A customer tries to ask out an Arizona server despite leaving a low tip. Other servers say they’ve encountered similar situations all too often.
In a video with over 85,000 views, TikToker Stephanie Itzel (@stephyzely) shares the laughably low tip she recieved from a customer—just $4 on an $88 tab. That’s just above 4%.
In the United States, a customary tip falls between 15 and 20%, according to NerdWallet. For bad service, around 10% is usually recommended.
However, the low tip was just the beginning of the server’s disappointing interaction with the customer.
What did the customer say after leaving a low tip?
“Then [he] tried to ask for my number,” she says. She holds up her hand to show that she wears a wedding ring.
Then she decides to make the customer feel bad for his low tip.
“I told him, ‘How am I going to pay for my mother’s insulin now?'” she recounts. Insulin is a notoriously expensive injectable medication that many people with diabetes rely on to manage their blood sugar, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
However, she clarifies that her mother does not have diabetes.
In an Instagram direct message to The Mary Sue, Itzel says this isn’t the first time she’s experienced low tippers trying to flirt with her.
“I’ve had about 5 years of serving experience, with most of it being from Hooters. Men would flirt with me endlessly and leave me measly tips, really thinking it would get them somewhere,” she writes. “And with being gay, you would think it would stop them, but most of the time it never did. They would sexualize me further or make comments on how ‘hot’ it was.”
How did viewers react to her response?
In the comments, viewers discuss the customer’s audacity for leaving a low tip and then trying to make a move on the server.
“$4 on an $88 bill?!! Mandatory crashout!!!!” a commenter remarks.
“Just tell him that you don’t like cheap man,” another suggests.
Other servers say the situation is all too common.
“Old man left me his number with a $5 bill. Sir, at least make it worth my while,” one shares.
“Dude I had someone tip 2.25 on a 90$ tab and wrote his number down on the receipt I sent a message with my cashapp got sent 100 then blocked him,” another says.
“I work at a casino, and one dude complained about how the waitresses don’t like him and ‘always give him attitude’ then proceeded to tip a literal quarter from his change whenever he got a drink and said ‘I tipped they should be happy!'” a third commenter writes.
“I work at the food area of a smallish bowling alley so I’m the person that takes the order, makes it, boxes it up and whatnot. Guy talked about how great my service was and how I should have more help blah blah blah. He ordered $75.50 worth of food that I had to close down for 30mins to make. He left me .50 and while writing it down said ‘you need to get paid more!!’ sir. Your words don’t pay my bills,” a fourth laments.
@stephyzely Gotta do whatcha gotta do #servertok ♬ original sound – stephanie itzel
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