Jerk or Generous? Internet at Odds Over Misleading Restaurant Tip

A restaurant server has taken to the internet in an attempt to figure out if a diner was generous or kind of a jerk.

Reddit user spaceymason recently shared an image of a guest's check in the r/serverlife subreddit.

"What would you do?" the user asked before explaining that a manager and others working at the restaurant suggested getting as much as possible from the diner.

In the photo, the tip and total on the grease-stained receipt are difficult to discern.

"Manager and everyone else said to put on the 70, I thought it was $3 tip total," the original poster explained. "Not, I'm looking and wondering because there were 2 3s (I'm assuming it's cause the pen wasn't working well though)."

You be the judge. Did this restaurant guest leave a $3 tip or a generous $33 gift on a $37.01 check?

Naturally, the photo caused a stir in the subreddit dedicated to those in an industry who rely heavily on customers' tips.

"The 4 is one of the worst 4s I have ever seen and it looks like a 7," Reddit user JackSchneider said agreeing with the OP's coworkers.

"I get the context clues thing, but that is a 7," shebringsthesun added. "Dude needs to learn to write better when it comes to something like a check."

Others in the comments pointed out why the server should accept the lower of the two possible tip amounts.

"Oh come on, it's a terrible tip but it's so obvious that's a 4 and not a 7," Reddit user NYerInTex shared."

The server popped back into the conversation later in the day to reveal the customer was charged a $3 tip instead of $33.

"I put in $40," the server told the others in the comments. "When my manager got there and I showed him, he said I should have put in $40 and to go off the total. The table was friendly and drove a nice car... I wanted to err on the side of caution."

The Reddit photo is the latest among a growing number of viral social media posts from restaurant servers looking to get a fair shake in the industry.

Earlier this week, a server from Olive Garden gained attention on TikTok for expressing his frustration over low pay and a supposed decrease in the number of people at his restaurant.