We all love free chips and salsa at a restaurant, but maybe have some decorum when asking for them. This server shares telltale signs that someone is going to be a bad tipper, demanding extra chips and salsa being one of them.
Bad tippers be like…
Liz Bezler is TikTok’s bad tipper exposer. With several videos detailing annoying real and hypothetical customers, their page is a one-stop shop for learning tipping and dining etiquette. The Daily Dot has previously covered Bezler’s tips, like making sure you don’t insist on asking your server for stuff that isn’t on the menu. In this episode, Bezler gives viewers a lesson on free appetizers and DIY drinks.
“Yeah, so we’re just gonna do water with extra, extra, extra, extra, extra lemon,” Liz says, impersonating a customer.
“Awesome, yea no problem, I can get that in for you,” Liz responds, impersonating a server.
Viewers seem to resonate with this annoying extra lemon water order, which is essentially restaurant diners’ ways of avoiding paying for a lemonade.
“At my old restaurant the first lemon was free, each one after was $0.25. No homemade lemonade on the house. Stopped so many people from ordering extras,” one commenter said.
“I was waiting for the ‘bring sugar packets’ after the lemons,” another person wrote.
“When someone order extra lemons and sugar packets I go ‘Okay one DIY lemonade, anything else,’” someone else chimed in.
Free appetizer etiquette
The hypothetical customer in Bezler’s video continues to be annoying, but now with the free appetizers.
“Oh, and I was just wondering why the tortilla chips and salsa aren’t already on the table. Like, isn’t that suppose to arrive as the server arrives? … Also, if you could bring, like, three cups of salsa, that would be awesome because we’re definitely gonna need a lot of salsa. Honestly, you might as well just bring another basket of chips as well,” the hypothetical customer asks.
“Yeah, once the first basket of chips is gone, I can definitely bring you out another one,” Bezler says with a smile.
The text overlay on the video says, “HOW TO SPOT A BAD TIPPER,” and the caption says, “They just wanna get the free chips and salsa tho.” The video has almost 6,000 likes and 82,000 views.
What exactly is a “bad tipper”?
According to Belzer, customers looking to drastically cut their bills (in annoying ways) are usually going to be bad tippers. But what exactly does bad tipping mean? While tipping is generally based on the quality of service you receive, there are some general recommended amounts to tip.
According to Table Agent, 15% is the minimum you should tip anywhere for average service. If your server went above and beyond, 20% is the most appropriate. If the service was poor, it recommends asking to speak with a manager to remedy the situation instead of leaving no tip.
Table Agent also explains why large parties will often have a 20% minimum tipping amount. This is because, ironically enough, larger groups are more likely to tip less. That’s most likely because the bill is higher.
All in all, skipping corners on your bill by loading up on free appetizers and DIY lemonades tells your waiter you’re on a budget and that you might not tip well. This might affect the quality of your service if your server predicts early on that you won’t be tipping well.
@lizbezler They just wanna get the free chips and salsa tho😭😭 #crazycustomersbelike #difficultcustomersbelike #restaurantlife #comedy #serverlife ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – dg cria
The Daily Dot has reached out to Belzer for comment via TikTok message and comment.
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