Server Self Inputs 25% Tip and Tiktokers Were Mad, Until They Saw the End of the Video

A TikToker who goes by Retail Nightmare (@retail.nightmare) posted a viral TikTok where they recorded the end of their meal at a restaurant.

His son just happened to be his server, and in the clip, the young man decides to put in his own gratuity, automatically keying in 25%. This catches his father off guard.

"Did you put my tip in there?" Dad asks at the top of the video, which prompts his son to ask him, "What?" His father repeats the question. "Yeah, I did 25%," his father responds in disbelief.

"You just auto-selected my tip without even asking me?" he asks his son, who, holding the POS machine, issues a confident response to his dad.

"I do that every single time. Without fail," before walking away from the table.

"See ya at home," he tells his kid.

"All right," the young man replies.

"Love ya son," he says as his son acknowledges his response before heading back to work.

Folks who saw the video remarked that at first, they weren't sure they were watching an interaction between a father and son. And they were ready to castigate the brazen behavior of the server who helped themselves to a customer's money.

"Deletes paragraph*" one person wrote, jokingly.

Another commented: "At first I was like, d--n he’s bold. But then the end tied it all in a nice bow for me. It’s the son tax."

However, there were a slew of other commenters who responded to the post that expressed they thought the young man was actually being pretty generous to his father by only keying in a 25% tip.

"It went from the audacity of this kid to oh should have done 50%," one TikToker quipped.

Another said that if their parents were visiting their place of work they were serving at, then they would've hit them with a massive gratuity charge.

"Generous son, I would’ve done a 100% tip on my parents," they said.

"At least he’s being generous with 25%, my kid would say 35-40% is the least dad can tip," someone else replied.

Distractify has previously reported on social media users who've called out "tipping culture," like this one woman who published a viral post where she expressed a desire to end it once and for all in 2024.

In her post, she presented hard line rules for employees of which types of establishments will and won't be receiving tips from her. According to the TikToker, any type of worker who receives a set hourly wage, such as kiosk employees at a place like Auntie Anne's or at a Frozen Yogurt store, then she isn't going to offer up any gratuities.

She also added that if she's picking up her own food at a drive-thru location, then she isn't going to leave a tip for those workers. Another type of business on her list: tips for operations that are primarily manned by the main purveyor of a business. I.e., if you set your own prices and are a sole owner and proprietor of a business, you're not getting a gratuity.

Another TikToker showed their disdain for being asked to tip at coffee shops. The user expressed their dread whenever a worker twirled a touchscreen POS system around, awaiting the customer's response.

Several people who responded to their video stated that they don't feel it's necessary to hand over a tip to someone for pouring them a beverage or handing them a pastry.

What do you think? Is tipping culture really out of hand? Should gratuities be reserved for employees who aren't given set wages, such as Retail Nightmare's son? Or do you think that as long as you can afford it, then it's your money and you should tip?

On the other hand, if you don't want to, then just hit the "no tip" option.