'AITA for not tipping a waitress after I overheard her talking badly about me?'
"AITAH for not tipping after overhearing what my waitress said about me?"
IndependentFar8420 says:
I (30F) was at a restaurant last night with my mother. She was meeting my boyfriend's mom for the first time. We're punctual people, so we got there about 30 minutes before our reservation. We got seated with no issues.
It took the waitress 20 minutes to get to our table, even though the restaurant was pretty empty. Right away, I could tell that she didn't want to wait on us. She didn't greet us with a "hello"; she just asked what we wanted to drink.
We told her, and I noticed that she didn't write our order down. It took another 15 minutes for our drinks to get to our table, and they were wrong. It's hard to mess up a ginger ale and a vodka soda, but she did.
My mom pointed out that she didn't order a Pepsi, and the waitress rolled her eyes, took my mother's glass, and disappeared. I excused myself to use the washroom shortly after. I had no idea where I was going, so I went to the entrance to ask one of the hostesses there.
While I was walking up to the server area, I overheard my waitress talking to some other hostesses. She was pissed that she had to wait on us because we probably wouldn't tip well.
I wasn't stunned, but her lack of effort started to make sense. I interrupted their conversation and asked where the bathroom was. I didn't let on that I had heard what they were talking about. When I got out of the bathroom, my boyfriend and his mom were already seated.
When my waitress saw the rest of our party, she did a 180. Her service was stellar. She took notes, told jokes, and our water glasses were always filled. She didn't make another mistake.
Because the night went so well, I decided to treat everyone and pay the check. She gave me the machine, and I smiled at her while I keyed in "0%" for a tip. She didn't notice until after the receipt had been printed out.
By that time, all of us had already started to leave. She tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had made a mistake on the bill. I told her I didn't think so and looked at the receipt. She asked if there was a problem with her service, and I said her service was fantastic, but I look like, I don't tip well.
Her face went white, and she kind of laughed nervously, and I laughed as well. I walked out after that, but my boyfriend's mom asked what had happened. I told her what I had overheard, and my boyfriend's mom said that I should've tipped her anyway because it shows character. She seemed pretty pissed at me after that. My boyfriend and my mom are both on my side, but I'm wondering if I should've just thrown in a $2 tip?
Here are the top comments:
jeanabanina says:
Honestly, she needs to learn that lesson the hard way - be kind to people, and don’t talk badly behind peoples back. You’re NTA, she is the AH.
Lmaooowit says:
NTA. I definitely wouldn’t have tipped after that. Even the waitress knew it was bad when she asked why and you told her the reason. No way should someone tip after that.
ellaf21 says:
NTA. I worked as a server for six years and I would absolutely not expect a tip for behaving like this to customers. She probably does not make much in tips, and this industry isn’t for her. It’s so inappropriate to ask people why they didn’t tip you, this is so embarrassing.
Healthy-Magician-502 says:
Shows character? What character, that you’re a doormat who can be walked over? Your boyfriend’s mom sounds kind of stupid.
What do you think?