Stop Blaming Servers For Your Complete Stupidity

A man left a five-cent tip for a server because he didn’t like that the restaurant made him wear a mask

File this under: Don’t be this guy. A man in Lincoln, Nebraska left his server a five-cent tip on a $38 meal, because he was mad that he had to wear a mask to enter the restaurant. Ali Siverhus, who works at Big Red East in Lincoln, Nebraska — which has a city-wide mask mandate — shared a photo of the crappy tip she received which included a hand-written message to “get rid of masks, tips will be bigger.”

Imagine being such an a-hole that you protest your city’s mask mandate by making it harder for a server to pay their bills. Siverhus shared the dismal tip on Facebook, writing in part, “the audacity of this man leaving a 5 cent tip.”

“So this happened to me tonight,” Siverhus shared on Facebook. “Just wrong on so many levels. First and foremost, the masks are a city mandate and there is nothing I or management can do about it. How is me wearing a mask affecting this man?”

“Second, servers make less than 3$ an hour typically, so our entire pay depends on tips. I was very nice to this guy and his young son, they got their drinks and food on time…” she continued.

If you’ve never been a server, let me tell you that server paychecks are like, a hundred bucks a week — they quite literally need tips to survive. Now you add a pandemic in the mix and servers are forced into becoming essential workers and are risking their lives to feed you because you just had to sit in a restaurant during a pandemic! Imagine the stress of being a server right now — you have to weigh your health against the harassment and resistance and entitlement of the customers you serve all while balancing your need to make a living. Honestly, if you demand to dine out right now, you better be prepared to lay out the biggest freakin’ tips.

Siverhus told Scary Mommy that her coworkers have been hearing other customers complaining about having to wear a mask in the restaurant.

“Customers only have to wear a mask when they aren’t seated, so while they are at their table they are free to take it off,” Siverhus tells us. “They really only have to wear it for about 30 seconds — from the door to their seat and vice versa — so it really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. And to get upset at the employees who absolutely have to wear the mask to be allowed to work is just ridiculous!”

For the customers who are still irate that they are being forced to wear a cloth face mask while another human being cooks, prepares, and brings them their food, Siverhus had the perfect clap back on Twitter, saying, “Don’t go out to eat if you hate it so much.”

Her Venmo (not CashApp, only Venmo) is @Ali-Siverhus if you want to give her the tip she deserved.