A woman has split opinions online after revealing a secret tip that waiting staff should use to get tips from stingy customers.
Kat Busch, from Texas, who has been a bottle girl for four years, took to her TikTok @smarthotties to reveal the trick she uses to ensure a cash-injection from visiting customers.
Tips are an integral part of American hospitality culture, and customers are regularly reminded that leaving the waiting staff empty-handed is out of the question.
While in the UK many view service charge as an optional add-on to their bill, US diners are expected to fork out an average 15 to 20 percent per meal, and more than 20 per cent for exceptional service.
The video divided opinions, with many service staff taking to the comments to defend the woman, while others warned to follow her advice at their own risk.
Kat said: ‘Zero Dollar tip – no problem. Let me tell you how to resolve that. My name’s Kat I’ve been in the service industry for four years and I’ve only had this happen to me a handful of times.’
‘If they haven’t left yet, walk up to whoever paid in front of everyone and say, “Hey sir or ma’am, I see you didn’t leave a tip, is there anything I can improve on the service that you feel like you could share with me?”.
‘Nine times out of 10 they’re going to make some excuse like, “Oh, it was a mistake, oh I didn’t see the receipt,” and they’re going to give you some kind of tip, a couple of bucks here and there.’
And for the worst case scenario – the woman shared how both parties could go home with new lessons learned.
She said that even if they don’t leave cash, you might get ‘a tip to improve your service so you can make more money in the long run.’
Another trick for waiting staff is to ask a manager if they can take inexpensive items such as sodas off a high bill, so that th mnoney goes to the server.
‘If the tab was really high I would explain to your manager the situation to see if maybe they could comp off like a soda or something so at least you made a couple dollars off of it and you don’t have to tip out in the negative,’ she explained.
Kat Busch, from Texas, has split opinions online after revealing a secret tip that waiting staff should use to get tips from stingy customers
‘Short story is just confront them. This is for like a sit down restaurant or like bottle service, this is not really for bartenders. If you’re a bartender and someone zero-dollar tips you, I would just take forever to serve them again.’
Not all servers agreed, with many fearing the consequences of confronting a customer at their workplace.
One said: ‘I would get in SO much trouble if I did this. Some people just don’t tip no matter how good your service was.’
A second chimed in: ‘Ok but what if you just embarrassed someone who was planning to leave a cash tip so you wouldn’t be taxed?’
Kat who has been a bottle girl for four years, took to her TikTok to announce the drastic measure she takes to ensure a cash-injection from visiting customers
Also agreeing, a third said: ‘Servers should be allowed to do this! I would have loved to embarrass a lot of people when I used to serve.’
A fourth added: ‘I think tips should be done away with. Pay your workers a good wage.’
One customer revealed what they would do if approached to pay a tip: ‘Wtf no I would leave immediately, you’re guilt tripping customers for a tip.’
The news follows a similar event in New York, where a woman was left fuming after receiving a 10 per cent tip of a $700 bill, even after her boss intervened to request more.
The woman shared her annoyance on Twitter, saying a set of European diners tipped her just half the amount she was expecting. She said her manager confronted the table but the group were steadfast and left without offering an additional cent.
Not all servers agreed, with many fearing the consequences of confronting a customer at their workplace
The angered waitress tweeted: ‘Laughing my a** off I f***** hate Europeans sometimes. This table just left $70 on a $700 check after chilling for HOURS.
‘My manager even asked about their service and they were OVER THE MOON about my service so he explained the customary tip is 20 per cent and they were like “ok” and left.’
The waitress put the rift down to cultural differences and added: ‘I understand a lot of the qualms with European behaviour in restaurants comes from cultural differences (camping at tables, being a little brusque or forceful, etc) all of which I’d be willing to overlook if they at least tipped appropriately.’
The Tweet has since racked up over 40 million views and 16,000 comments.