The restaurants punish the servers??! Good ol' USA. Let's kick the hard workers when they're already down. Smh.

Making servers pay for those that dine and dash out of their measly $3 per hour wages is beyond disgusting and is surely illegal?

If the waitress was scared they were dine-and-dashing, she probrably didn't have time to check the table - she had like three seconds before they were out the door, and she got stuck covering their bill. (In the US, this is unfortunately common). It's customary to signal the wait staff and make sure they see you leaving cash for just this reason. She wasn't being an a*****e, she was protecting herself. YTA for taking back the whole tip - you should have left 20% minimum. She did her job - you messed up, by not showing you had paid, and then you were petty.

Gratuity or tipping is wrong, because it's removing the income issue from employers' responsibility to the customers.

I have a good friend who leaves very large cash tips whenever he drinks, which is all the time. He even does it in instances where it's not deserved and the server or bartender wasn't even attentive and on very small checks. It's all good but I started seeing he does it more for his ego than anything else. Instead of adopting a "how dare you?" Attitude, realize the current climate these servers are working in. Understaffed, spread thin and over worked. Should've let her apologize and left her with the original intention.

I think the key point here is the aggressiveness of the reaction, and assuming the OP is telling the truth, suffering abuse is no reason to dish it out.

Regardless of this event, I note that the US law on the employment of waiters makes them similar to beggars, who must do everything to earn a tip that will help them survive, since the salary is not enough. Even in Italy it is common to leave a tip and waiters' salaries are often quite low, but the situation is absolutely not comparable to that of the USA.

People here are way too comfortable to be called a thief when your intention was to do a good deed. Imagine the embarrassment they felt? The aggressiveness of the server? Completely not acceptable. In my country accusing people of a crime is a crime in itself. Better be damn sure.

First of all, OP, you dropped $200 cash on a $50 restaurant tab. At 30, you're not doing "fairly well". At minimum rage, that's about three days net income, maybe. Already dipping into YTA territory and we haven't even started the story. Secondly, a $50 tab for two is grilled salmon and a glass of wine or steak and a beer; a nice night out but very little cursive on the menu, and a prime target for dine and dash. Now, flip the POV. Depending on the region, 75% of the waitstaff's income comes from tipping. If they pay for dine-and-dashes, $47 is about a day's wage for which they are also not getting paid (and IMO the owner running that SOP should be dragged behind their auto-driving Tesla.) Yes, the waitress should have checked the table for a cash drop before accusing you of theft meaning ETA here. But for yanking back $150 pocket lint, you're the king.

Could you believe how high your horse is??!! Server's have it rough and there is a lot of stress factors involved. Do you think she may not have looked at tge table as she is busy on serving other patrons as well. Do you think she may only have seen you leave and not pay. Do you think??!! Obviously the AH Go back and give her the initial tip so that this experience humbles you a little

I'm not sure why TAH thinks that leaving that much money on the table is not a problem. 200 hundred is a lot of money to a lot of people and can easily be picked up. This AH is living in a fantasy world. It's not like they ordered a cup of coffee and left a 5. I mean christ sakes how careless are people with money nowadays!

Yta I'm assuming the money was inside the booklet that holds the bill, she would not have seen that and who in there right mind leaves 200 cash sitting on table for anyone to grab. Where I live most people pay at register or hand payment to waiter/waitress I would have assumed a dine in dash as well and then shenwould have had to pay

Let me preface this with a "I hate tipping and tipping culture. It's terrible. And we need to do better with our service industry." Both are AH. But neither major ones. First and foremost, if you otherwise felt the service was that good to deserve a 300% tip, then it's ridiculous to cut it down to 8% over a misunderstanding. Second, there's a lot of reasons for a server to disregard the table to stop you. By the time they stop and check, if you hadn't paid, you could be out the door and harder to get. You think there's low crime, but don't know. She worded things poorly, but given the situation she thought she was in, it's not as if she had a prepared script to go off of. It was panic at being $50 out on her day. Finally, for you, totally understandable for you to be hurt by the accusation. I doubt it was nearly as bad as you think, but that doesn't matter. Reduce the tip? Sure, totally justified. But by that amount? Not sure you're justified there.

What kind of AH leaves $200 in notes plain view on the table? I might leave cash on the table for a coffee, but not for a full meal. It is tempting to someone to steal it, and they you also get into hot water as your bill hasn't been paid.

Leaving $200 is unnecessary, but taking it away in order to punish your waiter is unjust. Especially over something as trivial as being told to pay your bil.

YTA. Punishing someone over a perceived slight is the very definition of vindictive. She was doing her job. Get over yourself.

This woman is definitely the AH. Why would the server expect a customer to leave the payment on the table. People are paying with cash less and less. The OP says she’s a Christian, yet has no sympathy for the server, who may have to pay back the restaurant if customers leave without paying. It’s probably happened to the server before. By the OPs admission the server did a good job, yet the OP made her feel like two cents when she took away the tip. Some people like to say they are Christian’s, but are really just jerks hiding behind Christianity.

Ok so I worked in many restaurants in my life time. Here is the deal with many of their walkout policies. Server is stuck paying either half or full and if it happens more than once, possibly fired. The ancient of thinking you possible worked for free if a let's say 90 tab walks out and you made 150 total. On top that, you must cover your tip outs to a host and bat usually and the tax on tab then of course the tip that never was. It's possible that was the case and perhaps her anxiety of trumped her trust in the GP. Now you took a tip you whole heartedly wanted to bless her with assuming she was excusing you of theft and you left her a insult of a tip because you were offended.

I would never have left that much cash just lying on the table like that. It's too easy for someone else, even another server, to nonchalantly walk by and snatch up that money. Always make contact with your server before you just up and leave. It was nice that OP wanted to leave such a hefty tip, but that wasn't the wisest way to do it. And as anyone can see, doing that paves the way for a lot of mistakes to be made. Server didn't check the table, because OP hadn't acknowledged they were leaving. OP didn't skip out on the bill, but the server didn't know that. Some establishments used to make the server responsible, and would take the amount out of the employee's paycheck, if the party skips out on the check. Maybe that's why the server was quick to jump to conclusions. Both parties were at fault. The whole thing could have been avoided.

Yta, but because of a different reason. Why on earth would you give a tip 3 times the bill? As a non-usa citizen I know tipping is different in the US than in other countries. But do you realise that by doing this, you are destroying your own tipping culture even more. (worse when doing it abroad, setting the 'norm' for the rest of the word, even when not necessary)

The righteous cow should have handed the cash to the server initially and always should. She gets off on telling people they do well and what not. Leaving a $150 tip is nice but not to brag on the Reddit board about doing it when going out. The server didn’t want to be in the hook but the patrons should know better than to leave cash on the table especially $200. She the ah for taking back the money.

I would've done the same thing why because the same amount of time it took her to run after you because she thought you didn't pay is the same amount of time she could've went right to your table and claimed her tip and saw that you paid your bill and left her a huge tip. but since she did that she blocked her own blessing oh well her loss

We stop leaving cash and walking out when someone stole it all. And as a server, I have seen customers steal tips. I even saw a table of six leave great tips, but one guy came back and stole the money his friends left. Per policy, we weren't allowed to say anything. But I never paid for a walkout. You don't pay to work.

Another thing to think about is that some restaurants make the servers pool the tips then divide them evenly.

You are both a******s. If I am leaving a generous tip, and I always tip in cash, I hand it to the server directly when I leave. She's an a*****e because she shouldn't have assumed that you were running out on the bill, and you're an a*****e because you shouldn't have assumed she would pick up such a large tip once the bus person and other passing customers left. There are lots of Youtube videos of other 'patrons' stealing a cash tip off the table as they leave. It's just common sense not to do what you did.

what idiot walks out and leaves money on the table to begin with instead of handing it to the server?

Yta..she's young and not a typical gen z ..yeah, she could have controlled her emotions a little bit better, but everyone has a bad day, everyone gets their a** chewed by their boss or as another person commented, maybe she had to be responsible for a chew and screw...if everything was perfect until you're ready to walk out the door, why do this??? Did it affect your meal?? Give the kid a break, retail, food service, etc.all suck to work in..

I think in a perfect world ok but walk a mile in her shoes,she admitted she hadnt checked table (she basically panicked). Also I think your change in tip was harsh and seemingly erased everything up to that point???. Lastly who are you to teach teach her a lesson? Heard the saying about glass houses?

Well (a deep subject for shallow minds), making assumptions is a very slippery slope, after all it does spell out that it does make "an a*s out of you and me". This young woman should have, indeed, checked the table before making the worst "assumption " and reacting the way she did. However, OP was rather vindictive in her reaction by shorting her tip by such a huge amount, just plain mean and uncalled for. Would have been better if she changed the tip to 15 or 20% given the fact she admitted the service was just fine, in fact, fine enough to warrant her leaving the initial $200. Her reaction was on the level of a 10 yr old on the playground taking their ball and leaving because of some perceived slight. Thus, they were both wrong.