I’m a waitress… here are the cheap tricks people use to avoid tipping

After working in the hospitality industry for ten years, you’d think I could tell at twenty paces who does and doesn’t tip.

And yet, just last week, when I went to clear the table of someone who seemed rude and arrogant – the telltale signs of a tight squeeze – I was stunned to find £500 in cash under the empty glass from which he had two shots of expensive vodka drunk.

His bill, including the service charge, was about a tenth of what he had left.

That’s obviously a significant bonus for a waitress like me – and thanks to the recent change in the law, I got to keep everything. If I hadn’t been exhausted, I would have had a drink myself in honor of the Private Members’ Bill, introduced by former Conservative MP Dean Russell, which finally made it onto the statute books last week.

From now on, stingy bosses are required by law to hand over 100 percent of tips to the staff who earned them.

I get paid £13.50 an hour and work about 50 hours a week, between auditions and working as an actress – so you can see the difference that money from my vodka-drinking benefactor will make.

The early signs weren’t promising: Deep into a phone conversation, he called me over to the fancy hotel bar where I work, silently pointed to the drink he wanted, and used his fingers to indicate two shots. He then used his free hand to shoo me away, just as you might shoo away a pesky fly.

This seemingly rude man didn’t say a word to me, but used that astonishingly large tip to thank him for giving him what he wanted: a stiff drink, no fuss.

Yes, it could be interpreted as just some kind of power play, but I don’t care. There are plenty of other customers who confuse us and then make it a point to have the service charge removed as a final act of humiliation.

Like the guy who was part of a group of ten who came in without a reservation recently, near closing time. I soon regretted giving them a table – they were loud and obnoxious, making us wait ages to take their orders, causing us all to get home late.

As I walked past the table, one of them grabbed my arm. He shoved his credit card into my hand and said, “Go to the store and buy me some cigarettes.”

He looked furious when I said sorry, but I can’t do that. When the bill came, he picked it up and then loudly demanded that the 12.5 percent service charge – which amounted to around £50, so just a fiver from each – be withdrawn. The smug look on his face showed how powerful that made him feel.

You’d be surprised at how blatant some cheap skates are. I made a big fuss about a middle-aged couple after they told me they were on their first date. They had a nice evening and I really hoped they would see each other again.

But then the woman showed her true colors: her date left £20 on the table for me, after I had already paid the service charge on his card – but she swiped it away for herself as he entered the toilet on the way out. She even ran out the door, grabbed the note and put it in her pocket!

I’ve never hoped for a woman to be dumped more than I did then.

However, there is one customer brand that always tips: the Americans. Even if something goes wrong, it’s so culturally ingrained that I’ve never seen anyone leave without leaving a tip.

At the other end of the scale, you’d be surprised how often the woman dripping in designer labels will ask for the service charge to be taken off her lunch bill.

People will try all kinds of tactics to avoid having to pay a tip. I’ve lost count of the times someone has asked for the service charge to be taken off the bill because they preferred to pay it in cash, only to realize: what a surprise! – they have nothing with them.

There is one type of customer who always tips: the Americans, it is culturally ingrained in them, writes Sophia Jenson

Some make a great show of rummaging through their bags or jacket pockets before giving up the shrug.

Others, who seem friendly and happy with their service and meal, will put on a show of mock outrage when they see the service charge. They don’t seem to realize what an embarrassing look that is.

We understand how expensive life is these days, but when you’ve ordered the most expensive dishes, emptied the bar and made us run around all night, we can’t help but feel like you owe us a tip.

Unfortunately, that type rarely feels the same.

• The author’s name has been changed.