This server is dishing out some advice on how to deal with cheap customers — and not everyone agrees with her.
A service industry worker went viral and sparked an online debate recently by posting a TikTok of herself claiming that people who don’t tip should be confronted.
Kat Busch, a bottle service girl and server who claims to have worked in the service industry for four years, posted the video in December and has since gained nearly 61,000 views.
“Zero dollar tip? no problem,” said Busch at the beginning of the video.
The server then revealed that she hasn’t been tipped “only a handful of times.” She shared some advice on how to handle a potential no-tip scenario.
Busch told her followers to walk up to whoever paid the tab “in front of everyone” and ask them why they didn’t leave a tip.
“Hi sir/ma’am, I see you didn’t leave a tip. Is there anything I could improve on with the service that you feel like you could share with me,” said Busch, acting out a conversation.
According to the server, most customers will come up with an excuse as to why they didn’t leave a tip such as “oh, it was a mistake” or ” oh, didn’t see the receipt” and eventually give you a tip.
Busch said that in a worst-case scenario, a customer will give you a verbal tip about how you could improve your service.
The server also said that if the bill is super high, you should go to your manager and explain the situation and see if they could comp something off the tab so you “don’t have to tip out in the negative.”
“Short story is, confront them,” stated the worker before clarifying that her hack is for sit-down restaurants and bottle service — but not for bartenders.
Busch later added a disclaimer in the comments saying that servers should do this at their own risk.
“Disclaimer*: do this at your own risk. Improve your service skills so this doesn’t happen,” reads the comment. “Sometimes it’s not worth it for a low tab.”
Busch’s video instantly sparked a heated debate.
On March 10, another user recorded a video next to the original and vehemently warned users not to follow Busch’s advice.
The user, identified as server Jesse Rowland, urged his followers to let the manager deal with any situation as any other action would most likely get the server fired.
Other Tiktok users agreed with Rowland.
“I would get in SO much trouble if I did this,” said one user. “Some people just don’t tip no matter how good your service was.”
“My job fires everyone that does this,” said another person.
“Someone I worked with did this and the server and the couple got in a huge fight. The server ended up getting fired,” recalled a third person.
Some users agreed with Busch.
“We do this at my job and my boss 100% fine with it! Will never work at a corporate place again they don’t treat their servers as humans,” said one person.
“Servers should be allowed to do this! I would of loved to embarrass a lot of people when I used to serve,” slammed another person.
“I love doing this and seeing people get so flustered,” a third person commented.