A user on TikTok is questioning whether their waiter was trying to “finesse” them after noticing a discrepancy between two receipts.
According to TikTok user Kimmy (@theydontcallmekim), she sat down for dinner at Dressler’s Restaurant in Charlotte for a meal with her husband. When they got the bill, they paid by card and left a cash tip of 15%.
However, when they looked at the receipt post-payment, they noticed that the restaurant charged them around $9 more than the original bill—going from a bill of $263.05 to $272.79.
“So, what’s going on?” Kimmy asked in the video, which currently has over 1.1 million views.
@theydontcallmekim Hmmmm
♬ original sound – Kimmy
The Daily Dot reached out to Dressler’s Restaurant via email.
In the comments section, users gave some possible explanations as to why the price had increased.
“They closed out the wrong check,” offered a user.
“The waitress probably punched it in wrong, she doesn’t get to keep money she overcharges,” added another. I’d politely ask about it.”
“It looks like they charged you the 3.5% it cost to have the credit card used at that place,” wrote a third. “Alot of places eat that cost but they should tell you.”
Concerning the latter claim, it’s true that some restaurants add additional fees to cover the use of credit cards. Sometimes called “credit card fees” or “convenience fees,” these are small fees added onto a bill to make up for the share taken by credit card companies.
TouchBistro estimated that “the total cost of credit card processing for a restaurant owner is anywhere from 2 to 4% of the total amount of each transaction.”
As Kimmy’s second bill appears to be around 3.7% higher than her first; this would fall within the bounds of that estimate.
For her part, Kimmy claimed in comments that such a fee was not noted anywhere in the restaurant.
Some users chastised Kimmy for appearing to complain about a minor price difference.
“Trying to finesse you out of 9 dollars? You made a whole TikTok cuz you might have lost 9 dollars,” stated a commenter.
“I got a better idea, put that phone down and ask the people who know the answer to that question…the employees,” shared a second.
However, other users came to Kimmy’s defense, saying that no matter the reason for the difference, she should have been informed.
“I don’t think the comments understand that you don’t mind the extra cost,” detailed a commenter. “It just feels icky that you weren’t made aware.” Kimmy responded to this comment in agreement.
“It’s literally the principle about someone trying to steal from you,” echoed an additional TikToker. “It’s not about being broke or having money.”
Update 11am CT, April 5: In an email to Daily Dot, Kimmy said she did not ask the restaurant about the discrepancy at the time.
“I didn’t ask the restaurant what happened because my husband said it wasn’t a big deal,” she wrote. “I’m not actually sure what really happened; I just know we were given two receipts with two different totals after tipping 15% which was $40.00 in cash.”
If viewers experience something similar, Kimmy suggested that they “get clarification on things before leaving [the] restaurant.”
