Tip? The server follows customer out to car and demands tip

Photo byNew Africa/Shutterstock @callmeishhdotcom/TikTok

"This is insane to follow someone outside". Most servers react to being stiffed on a tip with resignation. But one server followed a non-tipping restaurant patron out to her car to confront her.

A TikTok video chronicled a server who followed a restaurant patron outside. He was looking for a tip, with the patron wondering, “Should we really tip ever?”

This incident sparked a resurgence of the ongoing debate regarding tipping practices and the culture surrounding it.

The video in question, put up on TikTok on Friday by creator Onemessychic (@callmeishhdotcom), garnered over 725,000 views so far. It’s taken from the POV of the passenger in the car. In it, a restaurant-goer has returned to her car and is getting ready to leave. That’s when the server comes up to the car door. The on-screen caption helpfully adds: “Followed outside by server for not tipping.”

“I really don’t have any cash,” the diner tells him, explaining why she hasn’t tipped him. “Who really comes outside and asks you for a tip? Though I’m just saying that, like, I work on tips every day.”

Patrick Smith, the server who introduces himself, engages in a surprisingly friendly conversation. During their discussion, he kindly mentions that he uses CashApp. When she learns this, she decides to transfer money to him via that platform.

Yet, she makes a point that perhaps not all would agree with. “I know the importance of tipping, but I don’t have to tip all the time,” she says.

The video kicked off the tipping debate

A CNBC article from July 2023, featuring etiquette expert Diane Gottsman, founder of The Protocol School in Texas, suggests that our expectations for tipping at restaurants shouldn't change, even though many people are feeling tired of tipping.

“If you’re going to a restaurant, you know that part of your experience is going to be gratuity. [When] you’re paying for the meal, you also factor in the gratuity.”

She also says that it should extend to delivery. “You want to give [delivery drivers] a minimum of $5 even if it’s a small order. If it’s a large order and they’re carrying boxes of food to you and your soccer team, you want to tip accordingly — 15% of that bill, if they have really worked hard to get it to you.”

This advice sparked discussion in the comments section of the article.

One, objecting to the server’s approach, said, “His tip would’ve been don’t do that again, you don’t know what people have in their cars.”

Another said, “As a former server this is insane to follow someone outside that’s insane.”

Someone else argued, “He did what all servers be wanting to do fr.”

Yet, another countered, “He better call corporate & them for the rest of his wages . Bc that’s who owes him the extra not the paying customers.”