Every food service veteran has tricks to increase their tips. Of course nothing beats simply being fast, attentive, and personable—aka good at the job—but there are many other ways to bring that gratuity percentage up a few points: flirting, telling jokes, even how they style their hair.
An Olive Garden server has earned legions of fans with one of the quickest and easiest methods for scoring a fat tip: hooking the customer up.
Over the weekend, his customer, Chad (@stooby) posted a TikTok showing how the Olive Garden server went above and beyond. In the post, Chad writes that they told him his “tip depends on how many mints you give us.” Olive Garden gives all customers complimentary chocolate mints.
Perhaps Chad and his fellow diners were expecting an extra mint or two per person.
Instead, the server returned with a to-go bag that had a small plastic bucket inside. The bucket was filled to the brim with the mint chocolates.
In Chad’s video, you can see one of his companions laughing as they open it.
He captions the post, “He was tipped well and made us hide it from his manager on the way out.”
The TikTok took off. As of this writing, it’s garnered over 4.1 million views in less than a week.
Is there any downside to giving customers freebies?
As Chad suggests by noting that the server made them hide the chocolates, servers and bartenders can be severely penalized or even fired for giving things away for free. This might seem a bit harsh, but it is technically theft.
However, many restaurant industry veterans have been known to tell customers little white lies from time to time.
Letting a table believe you broke the rules to give them an extra side of dressing or a stronger drink when you actually did so with your manager’s blessing can work mightily in your favor come time to settle the bill. (That doesn’t appear to be the case in this instance, as many commenters confirm that Olive Garden is serious about the one-mint-per-customer rule. One wrote, “As an Olive Garden server I hope you hid that WELL because we actually get in so much trouble for giving more than 2 mints a person.”)
But, as some pointed out in reaction to Chad’s posts, hooking customers up doesn’t always work in your favor. “People will say things like this and then tip $10,” said Notarmanii.
Happily, Chad’s Olive Garden server was probably quite pleased with his tip. In comments, Chad wrote that they tipped him $50 on a $70 tab. That’s well above the industry standard of 15% to 20% gratuity.
“Now that’s the appropriate tip,” Maddie replied approvingly.
What’s up with those Olive Garden mint chocolates?
Judging by the comments, people are huge fans of the national Italian chain’s mint chocolates.
Others shared similar experiences of asking for extra then giving their server a huge tip. One even said a table tipped them an eye-popping $300 for a similar hookup.
But not everyone was as impressed. Some debbie downers suggested that Chad and his fellow diners could’ve just bought their own.
“$50 when you could get a pack of Andes from any store for 3 bucks lmao,” torimarx said.
They’re right. As Yahoo News reports, Olive Garden hands out Andes mints. There are some differences—namely, the wrapper—but the coveted Olive Garden mint chocolate is indeed an Andes.
Now, as many pointed out, it isn’t simply about the mints. There’s also the fact that Chad’s Olive Garden server took a risk.
Others insist, as many have online, that there’s something different about the Andes that Olive Garden hands out.
“Can we get them at the store? Of course,” an Olive Garden mint chocolate truther wrote. “Do they taste better with a hint of danger and out of the silver Olive Garden brand wrapper? YES THEY DO.”
Chad did not respond to a direct message sent via TikTok.
@stooby He was tipped well and made us hide it from his manager on our way out #olivegarden #louvre #halloween ♬ Opera – Puccini – Hollywood Strings Orchestra
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
