Man takes tip back after being publicly 'scolded and humiliated' by waitress
The 32-year-old man shared the story on Reddit, asking if he was wrong about retrieving the cash after a dinner date went sideways.
"This occurred a few nights ago, and I just can't believe it happened the way it did," he wrote in his post last week.
He and his 29-year-old girlfriend had dined at the restaurant before, he said.
It wasn't fancy but was good for a "relaxed evening" over a glass of wine, he said.
But on this particular night, the service was poor, he said.
The waitress allegedly "lost" his drink twice, brought him and his girlfriend the wrong appetizer and "vanished for what seemed like an eternity" when they wanted to order dessert.
He paid and left a 10% cash tip, which he felt was "reasonable given the circumstances," he said.
"We were just standing up to leave when [the waitress] came over, took the cash and said, 'Seriously? This is it?'" he continued. "She had said it audibly. A few people at some nearby tables turned around and stared."
He said he was dumbfounded.
"Then she muttered, 'Whatever, cheapskates.'"
"Then she added, 'You know, servers can't pay their rent because of people like you … If you can't tip properly, don't dine out.'"
The man said that others in the restaurant fell silent as his girlfriend recoiled in embarrassment, but he remained calm and told the waitress, "Sorry you feel that way."
But then she muttered, "Whatever, cheapskates."
That was the last straw for the baffled boyfriend.
He went back to the table, pocketed his cash tip and "left without another word."
"I feel like [being] scolded and humiliated on account of a 10% tip that I actually did leave is way out of bounds," he said.
His girlfriend later told him his reaction was "fine," but a friend said he went too far.
So he took to Reddit, asking others if he was wrong "for retrieving the tip after she yelled at us in front of everyone in the restaurant."
"She expected and then demanded a good tip for a crappy job."
Many users sided with him and said they wouldn't have left a tip either.
"She expected and then demanded a good tip for a crappy job," one person wrote. "You were nice enough to leave her something, but she wanted to be ungrateful."
Said another person, "The whole point of a tip is to be an incentive for the server to do good work."
Others shared how they would have handled the situation.
"I would've told her, 'Tip reflects your service,'" one commenter said.
"I would probably have pointed out why the tip was not higher," said another. "And I would also contact the restaurant to speak to a manager because that server was way out of line."
But not everyone agreed.
"Tipping 10% is insane," commented one person. "You are cheap."
Another Redditor said the "petty" move might have punished co-workers pooling tips with her.
"The server could've been having a rough shift and having her manager speak to her might have helped her," the person added.
Nick Leighton, host of the podcast "Were You Raised By Wolves?" and a New York-based etiquette expert, agreed a manager should be brought in.
"When service issues are so egregious they warrant leaving a less-than-standard tip amount, it's ideal to loop in a manager first before exacting revenge on the server," Leighton told Fox News Digital.
"Simply walking away would have been the move."
"There are, many times, issues [that] are actually beyond the control of the server," Leighton said. So "the manager can help provide a more fair resolution for everyone involved."
While calling the customer a "cheapskate" wasn't warranted, taking back the tip "certainly escalated the situation," Leighton added.
"Simply walking away would have been the move," he advised.
Fox News Digital reached out to the original poster for comment.
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