Tipping can be a minefield for even the most well-meaning customers. Whether it is because of the rise in cost of doing things like dining out, or simply because a customer and server have different ideas of what an acceptable tip is, the practice can become a quick source of conflict 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.
Server declines 35% tip—because it’s on a gift card
In a TikTok posted by @tinysparksvixen, the content creator says she attempted to tip about 35% on her order using money loaded onto a prepaid Visa gift card. However, her server was very opposed to being tipped in this manner.
“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 notes that the remaining money on the card equated to a roughly 35% tip. However, the server confronted the diners as they were leaving.
“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.’”
When she was done explaining her intention to tip using the gift card, she says her server would not accept the VISA gift card tip at all, going as far as to say 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 brought the issue to TikTok to get viewers’ opinions. “I’m like, this can’t be real, right?” she asks in the clip.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @tinysparksvixen via TikTok direct message and a comment on the video.
Can servers accept tips from gift cards?
While some restaurants do have the capacity to accept tips from prepaid gift cards, it really depends on what kind of point-of-sale system they are using in the first place.
It is usually helpful to tell someone processing a transaction ahead of time that you are tipping using the balance on the card, as the poster did in this video. There may also be a straight-up inability to use the remaining balance to tip on the card, called “tip tolerance,” putting a hold of up to 20% of the card’s total balance, and is a feature of card agreements for many different prepaid cards from credit card companies.
By using this tactic, prepaid card companies prevent customers from spending more than what is loaded on the card.
Some viewers reported that their workplaces and the workplaces of loved ones did allow for tipping using gift cards—up to a point.
“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.
@tinysparksvixen #greenscreenvideo #giftcards #card #tip #tips #tipping #tippingculture #server #serverlife #serverproblems #deadpoolwolverine #parisolympics2024 ♬ original sound – Tiny Sparks
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.
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