A server and comedian who has over 10,000 followers on TikTok said in a since-deleted video that she followed a customer into the parking lot to confront them for leaving a bad tip.
Commenters gave their opinions on how servers should handle receiving inexcusably low tips, with many disagreeing with Ashley Gaffey’s (@ayy_gaff) method.
Gaffey’s video received over 359,500 views before it was deleted. She titled it “Server Problems” via text overlay.
After receiving a 1-cent tip, Gaffey said she confronted the customers when they made it to the parking lot. “’Do we have a problem?’” Gaffey recalled asking the customers. “And the guy was like, ‘Ugh.’ And I said, ‘Did you think this was funny? Is that what’s happening?’”
“This bitch goes ‘Yeah, kinda,’ and I said, ‘OK, well just so you know, a little consideration goes a long way,’” Gaffey said.
Viewers, especially those in the service industry, had a lot to say about how to properly handle receiving bad tips. “I have told my staff to NEVER ask about tips or question guests. A few ignored what I said. I fired them,” one person who claimed to be a professional chef and restaurant manager said.
Many blogs outline how servers should handle bad tips. Hospitality School recommends that servers not confront offending customers. A restaurant worker who says he has been in the service industry for 27 years suggests letting a manager confront the customers on the server’s behalf.
When responding to one critic who questioned why Gaffey “chased customers to the parking lot,” Gaffey said in a follow-up she wanted “to prevent them from doing that to someone else.”
“So that person gets to intentionally make me feel like shit after I thought that I did a good job waiting on them?” she said. “What was the intention behind not tipping me? It’s not even about the non-tipping. It was about purposely writing in the one penny. You purposely wanted to send a message. I was unclear as to why, so I went and asked why. … You can’t get mad at somebody else for wanting to stand up for themselves.”
Gaffey said she works seven days a week and doesn’t even have time to use the bathroom at work or get a proper meal or hydration break in. “So when I’m literally giving my all to refill your shit without you asking, yeah, I’m gonna ask why.”
Gaffey said she already has plans to use this incident in her comedic content. “I just already know how I’m going to turn this into something positive,” she said.
Viewers flooded Gaffey’s follow-up with support. Some viewers even came to Gaffey’s defense and showed support for restaurant servers under Gaffey’s original video.
“Everyone should be a server once in their lives. I think people would be more respectful,” one viewer said.
Gaffey later addressed the criticism she received under the original and called the negativity she received bittersweet in her newest TikTok. She said she’s not letting the hate get to her.
The Daily Dot reached out to Gaffey via Instagram direct message.
