If You Pull This ‘Prank’ at a Restaurant, You’re a Bad Person

A restaurant is a place to have a good time with friends and family, but there’s a limit to the hijinks when it comes to pranking your server. Some customers might go beyond what is acceptable when it comes to playing a joke on the person who is serving their food. Saying that the food was awful while your completely empty plate is being cleared is one thing, but there are a few pranks that go way beyond anything close to being OK.

Although this has never happened to me in my years of serving, I do know with certainty that it does happen. Doing this is a sure way to let a server know everything they need to know about the customer, and none of it is good. When the server first approaches, the customer lays out a pile of single dollar bills on the table and informs their server that this is their potential tip.

But, there’s a catch! For every infraction of service, based on the customer’s opinion, a single dollar bill is removed from the equation. The server took too long to refill a glass of water? One dollar gone. The coffee wasn’t hot enough? Another dollar vanishes.

The customer expects their server to jump through hoops like a trained monkey for the whole stack of money, but everyone knows it’s a power play. The fries are too salty? Say goodbye to another dollar. At the end of the meal, whatever is left of the stack of bills is now the tip. Honestly, it’s demeaning and demoralizing, and if it had ever happened to me, I would gladly forfeit the whole pile of money just for the privilege of not serving that person.

A prank that I have endured — one that is definitely not OK — is the act of leaving what appears to be legal tender, but isn’t. I once walked up to a table after the customer had left and saw what I thought was a $20 bill. I was surprised at the generous tip, given that it would’ve been much, much more than 20%. 

When I picked it up, I realized it was just a piece of paper made to look like a $20 bill. Andrew Jackson’s smiling face was a fraud. I turned it over and it said something like, “The real tip is Jesus. Letting Him into your life is the ultimate reward, much more valuable than money.” That may or may not be true, but I couldn’t pay my rent with it, so I was not pleased.

While we’re at it, coupons or leftover gift cards with random amounts are not tips either. The gift card is especially painful if it’s for the restaurant the server works in. That server does not need $4.28 toward food that they probably eat every single day.

One prank that’s especially popular with teens involves leaving a tip inside a glass of water. To make matters worse, the glass is flipped upside down on the table, so the only way to retrieve the soggy dollar is to spill the water everywhere. The trick works like this: the bill is placed at the bottom of a glass of water, then a piece of paper or cardboard is set on top. When the glass is flipped over, air pressure and the paper pressed tightly against the rim of the glass keep the water suspended, creating a messy challenge for whoever tries to pick it up. There are videos online of how to do it in case you want to try this the next time you go to a restaurant — so your friends and family and everyone at the restaurant will know you’re a really horrible person.

One final piece of tomfoolery that is an absolute waste of time and incredibly rude, is loosening the salt or pepper shakers on the table so the next person who uses one ends up with a completely wasted plate of food. Not only does this affect the person who it happens to, it affects the waiter, the kitchen, and anyone else who is eating with the salt-soaked customer because now they can’t all eat at the same time. Trust me, no one thinks it’s funny. If you want to make your server laugh, stick with the dad jokes. Don’t give servers a reason to dislike you.