A woman has divided opinion online after she revealed an insider tip that wait staff should use to get tips from stingy customers.
Kat Busch, from Texas, who has been a bottle girl for four years, took over her TikTok @smarthotties to reveal the trick she uses to secure a cash injection from visiting customers.
Tipping is an integral part of American hospitality culture, and customers are regularly reminded that wait staff are excluded.
While in the UK many view a service charge as an optional addition to their bill, American diners are expected to pay an average of 15 to 20 percent per meal, and more than 20 percent for exceptional service.
The video divided opinion, with many service members taking the comments to heart to defend the woman, while others warned to follow her advice at your own risk.
Kat said, “Zero dollar tip – no problem. Let me tell you how to fix that. My name is Kat. I’ve been working in the service industry for four years and this has only happened to me a few 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 tip, is there anything I can improve on the service you’re providing? feeling you could share with me?”.
“Nine times out of 10 they’ll make an excuse like, ‘Oh it was a mistake, oh I didn’t see the receipt,’ and they’ll give you some sort of tip, a few bucks here and there.”
And in the worst case, the woman told 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 wait staff is to ask a manager if they can take cheap items like soda from a high bill so that the money goes to the server.
“If the bill was really high, I’d explain the situation to your manager and see if maybe they could get you something like a soda or something so you at least made a few bucks on it and you don’t have to tip in the negative,” she explained.
Kat Busch, from Texas, has divided opinion online after revealing an insider tip wait staff should use to get tips from stingy customers
Short story is just confront them. For example, this is a restaurant or a bottle service, this is not really for bartenders. If you’re a bartender and someone gives you a zero dollar tip, it would take me forever to serve them again.”
Not all servers agreed, and many feared the consequences of confronting a customer at their workplace.
One of them said, ‘I would be 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, “Okay, but what if you just embarrassed someone who intended to leave a tip so you wouldn’t be charged?”
Kat, who has been a bottle girl for four years, took to her TikTok to announce the drastic measure she is taking to ensure a cash injection from visiting customers
Also a third said: ‘Servers should be able to do this! I would have loved to embarrass many people when I served.”
A fourth added: ‘I think tips should be abolished. Pay your workers a good wage.’
One customer revealed what they would do if approached to pay a tip: “Wtf no, I’d leave immediately, you’re guilt-tripping customers for a tip.”
The news follows a similar event in New York, where a woman was left furious after receiving a 10 percent tip on a $700 bill, even after her boss stepped in to ask for more.
The woman took to Twitter to share her annoyance, saying that a bunch of European diners only tipped her half the amount she expected. She said her manager confronted the table, but the group stood their ground and left without offering an extra penny.
Not all servers agreed, and many feared the consequences of confronting a customer at their workplace
The angry waitress tweeted: ‘I’m dying of laughter, I sometimes hate Europeans. This table just left $70 on a $700 check after HOURS of chilling.
“My manager even asked about their service and they were thrilled with my service, so he explained that the usual tip is 20 percent and they said ‘okay’ and left.”
The waitress attributed the break to cultural differences, adding: “I understand that many of the problems with European behavior in restaurants stem from cultural differences (camping at tables, being a bit brusque or forceful, etc.) willing to talk about it. face if they at least gave the right tip.’
The Tweet has since been viewed more than 40 million times and has garnered 16,000 responses.