Tipping on the edge

“Was the service ok? How is the food?” our server asked as we were leaving, not having touched the bill tray yet.

It was about a $35 meal including tax—ordering about 4 sushi rolls. We responded obliviously, “Yeah, it was good…”

Somehow I sensed there was a different intention than a polite question. The server continued “You left only $3 which is not even 10%.”

“Well, did we make a mistake? Ok, we did make a mistake.” I broke in, realizing that there was some miscalculation on our part but feeling a growing sour taste. I pulled out two dollars from my wallet and handed it to the server. I paused for a second wondering if I should apologize, but instead I walked out of the restaurant.

And for some reason, the three of us felt like we wouldn’t return to the restaurant for awhile.

2 thoughts on “Tipping on the edge

  1. wow. that’s incredibly rude. tips are totally up to you and are earned, not inherently deserved. i will leave really huge tips if i’ve been served well but little or nothing if a server rubs me the wrong way. even if the 3 bucks was a mistake, their comment on it would be enough to make it deserved.

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