A Crafty Crab server has gone viral for posting a clip of her manager telling her that any tip her customer gives her will go to the company.
The video, posted on Dec. 27 by TikToker Sabrina Hiddemen (@brinabby7739), takes place at a Crafty Crab in Charlotte, N.C. In it, Hiddemen confronted her manager behind the bar at the restaurant.
“Okay, so I don’t get the tip for the customer I served?” she asked.
The manager held up a receipt and told her that the customer has not tipped her yet. He also doubted that Hiddemen would receive a tip at all, claiming that she didn’t give the customer good service.
“His food took a long time, so he asked to get it to go, and you sat over there and refused to make a drink,” the manager said.
“So if, for any reason, he does decide to tip you — which I’m sure he won’t — no, you will not get it,” the manager continued. “It will go to the company because your service is poor.”
“Unprofessional management & illegal acts against employee,” Hiddemen wrote in the caption.
@brinabby7739 Unprofessional management & illegal acts against employee #craftycrab #charlottenc #university #fyp ♬ original sound – Sabrina Hiddemen 💅🏾
The video reached over 1.9 million views as of Dec. 28. The Daily Dot reached out to Hiddemen via TikTok comment and to Crafty Crab via contact form.
In the comments section, users were divided on who was in the wrong. Many commenters supported the manager’s decision, saying that Hiddemen “refused service” when she decided not to make the customer his drink.
“Once she refused service, that became the company’s customer,” one commenter wrote.
“You refused to make a drink??” another questioned.
However, others pointed out that the manager can’t legally take Hiddemen’s tip. According to the Department of Labor, a manager “may only keep tips that they receive from customers directly for services that the manager or supervisor directly and ‘solely’ provides.”
In a follow-up video, Hiddemen said that her manager gave himself her table, then asked her to make a drink for the table she was no longer serving.
“I was like, ‘Okay, well you can make the drink for that table since you took that table from me,’” Hiddemen said. “I guess that made him mad.”
She continued to say that her manager told her that she could “go home” after her last table left. However, after overhearing Hiddemen telling her co-worker about the situation, her manager checked her out early instead.
“He switches the bar guest that I already had to his name. So I was like, ‘So I don’t get the tip?’” she said. “He was like, ‘No,’ so I was like, ‘Let me get you saying that on camera.’”
Hiddemen said that was when she began recording the interaction seen in the first video. She claimed that her manager “made up” the story about her not giving good service.
@brinabby7739 #storytime #craftycrab #unprofessional #fyp #viral #charlottenc ♬ original sound – Sabrina Hiddemen 💅🏾
In a third video, Hiddemen revealed that she has been “suspended from work for two weeks” following the incident.
@brinabby7739 #storytime #part2 #fyp #craftycrab #charlottenc ♬ original sound – Sabrina Hiddemen 💅🏾
Update Dec. 29, 9am CT: TikTok user Shakur Grant (@shakurgrant), who claims he is the shift lead featured in the video, stitched it on Wednesday to promise a “storytime” sharing his side so that viewers can make their “own decision.” He revealed the customer in question “did not tip her because she’s trash.”
