r/TalesFromYourServer • u/PowderFresh86 • 12d ago
Medium A Quarter For Your Time
Hi! In my late teens and early 20s I worked as a waitress/server at some local 24hr diners native to my city. Unfortunately, the last two closed during the pandemic but they had been around for about 35 years before that. We were paid about $2 an hour because we received tips. I want to preface this by saying that I live in the south. I'm also proudly black 🤎. One day, an older white woman came in. She was polite enough and I seated her and started the ordering process. As she was older and I've been taught high respect for elders, I was super nice and respectful.
The woman wasn't openly rude but she ordered like a drunk snail and referred to me as "girl" when calling me over. Now, most who have worked as a server know that despite introducing yourself by name and wearing a visible name tag you're often reduced to, "HEY!", "YOU!", or my personal favorite, "AYE!" with a head nod or hand wave. Due to this, I didn't think too much about it. As the service went on, she had a few demands that required my immediate attention such as refilling her coffee cup before others. Again, I tried not to think too much about it but it was starting to be clear that she was one of those, "Back in my day, your kind..." kind of people.
Again, she wasn't openly rude or anything else, just demanding. As she finished I cleared her dishes and brought her ticket. Customers walked up to the register to pay after eating. She wanted to remain seated so I did the transaction for her as again, she was older. After she got up, she winked at me and said, "get yourself something nice" and placed A QUARTER, 25 cents on the table! 25 USA cents... Y'all I just left it there. I didn't bother to pick it up and cleaned around it. She was clearly stuck in, "back in her day..." 😭.
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u/neon_honey 12d ago
Once, I was waiting on a major, very wealthy landlord in my town who was also very old. When he paid for his triple digit bill, he left me a single silver dollar as a tip, accompanied with a wink and a "here's a little something for you!" I was so flabbergasted that I thought perhaps this very rich man tipped in rare and valuable coins but alas, it was merely a regular dollar.
The kicker was he's my landlord! How do you expect me to pay my rent, sir? If you're going to tip like it's the 50s, my rent should reflect that!
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u/Auto-Tune_Is_A_Crime 11d ago
Should have told him rent would be late this month because of poor tipping
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u/QueenMotherOfSneezes 11d ago
A couple decades ago I was a line cook at a pub. One really slow winter night there was a table of a dozen boys from the university that stayed all evening, drinking beer. They were the last table by nearly 2 hours. The server decided to stay instead of handing them off to the owner (he would have given her the tips) even though they were being a little rude, she put up with them and remained cordial. The boss kept asking her if she wanted him to kick them out, and she said no, it was fine (I had closed the kitchen and was just drinking at the bar with one of our other staff). When they finally decided to settle up, they paid together in cash, and when she gave them the change, one of them took a quarter
AND FLICKED IT AT HER WITH HIS THUMB
And said "thanks honey, that was great", and all the guys laughed. He was physically picked up and removed from the pub by the owner (who was a huge guy) and the rest were barred for life 😄 . A couple weeks later some of them came back on another day, but when I recognized them, I told the bartender that they were the guys that flicked a quarter at Jen, and he kicked them out. They tried to leave without settling up, but some regulars threatened to kick the shit out of them 😄
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u/JustNoThrowsAway 12d ago edited 12d ago
My petty ass with a sugary sweet voice: Oh honey, if all you can afford to tip is a quarter then please keep it, you need it much more than I do. Bless your heart.
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u/Tiara-di-Capi 12d ago
I must say this:
Do not, under ANY circumstance, not even in distress, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT...
.......
....
..
....forget to add that "Bless your heart!"
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u/Spaz-Mouse384 12d ago
I’m just about as old as dirt. But I would never treat you like that. People who help me deserve to be treated well. I hope you never run into her type again.
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u/TinyNiceWolf 11d ago
Her grandkids told her to tip 25 per cent, but she didn't have her hearing aids in, and heard "25 ... cent".
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u/posophist 11d ago
Return it, salute, and recite: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”
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u/Silver-Brilliant-792 11d ago
A whole 25 cents 😭 the "get yourself something nice" makes it even worse lol.
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u/Repulsive-End-7743 11d ago
When this happens to me , I just hand it back to them saying you obviously need this more than I do. SMDH
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u/Cautious_Lemon8406 11d ago
I agree with one of the other people who replied —-
I am an old-ish white lady and I’m disgusted by this person‘s disrespectful behavior towards you and I’m so very very sorry for you but boy I admire your upbeat attitude and your unwillingness to post a bitter Reddit about it.
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u/RoaCrustyBiscuit 11d ago
My ex wife’s grandmother, who was 100% old South, in the early 2000s was still referring to Black people as coloreds. It was unbelievable to me the first time I heard her say it.
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u/CallidoraBlack 6d ago
"No, thank you, ma'am. Keep your quarter. I won't be serving you again. Have a nice day."
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u/No_Bluebird7716 12d ago
No. That kind of behavior was declassified in the1970s. I apologize for my race.
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u/-Harambes-Revenge 10d ago
get yourself something nice? with a quarter you can buy half a napkin. maybe.
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u/UpperLeftOriginal 12d ago
Jeezus. I’m an old-ish white lady myself, and i’m sorry you had to deal with this piece of garbage.
Many years ago, I worked on a ferry with food service. A customer asked for a different server when he saw that his server was black. I thought we all should have refused to serve him, but our supervisor took over. She was very polite to his face, but she was seething. We had to talk her out of putting visine in his coffee (it was supposed to give him diarrhea, but i don’t think it works that way), even though he definitely deserved it.
That was back in 1990. I would’ve hoped we would be better by now, but it seems like we’ve gone backwards in some places.