So did you hear the story about the customer who left a $1000 tip for his server and then dragged his sorry ass back to the restaurant the next day to ask for it back because he was drunk when he did it? Yeah, that happened.
A server at Edgewater, Colorado’s Thailiciois restaurant got his hopes way up when he saw $1088 cash in the check presenter for a $60 check. When the owner got wind of the massive tip, she suggested that it be held for a while in case the guy came back regretting his decision. Well, that’s exactly what happened and the restaurant gave the money back to the man, proving that they are better than I am.
And here are 10 things I would have said if the man came into my restaurant asking for his $1000 tip back he had left me the night before:
- I’m sorry, we were closed last night. You must have the wrong restaurant.
- Yo no hablo inglés.
- Can you please keep your voice down? I am so hungover from last night because I drank my ass off celebrating a huge tip that some drunk idiot gave me.
- If you would like to appeal the tip you left last night, I will need you to have your attorney reach out to my attorney because that money is already in my bank account.
- I can’t hear what you’re saying because I am wearing my brand new Beats by Dr. Dre with portable bluetooth speaker and Beats studio wireless headphones in Gloss Gold and encrusted with diamonds.
- I don’t know what you are talking about, now get the fuck out before I call the police.
- Oh, I’m so glad you came back. We thought you left too much money so we saved it for you. Here it is: $200.
- Oh you must have left that tip with the other server who used to work here but quit about two minutes ago.
- Yeah, I’ve made some bad decisions when I was drunk too, but we deal with those decisions and learn from them, right? Hey, let me show you my Jiminy Cricket tattoo that I got when I was 20 years old and drunk in San Diego. Wish I could take that decision back, but I can’t.
- Buh bye.
Seriously, good job to the staff at Thailicious for their honesty and integrity. Stop by their Facebook page and congratulate them.
Sean T
Yea, that’s actual wage theft. When a tip is left for the server there is no assumed responsibility for the server to “hold” the tip “just in case” of buyer’s remorse. Once the patron leaves the establishment that money is the sole property of the server. A manager can neither suggest or require the server to surrender that money, nor require the server under any circumstance to return that money to the customer, and any manager who does is guilty of wage theft and is liable for that money to the server. In other words, the server could report the manager to the state labor board and the board would require the manager to repay the server out of pocket. Been in restaurant biz for 18 years, watched this happen and watched a pretty decent GM lose his job and a court case over it. I understand the morality of it, I do, but the law supercedes your morality.
MANGLER
I’ve never been so drunk I added one too many zeroes to my tip.
I guess I need to party harder.
Heidi
A tip is a transaction with a no return policy. Buyer’s remorse is not the server’s responsibility!
Alice Butler
Fuck that, I would’ve kept it.
John
In Canada that’s not allowed. Once a tip is left it’s the property of the server it was left for. You can of course ask for it back, but its up to the server to return it.
Kate
In Canada you need to take a course to serve alcohol. And in that course there are chapters that teach you to do your due diligence as a server not to let people get that drunk. So yes. That might be a law. But if the restaurant and the servers at the restaurant did not follow the alcohol serving laws then I’m sure the customer could contest not being returned their tip.
Sharon
A fool and his money are soon parted… unless it is the day after a drunken binge and in that case the credit card fairy will give you a do-over. Now get out of here you drunken sot, we hate you.
Leslie Brock
Yea…..I hate when people go out of their way to make my night then regret it. Most of the time I have held it overnight before getting excited. But I will say, only have had 2 ask for it back over 13 years bartending. The most was a 500 tip (I did get to keep!) Keep on smilin!