Offended Couple Refuses to Tip Waitress Because She Asked if They'd Like to "Split the Bill"

There are some people who get offended by any assumption made in any situation. One time, when talking to friends of some family members who had kids graduating from high school, I asked one of the kids if they planned on going to school afterward. One of their mothers was offended that I would even ask such a question: of course, her daughter was going to college, did I assume she wasn't smart enough to go?

On the flip side, when the topic of conversation came up again with another kid, they got mad that I thought universities were even worth the money and that I assumed the only way to define one's success is by the college they get into. It's like dang dude just say that you're saving up to open a dispensary it would've made the whole conversation a lot much smoother.

All of the knee-jerk defensive reactions turn into attempting to make any conversation or broaching of a new topic into an exercise in caution; who the heck wants to feel like they have to walk on eggshells all of the time?

Sometimes, the "gall" people have to ask a question that is otherwise innocent has some dire implications, however.

Something that a Redditor who uploaded a post to the site's r/mildlyinfuriating sub experienced firsthand after simply asking a couple if they would be splitting the check.

Apparently, the customers were so incensed and so appalled that anyone would even suggest they would be splitting the bill that they let the restaurant server know, in a message scribbled onto the receipt, that she wouldn't be receiving a tip.

The Redditor posted a picture of the bill containing the irate message, which reads: "No tip because it was very rude to ask my wife and I if we wanted separate checks???"

One might argue that it was pretty rude and self-centered of the customers themselves to assume that folks are that concerned and observant of their relationship status.

Or maybe the diners in question aren't exactly in the best place with their relationship and take every little remark as a threat to the strength of their bond.

Or this could just be a good old-fashioned case of folks who are cheap and look for a way to scrimp and save on any dollar that they can, and they will stoop to attacking/maligning others as a means of doing just that.

Throngs of Redditors seemed to agree with the sentiment in which OP's title was written, which states: "he had the audacity to write this with my pen"

One commenter quipped: "Looks like he wrote it with the pen gripped in his whole fist"

Someone else thought that it was pretty nuts of the customers to take the server's question as an affront: "Isn't it standard practice to ask if everything is on one ticket or not? I am literally asked this any time I am with more than one other adult."

There was one Redditor who thought that this was just a case of righteous cheapism, however: "Let’s face it. Buddy boy wasn’t going to tip anyway. He just using that as an excuse."

Someone else seemed to think that this was a case of emotional projection, i.e. taking out whatever gnarly sentiments that arise from one's own insecurities and vomiting them on a complete stranger: "Omg poor sod prolly is fighting the self-esteem issues again its just incredibly s---- to take out your own problems on the waiter or be overtly critic with them but then again i can‘t but feel sorry for them he must have no other person to talk to about this s---"

Another theory as to why the guy seemed so insecure is that the individual in question an unattractive dude and his wife was super hot and he took it as an insult that nobody would believe they were together, hence, the lashing out at the server for asking an innocuous question.

"is the wife like super hot and hubby is super uggo or something? Maybe every restaurant they go to has people assuming he’s her step-dad or cousin or something and he’s taking it personally because nobody assumes she’s his wife lol"

Have you ever worked a service industry job and dealt with a customer who was quick to take a harmless inquiry as an offensive remark? How did you handle it?