A restaurant worker reminded fellow servers not to blindly trust patrons to give a good tip after receiving less than 5% gratuity on a $350 bill.
In the video, the server, Autumn (@irllyanfei), mimics how she smiled and waved at the group of low tippers but adds interspersed expressions of annoyance.
The TikToker explains that she served a large group of people at the restaurant she works at. Even though she had the option to “autograd”—which means setting up an automatic gratuity—she didn’t opt for it.
Autumn says she felt she could “trust” the group and expected them to give a good tip on their own.
She was, unfortunately, very wrong. The group’s bill came out to $350, but they only left her $15 on the large bill, amounting to a 4.3% tip.
@irllyanfei Always autograd your large parties yall😔#fyp #pusheen #serverlife #serverproblems #pridemonth ♬ original sound – that’s hot
For context, tipping etiquette dictates a 15% to 20% tip at sit-down restaurants if the service was good and 25% if the service was excellent. Even if customers aren’t too happy with the waitstaff, it is still recommended to tip at least 10%, Bankrate reported.
While it may seem unnecessary and tedious to tip even when you’re unsatisfied with the service, waitstaff are legally allowed to be paid below the federal minimum wage since the expectation is that their lower wage will be padded by tips.
Tipped workers are currently allowed to make as little as $2.13 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The federal minimum wage for other workers is $7.25 an hour.
The financial site also reported that about 15% of adults in the United States are unfamiliar with tipping practices, unsure of who or how much to tip.
The video has more than 750,000 views, but Autumn turned off comments on the post.
The Daily Dot reached out to the server via TikTok direct message.
