It counts! She just wanted more: Customer says restaurant server wouldn’t accept 35% tip

Photo byNew Africa/Shutterstock @tinysparksvixen/Tiktok

"The moment you ask for a tip you get none". Tipping can be a tricky situation for customers who are trying to do the right thing. This could be due to the increasing expenses of activities such as eating at restaurants, or just because the customer and the waiter have different opinions on what a fair tip should be. As a result, it can easily turn into a cause of disagreement when out and about.

One restaurant customer says that when she attempted to pay for a breakfast order and tip using a prepaid Visa gift card, her attempt to tip her server in this manner was met with resistance.

The server declines 35% tip—because it’s on a gift card

On TikTok, @tinysparksvixen shared that she tried to leave a tip of about 35% on her bill, using cash that had been preloaded onto a Visa gift card. But, her server strongly disagreed with the idea of receiving a tip this way.

“So a while back I went out to breakfast with a friend and I was using a gift card,” she says in the video. “It was a $40 gift card. Between coffee and a little bit of breakfast we got, the total came out to I want to say like $28, $29, $30 after tax. Let me tell you something. I told her to take the card and to keep everything that was on it, just take the full $40, OK?”

@tinysparksvixen observed that the leftover balance on the card was approximately equivalent to a 35% tip. Nonetheless, the waiter challenged the customers as they were exiting.

“We’re cleaning up our bags and getting our stuff together, and she comes back over to us and says, ‘I hope you had a nice day,’” the TikToker says. “[She] looks at the table and goes, ‘I don’t know if you guys know this, but it is really rude to not tip your server.’”

@tinysparksvixen was stunned. “I was like, ‘No, we did tip you, we tipped you on the gift card. There should have been $40 on there,’” she recalls telling the server. “‘Was there a problem? Because if that wasn’t what was on there, OK, I’ll give you more tip. I’ve got cash with me."

After she finished detailing her plan to leave a tip with the gift card, she mentioned that her waiter would not take the VISA gift card tip at all, even going so far as to declare it "didn't count."

“She goes, ‘No, it doesn’t count if it’s a gift card. Sure, there was like, $11 left over, but it doesn’t count. I’m going to need you to tip me cash as well,’” the TikToker says in the video.

Here, @tinysparksvixen was conflicted. “I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s how gift cards work,’” she says. “And now I’m going in my mind, ‘Maybe she’s right, does that tip not count if it’s from a gift card? But I thought gift cards work the same way as credit cards?’”

She says the situation left her entirely confused. The server concluded by reiterating that VISA gift card tips don’t count.

“Well, it’s a morning shift, I had to get up early to be here, it’s like 11:30 now. You really should be tipping me cash,” the server allegedly told @tinysparksvixen. “It’s not OK to just tip on the gift card like that. It’s the same as not having tipped at all.”

@tinysparksvixen raised the matter on TikTok to gather feedback from the audience. "I'm thinking, this can't actually be happening, is that even possible?" she questions in the video.

Can servers accept tips from gift cards?

While certain eateries are able to receive tips from pre-paid gift cards, this largely hinges on the type of point-of-sale system they utilize initially.

It's often beneficial to inform the person handling a transaction in advance that you plan to tip with the remaining balance on your card, as the individual in this video demonstrated. Additionally, there might be a direct restriction on utilizing the remaining balance for a tip, known as "tip tolerance." This restriction can range from a maximum of 20% of the card's total balance and is a common aspect of card agreements for various prepaid cards issued by credit card companies.

By using this tactic, prepaid card companies prevent customers from spending more than what is loaded on the card.

A number of viewers mentioned that their own or their family members' work environments permitted the use of gift cards for tipping, to a certain extent.

“At my restaurant if someone leaves a gift card, we can’t use it as tip,” one commenter wrote. “But if they leave it, I just use it on my next cash table.”

“As a Texas Roadhouse server yes it’s a separate tab in the system we use called aloha,” another said. “It says add gc tip and you add it in. it goes on our CC tip that night.”

“I work at Texas Roadhouse and when you have a gift card we give you back a receipt like a credit and you tip and sign like normal and we can keep what you tip on it,” a third wrote.

Others took issue with the server’s response to being tipped with a gift card.

“The moment you ask for a tip you get none,” one commented.

“I would’ve immediately asked for the gift card back w the money difference on it and she would get nothing,” another added.

“I would ask for the gift card back and leave $5,” a third commenter wrote.