This Server's Rant On Tipping Others 20% Goes Viral; Here's Why

A TikTok creator, who works as a server at a restaurant in Atlanta, has shared her hot take on tipping 20% to fellow servers. In the video which now has over 117,000 views, Jenna B. (@jenna_michal), said that she refuses to tip other servers 20% if they don’t do a good job. She put “Serving is not hard” in the title of the video and shared her thoughts on what servers should do to earn a 20% tip.

Here's What Jenna Thinks Servers Must Do to Earn Their 20% Tips

The Atlanta server seemingly went on a rant about this and said she’s sick and tired of giving sizeable tips to other waiters and waitresses who don’t deserve it. She said that as a server she “busts her butt” making sure that her tables have everything, drinks are refilled, and more to get tipped good.

“I’m a server, and, a lot of you servers, you don’t deserve 20%,” Jenna says.

She complained that when she as a customer goes out to eat, she finds that the staff is not even doing the bare minimum and getting tipped the same amount. She expressed frustration at workers who don’t refill drinks on time or take 20 minutes to get condiments for the customers.

“Bro, this job is simple,” Jenna says in the video. “Does it get hard at times? Yeah. But you’re bringing people food and making sure that their drinks are full… It’s just not that hard,” she adds.

She then goes on to say that the servers who mess up, will not get a 20% tip from her. “If you sucked and I had to ask two times for a refill, and I had to get up and ask one of your co-workers because you couldn’t go grab barbecue sauce, I’m not tipping you 20%. I’m just so sick of it,” she says.

Here’s What Viewers Had to Say

While Jenna seemed to make a point, the comment section on her video was fairly divided on the issue.

Several users pointed out the fact that many restaurants have a poor system or are short-staffed staffed, which puts a lot of pressure on the servers. Thus, they may fail to do a job on bad days.

Fellow servers also seemed to differ a bit from Jenna. One of them said that nobody would ever hear these words come out of their mouth. Another expressed that the job may not be harder but life is, thus people need to have a little understanding.

Another server added to the issue of poor systems in restaurants. She pointed out that there is a major lack of training among servers as well.

One of those who sided with Jenna said that while mistakes are made on the job, carelessness can be spotted and it is way too common in the industry.

The Problem with Tipping Culture in America

Tipping in America is a double-edged sword. While customers are experiencing tip fatigue as they are having to tip services that should not be tipped, several workers like servers depend on tips to make a respectable income.

For example, New York has a tip credit system in place that allows restaurants to pay their serves below the standard minimum wage if their income with the tips adds up to the minimum wage amount. This makes the income of tipped workers volatile as it fluctuates from time to time.

On the other hand, the proposition of tips being removed has seen major pushback from  restaurant owners who claim that the costs will ultimately be borne by customers as they will have to raise prices.