Many years ago, I wrote a blog post about what to tip when the service is bad. As a server, I always want to leave a good tip but sometimes that’s hard to do when the server seems to not care or even try to do a decent job. The post brought up a lot of comments and when I recently reposted it, it brought a whole new bunch of opinions. One comment in particular stood out like a straight guy in the audience of a Sunday afternoon showing of La La Land. Chris Evans had this to say:
One time when I got really terrible service at the cheesecake factory I just tore a 20 dollar bill in half and left half of it, took the other half. I think that conveyed everything I wanted to… No, I am not just cheap… yes you would have received a good tip if you weren’t such a terrible waiter.
Leaving a nominal tip without saying more will usually only verify what the waiter was probably thinking about you when he was giving terrible service… that you were cheap and weren’t going to tip him well anyways… creating a cycle of bad service.
Really, Chris Evans? Was it so important for you to prove your point that you felt justified in ripping apart prime currency? Are you that petty that you want to waste twenty dollars? If the service is bad, leave a tip that reflects it. There is no need to try to teach your server a lesson. You may think “that conveyed everything” you wanted them to know, but I am here to tell you otherwise and I will get to that shortly. You also believe that leaving a nominal tip would only confirm what you think the waiter was thinking about you: that you are cheap. Leaving half of a twenty dollar bill did nothing for anyone and now you’re out twenty bucks. And in case you are wondering what the server thought when he found that half of a twenty dollar bill, this is pretty much it:
What an idiot. I realize I didn’t give them the best service, but I got weeded and things spiraled out of control. He was a dick anyway from the second he sat down. I can spot a bad tipper from three booths away and he fit the profile. By leaving me this ripped up twenty, is he trying to prove a point or something? Like he wanted me to know that if I had done a better job I could have had twenty dollars? Umm, okay, thanks for letting me know that, but hey, asshole, now you don’t have the twenty dollars either. The only thing this is proving to me is that you’re fucking stupid. I mean, that was pretty apparent when you decided to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, but ripping up a twenty dollar bill to try to teach me a lesson just confirms your idiocy. You know what I’m gonna do with this half a twenty? I’m gonna frame it so it can always remind me of you. And whenever I think I am dealing with the dumbest bag of hair possible, all I will have to do is look at that frame to be reminded that I have already dealt with the King of the Dumbasses and I will know that I can get through anything. So thank you for that. And I thought the stupidest person on the planet was the one who came up with the name “Craig’s Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake” but now I know that is the second stupidest person in the world. The first is the Chris Evans who tore a twenty dollar bill in half to prove a point.
Nicole
Not only is that petty, but it’s illegal. You can be in for fines and prison time for defacing government currency.
dead_elvis
@Nicole – not quite. If there’s no intent to defraud via defacing, you’re in the clear.
So, feel free to draw all the mustaches & hats you like on George, Honest Abe, BFrank, and the others. Drill out the eyes of every profile on a coin, or carve your initials in them without worry. Just don’t try to pass a bill or coin off as something it’s not – no making a $10 look like $100, unless you’d like to tangle with the Secret Service, Treasury Department, and various other federal heavyweights.
I’m partial to stamping bills with WheresGeorge.com, myself.
freewhitebaby
That waiter needs to take his half of the $20 to the bank. If the idiot gave him a millionth of an inch over half, he can have the bill replaced. $20 will buy enough liquor to completely forget about that asshole.
Jodie
I was thinking the same thing.
Im in Australia and if a note is ripped/ serial number still in tact you can take it to the bank and get it replaced.
Ryan
That’s the problem with most of us. Even though we sometimes get poor service, we still tip over %15. It’s a karma thing for me. I tip well because I want to be tipped well. I always try my hardest to give a great experience, but sometimes things happen. I can’t control everything. Leaving half of a twenty is ridiculous. It shows you are an asshole. Say something! Talk to a manager. Now, the server learns nothing except the fact that if he/she waits on you again you will definitely receive poor service.
Jessica
So let start off by saying that I’m a server so I can understand the mindset of a fellow server when I sit down with toddler. I sometimes think I get bad service due to the fact that they think I’m going to tip poorly anyway, which is so sad because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy because than I get poor service and I tip 15%. Which to me and i think every server is a bad tip, anything less than twenty I’m disappointed in. So here’s the thing the server walks away thinking they were right and I walk away with bad service (mind you not every time but probably 3:5). So what do you suggest is the remedy? Now the opposite goes too , when I get even marginally good service the waitress gets 25-30% just due to the fact that it’s a rarity.