To tip or not to tip? The debate continues to plague social media and shows no sign of stopping. Customers are fed up with being asked to leave gratuity for the most basic tasks, and servers have had enough of people stiffing them. No matter which side of the debate you’re on, there’s no denying that service industry workers have had to get creative to increase their tips.
In a viral TikTok, server @tinycatrave shared the advice she received to increase her tip earnings. But it didn’t come from a trusted friend or co-worker; the recommendation was courtesy of her new ‘life coach’: ChatGPT.
Using AI to increase your tips
“Will using AI to increase my tips at my restaurant actually work?” @tinycatrave wrote in the text overlay. She explains how she has been “working side by side” with ChatGPT to “actualize and maximize my best life.”
One of those tasks involved uploading her restaurant’s menu to the AI chatbot and asking it to give her tips on upselling customers and ideas on how to make more money. The TikToker didn’t expect this response, however.
“One of the most interesting things it told me about was that women who wear lipstick of a pink or red color end up making 10 to 20 percent more in tips than women who don’t wear lipstick or wear lipstick of an extremely unnatural color,” she says.
So @tinycatrave decided to put the theory to the test. In her clip, which earned 19,000 views, she dons bright red lipstick while smiling at the camera. However, she didn’t really get a chance to prove the theory right as she volunteered to go home as soon as things died down.
“I walked in and immediately took the first cut,” the TikToker laughs. “Did not even have one table.”
She jokes that the AI bot hasn’t understood the humanistic desire to just dip from your job the first chance you get.
But was ChatGPT onto something?
The theory that wearing red lipstick is nothing new, and in fact has been proven more than a decade ago before ChatGPT was created. In a 2012 report, studies showed that lipstick, and “particularly red lipstick, was associated with greater male patrons (but not female patrons’) tipping behavior,” a ResearchGate experiment revealed. “The increase of attractiveness and femininity of waitresses wearing lipstick and red lips was used to explain the results.”
In a Reddit post in the r/MakeupAddiction subreddit, one server also noted that wearing a bright lip led to her making more money. Several commenters also revealed that wearing eyeliner and eyeshadow helped their earnings significantly. The Mary Sue even covered a viral TikTok where a server took viewers on a shopping trip to Ross to pick up things that would help her get tips. The TikToker purchased hair bows, highlighter, lip gloss, lashes, and acrylic nails.
@tinycatrave #chatgpt #ai #aihacks #lifehacks #serverlife #makemoney #serverproblems #restaurantlife ♬ original sound – Tiny Cat Rave ?
The ‘pigtail theory’
Makeup isn’t the only way servers have figured out how to affect their tip earnings. In 2023, the ‘pigtail theory’ made headlines after servers claimed they made more when wearing their hair in pigtails. Despite the initial gross factor many women felt hearing this, several servers tried out this theory and found it worked. For some reason, men tipped more when servers wore braids or pigtails than a normal hairstyle.
Apart from appearance, some viewers in @tinycatrave’s comments section had their own tips.
One suggested using basic psychology: “Mirror. Just mirror every single different behavior as it comes up.”
Another opted for classic comedic relief: “I’ve noticed when I started saying ‘Hey yall welcome in my name is … can I get yall anything to drink or are we trying to be responsible,’ and they always laugh and after drinks I try to upsell apps.”
Someone else wrote, “Add pictures of Baby pics to your notebook and you’ll get more tips.”
The Mary Sue reached out to the creator via TikTok message.
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