Server urges customers to tip as 'compliments don't pay bills,' sparking debate

Servers put so much time and effort into taking orders, serving the food and helping with the billing. Often their hard work goes unnoticed and customers do not even leave a tip, thinking it's part of their job. A TikTok user and server had something important to share with the non-industry people, "Compliments don’t pay the bills."

Alyssa—who goes by @alyssr on TikTok—posted a video in which she spoke about how not tipping affects a server's livelihood. She says, “I don’t think people understand that we pay to serve you in the industry if you do not tip us."

"I am tipping out on all of your food and all of your drinks, to the kitchen and the bar. Your verbal tip does not pay my bills and I don’t think people realize that," she adds. The video begins with the server discussing what happened at her workplace the previous night. "I was serving this group of people and they came in, ordered beers, appetizers, drinks, you know, the whole nine yards. All separate bills. No problem.”

She explained, “A girl had asked me to put all alcoholic drinks on one tab, all the food separate, no problem. As I’m billing them out, I noticed no one’s tipping me. I had to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they’ll leave cash. Maybe the girl who took all the drinks will cover the tip. No one tipped me.”

Alyssa further says that one of her customers even complimented her for her service. “The last guy goes to pay and says, ‘Thank you so much. Your service was amazing. We had a great time. I feel so bad we can’t tip you.’” So when she asked what he meant, he said that if he tips her on top, they "can't get reimbursed and we have no cash." Alyssa suggested he could use the ATM if he wanted to tip her.

The video has garnered over 26.3k views and is captioned, "PSA to all my non-industry people!!" Many on the social media platform could resonate with what she was saying. @Brittanyxorene commented, "I would appreciate even a 5% tip honestly. Just anything to cover the tip percentage we give to the kitchen and bar.

@ang.ali111 wrote, "That’s crazy. I would never not tip, I’ve worked in the food industry. Also how crazy is it that you still have to tip out the kitchen bar & hostess." @camille.j7 expressed, "Ugh I hate ppl !! How could you, not tip that is so embarrassing. Don't go out to eat if you can't afford it."

Some people commented that tipping isn't mandatory and the restaurant should increase the pay. @wantandlike1 pointed out, "Ya people won’t care. Have to demand proper wages based not on emotional whims of customers."

@http.marissas said, "Tipping isn’t mandatory, no you do not pay if they don't tip, I work in that industry and that’s not how it works your restaurant is messed up for that, lol." To which Alyssa responded, "I’ve worked in this industry for 12-plus years. We tip out no matter what. Also, we do get hourly, but when hourly goes up, so does tip out, lol."