Single Mom, Sorry: Is it Ever OK to Leave an Excuse Instead of a Tip?
Is it ever OK to say you're a single parent in order to avoid leaving a tip?
The $138.35 was paid with a Visa credit card, but in the space for a gratuity, someone simply wrote, "single mom sorry."
And, at the bottom of the bill, a compliment: "Thank you it was great."
"I'm sure $140 could have gotten you and your kids a week's worth of groceries, but instead you spend it on one meal?!
"And this is why many restaurants automatically charge you X% for a tip when the bill is above a certain amount, or there are a certain number of people in the party," Szos pointed out.
"People are scumbags."
But it's not the lack of a tip that's upsetting servers.
It's the fact that the customer took the time to whine about being a single mom—and then rubbed salt into the wound by saying the service and the meal were fine.
Given that waiters earn much less than minimum wage, they rely on their tips in order to earn enough money to pay the bills.
"I wish everyone could work one week as a server and then try to tell me it's not hard.
The better you are at it, the easier it becomes, but it can still be very tough.
Others refused to believe that the receipt was real.
"Looks fake. Handwriting doesn't match between the tip note and the thank you note," notbob1959 wrote. "Customer probably left tip in cash so the tip line was left blank."
But most readers recalled their own experiences as waiters and waitresses, and were furious on the waiter's behalf.
"If you're going to eat at a nice restaurant, the tip is part of that experience," .
After all, if you eat right and work out, you'll look and feel great-so there's no need for extremes.
That said, sometimes you want to tone up. That's why we found the best diet tricks that don't involve depriving yourself. Now that's our idea of a diet.
1. Eat More Yup, you read that right. According to research from Penn State, eating bigger portions of food will help you feel fuller longer.
2. Get Slice-Happy An Arizona State University study found that people who cut up their food eat less than those who don't, but feel equally satisfied.
3. Listen to Jazz Music New research from Cornell University discovered that listening to soft music, like jazz or an easy listening Pandora station, can help you eat less-like 175 fewer calories less per meal. And that can add up.
4. Don't Skip Meals You've probably heard that skipping a meal is bad, but new research breaks down how bad it can be.
5. Drink Cold Water J. Lo reportedly only drinks ice-cold water, and Cosmo Radio women's health expert Jennifer Wider, MD, says she might be on to something. Some fitness experts think that cold water can help speed up your metabolism.
6. Don't Look at Junk Food According to a new study from the University of Southern California, photos of high-calorie foods like cupcakes, sodas, and pizza flip a switch in your brain that makes you crave them.
So take a pass at eyeballing the pastry display at Starbucks when you order you latte. Your bod will thank you.
