confronted the boyfriend about it.
Now she’s out of a second source of income. But she’s hoping the man learned his lesson.
Melly posted her story on TikTok. It sparked a serious debate about whether she was in the wrong and whether tipping culture is indeed out of control.
Not one thin dime
Melly says that the couple came in about 30 minutes before closing time. She said this was “not considerate, but whatever.” Tables coming in late are a pet peeve of restaurant workers.
After the meal, which cost $42 and some change, the boyfriend paid the bill with Apple Pay. When Melly looked at the receipt, she saw that he’d written the exact total on both the base price and the line that was supposed to have the tip added in.
She looked around for cash, but there was none.
“Oh, he stiffed me. Cool,” Melly says.
It could’ve ended there. But after their meal, the couple hung out on the patio, which Melly was shutting down for the night.
She was annoyed, so she decided to ask why he didn’t tip her.
“I guess I was gonna be problematic,” she says. “I was like, ‘Hey, was my service bad or something?'”
The couple denied that her service was lacking, so Melly asked why they didn’t tip her. She says the man lied and said he’d left her seven dollars. The lie set her off. She pulled out the receipt to show him.
“I was like, ‘Here, look,'” she recalls.
Then the man claimed it was an accident. Melly wasn’t buying it. “You don’t accidentally not tip,” she says.
His girlfriend ultimately insisted on tipping Melly.
By then, the man must’ve been annoyed because he accused her of being rude. She retorted that it costs servers money when customers stiff them. Many have to tip out other restaurant staff, so it literally does cost these servers money when a customer doesn’t tip.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry I embarrassed you,’ and I went back inside,” Melly says.
From no tip to no job
The man wasn’t content to let the matter drop with a pseudo-apology.
Melly says he came inside and told her manager what had happened, which was “fair” in her view.
“I should’ve just kept my mouth shut,” she laments now.
The manager asked her to apologize, which she did—sort of.
“I really didn’t. I sure did double down,” she says.
Afterwards, she was fired. Melly doesn’t hold it against the managers, who she says are “kind” and “were just doing their job.”
Losing the job might be an inconvenience for Melly, but because her primary job is as a teacher, it’s not quite as life-altering as if waiting tables had been her main source of income.
As for the man, she hopes this was a learning experience.
“I hope you were embarrassed, honestly. I hope I did embarrass you. You got what you wanted. I got fired,” she says.
Who’s in the wrong about the tipping?
In the two days since she posted it, Melly’s TikTok has racked up 1.7 million views and has approached 15,000 comments.
Debate is raging in the comments. People are passionate about defending both Melly and the man who didn’t tip.
“You’re not entitled to someone else’s money?? He paid for the service, anything extra is a kind gesture but NOT A REQUIREMENT,” wrote one, inspiring over 200 replies.
Another reply reads, “He didn’t pay for the service. He paid for the food. The tip is paying for service.”
Multiple people noted that servers typically are paid far less than the minimum hourly wage precisely because they get tips to make up the difference.
A Melly supporter said, “You ate. There’s always another restaurant.” Another called her “ICONIC.”
A detractor who says they wait tables disagreed. “You were 100% in the wrong,” they wrote.
Lots of people criticized tipping culture.
It is true that many have taken issue with tip creep, or the expectation that customers will tip for an ever-expanding list of purchases and services. But food service is one of the industries where tipping has long been the norm in the United States. So it’s not really on the same level as being asked to tip a robot.
@picklejuicelover33 No hate to my job bc it was my fault but unfortunate nonetheless
♬ original sound – pickle melly
In a TikTok direct message to the Mary Sue, Melly said, “I would confront him again because his character was shown by his lying.” Melly declined to identify the restaurant out of consideration for her co-workers, whom she doesn’t want to put “on blast.”
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