In most of the United States, minimum wage workers usually survive on tips- especially in the service sector. So, it does seem that the most humane thing to do would be to tip proportionally to the service availed. Some individuals do follow through on that, while others don’t. This rarely makes the fine print, but in one such situation, it is the mother who calls out her son for undertipping on social media.
While it seems a little discordant to air one’s dirty laundry all over the Internet, it does etch out the conditions of minimum wage workers and how one could help them. This mother, Danielle Foster, is also an entrepreneur- so who better understands the troubles of the working class? She went viral on TikTok after putting up a video clip from her daily life.
Mom Asked Son Who Had Under Tipped To Go Back and Tip Extra
Her TikTok video regarding her son undertipping amassed around 2 million views, where she showed how upset she was when she saw how much her son had tipped at a restaurant. The video was captioned, “I raised him better” and was a quick lesson by Foster to her son about how important it was to not only tip- but also tip the correct amount. After getting to know how much her son tipped, Foster said,
“Johnny, you need to go get my wallet. You need to go get my VISA card, you need to go to the ATM, and you need to grab a 20 and drive your a** back to that restaurant because on a $104 check, $10 is a s**tty tip. Do you understand me? Go now! I’m not asking, I’m telling. It’s not funny. Do you know that guy might have kids? Do you know that $104 gets taxed on it? You’re going to grab my credit card, get $20, and drive it back there.” When her son acquiesced to this, she further stated, “Johnny, I want to see you hand it to him. I want to see you walk in. I’ll be muted, but you don’t know how to tip.”
Her Son Had Followed Through and Had Tipped $30
After she had posted this video, the entrepreneur updated her followers that her son had indeed gone back to the restaurant and after undertipping the first time, had rectified his mistake and tipped $20. So on the whole, her son had tipped $20 on a receipt of $104. The check was paid with the money that he had saved, and while his mother considered it to be his first-ever date because he had driven his girlfriend out to eat, it was actually their first anniversary together. After coming back home, he was quite happy with the service that he had received and proud of the money he had tipped. But since he also had a gift card for $50, he didn’t think he also had to tip on that card.
Some of her followers did raise questions as to why she had yelled at her son to rectify his mistake at undertipping. To this, Danielle stated that her kid was a bright student out and out. Also, he was never out partying like the kids his age and was generally quite a nice boy. The reason behind her yelling was that she was from Jersey, and she was Italian, so this is how she usually spoke to people.
But even her son had trouble realizing that his mom was actually screaming at him. Nevertheless, she was quite proud that her son had fixed his mistake by swallowing his pride. “And for people saying that servers don’t work hard, I reminded my son that when I was a single mom before I married my husband of almost 11 years now, I was a server in two different restaurants and worked another job to support us.”
OP Still Received Negative Comments Which She Didn’t Let Affect Her Son
Danielle also addressed some of the hate comments that she received as a result of this TikTok video. She mentioned that the first thing she did after waking up was to apologize to her son for uploading this video on TikTok- and asking him to not look at the hate comments- because the mother-son duo knew how their relationship was. But she did feel quite bad when people were spouting negative things about her son, who was a good kid.
“But here I was just trying to give parents the other tip that even if you do talk to your kids about things, they don’t 100% understand. Like, my son didn’t realize that a gift card doesn’t mean that you don’t tip on top of it. Well, this is my explanation. He’s a good kid. I do the best in my parenting that I possibly can. And then if you don’t want to tip, don’t go out to eat. That’s really all I gotta say. Thanks.”
Danielle Foster’s Attitude Towards The Service Workers
When Bored Panda asked her if she had any reason to believe that her video regarding her son’s undertipping would go viral, Danielle Foster was speechless. “I actually am completely shocked. My son came home from the date, and so I didn’t think any of our friends and family would believe me when they told me what he tipped. So I started videotaping it so I had proof. I sent it to my team on Slack, then my family.”
The main gist of the video, according to Foster was, “I was a single mom, I have family who currently are in the serving business and people forget in the states, tipping is how they make their money. My son is 16, almost 18, and will be going into the world by himself. I need to make sure that I continue showing him everything I think is correct in the world.” Foster also believes that people should generously tip- when the service has been really good. “My parents raised me to treat the janitor the same as you would treat the President. Servers work hard, they deserve to get them tips.”
Soon, Bored Panda also asked this working mother about her plans of uploading further TikTok videos. She said, “My husband will come home, so I will post a lot of military stuff. Most of my stuff is about my company and towards the stay-at-home parent or military spouse/first responder spouse community.” She concluded her interview with the media company by saying, “I really just love TikTok and find it fun. We old people are always taking it over.”
How Much Is The Proper Amount For Tipping?
Her video also got a lot of comments from people, most of whom were appreciative of the lessons she was teaching her son. One user commented, “As a server, I love you. Thank you for teaching him how to appropriately tip when the service is good. He’s a great kid and you’re a great mom.” Another user mentioned how tipping wasn’t a subject that was taught in school, and it was quite easy to make a mistake. And just like Danielle’s kid, the user also had to go back and tip after under-tipping initially.
Several other users also weighed in, with one commenting, “Good job Mama! I have talked to my kids in detail about how they better tip good when they start going out.” Another user talked about how they had a similar conversation with their kid before prom dinner- and also explained the expectations of the group bill, so that the kid and his friends could plan everything beforehand. Yet another user chipped in with, “I always tip 20% even if the service is bad cause you never know what people are dealing with. Even as a teen I did this. Good on you, mama!”
But there were others who thought that the son had over-tipped rather than the actual under-tipping accusation he had received. One user commented, “You are telling me if I spend $500 I need to tip $100 to the server who brought me my food with a smile on his face and nothing else.” While another user mentioned, “Tipping has gotten out of control. By continuing this, it allows the boss to keep paying poorly.” A third user went along this train of thought and said that if a waiter spent just 5 minutes on them, $10 was more than sufficient. They would rather tip the chef if that was a thing in restaurants.
So, where do our readers stand on under-tipping? What do you think is a good amount to tip?
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Sources
- Tiktok. d.foster.president.
- “Son Tips $10 After Eating For $104, His Mom Is Furious And Sends Him Back.” Bored Panda. Liucija Adomaite and Kotryna Brašiškytė. February 2023.
