Kate Hackett
Not every country has the same kind of tipping culture we suffer in the United States. Many nations build the cost of servers into the actual price of the food; the pay for their workers comes out of the employers’ pockets instead of a patron’s.
But it’s generally polite to adhere to the tipping norms of the nation you are in.
TikToker Gracie Rose, aka @vibewithgracierose, went viral after she had an interaction with some German customers at her restaurant.
Gracie noticed that after finishing their service, they had left her a very small tip. When she asked what was wrong, they told her that because they were from Germany, it was not their custom to tip.
“So today my table only tipped me $2 on a $122 because they’re from Germany and they don’t tip there, right?” Gracie says in the video.
The TikTok changes to a picture of the check behind her.
“So, this is the check, guys. What does this look like to you? Let me zoom in.”
She does so and shows the total amount of money written on the receipt.
“First of all, I hate when people just write in the total and make you do the math to figure out what the tip is. But anyways, is this $125 or $7.25? Because it kinda looks like a seven, right?” she says.
Gracie continues, “So I’m showing my coworker like is this $125 and they gave me like 3 dollars? Or is…did they mean to put $7.25 in it? So I ask everybody, because they’re still sitting there, right? Mind you, they get three beers and two 9-ounce wines, so then I’m going to have to tip the bartender out because of this, right?”
“So then I ask the manager And they’re telling me to go over there and tell them. So these people, I guess they were foreign because they were speaking in a different language and they had one person translating for them so I was thinking, ‘oh maybe they don’t know, like, that you’re supposed to tip’ and like should I say something to them, right?”
“So I go up to them before I leave I’m like, ‘oh, I just was wondering, like, does this say 125 or is it 7.25?’ And they’re like, ‘no it’s 125,’ right. And so my manager told me to say this to them — like if it actually was 125 — she was like, ‘oh, is there something wrong with my service?’ Like, asking them, like, do I suck so bad you only gave me $2?”
At this point, Gracie starts to realize what is going on. “And then they start talking to each other in some other language and they’re like, ‘oh, well, we’re from Germany, so we don’t tip in our country.’ And then I’m just like, ‘oh.’ Because they’re like, ‘so, we think that that’s fine, like, that’s good.”
Gracie figured she’d try to educate them. “And then I’m just like because in America you usually tip between 15 to 20 percent because the servers we only get paid $2 an hour, right? So I’m just informing them of this. cuz I guess I thought they didn’t know. And they’re just like, ‘well we’re from Germany so, that’s fine, like we think that that’s fine.'”
She was stunned. “And then I was just…what am I gonna do? Start yelling at them? ‘Well, you’re in American now b—h!’ So I was just like, ‘OK, well I’m just letting you guys know for next time, but if you don’t want to tip me be like ‘that’s fine I guess.’ Like what was I, what am I supposed to do, right?”
Though she was “on the verge of tears,” she managed to hold it together.
“And then they left and the bartender said I didn’t have to tip him for their drinks, so then at the end I was giving him $7 and he’s like, ‘no, just keep it’ and I’m like, ‘this is for the other people that ordered drinks.’ He’s like ‘no, just keep it, cuz I feel bad.’ So he let me keep the $7 guys, so yeah.”
Gracie requested that the group not return: “Please do not come to my restaurant again. If you do, I am not serving you.”
