A North Carolina bartender has revealed how many customers leave the bar without paying their bills.
Waitress Michelle Kimball posted a viral video on TikTok showing how many tabs she had to complete at 2:30 a.m. after a busy Saturday night.
In the video, Kimball, who has 4.8 million followers on TikTok, shows the huge amount of receipts from customers who are “walking away.”
“These are the open tabs, the tabs that nobody closed, you’re not going to believe this,” Kimball said.
The waiter’s colleague then dragged the row of receipts along the long bar.
Waitress Michelle Kimball, who has 4.8 million followers on TikTok, revealed open eyelashes
The video revealed that 372 tabs were left open at the end of a hectic Saturday night.
“Now, for all 372 tabs, I can go in here and add a 20 percent tip to each one of them,” he explained.
“Thank God I can do maths very quickly,” he joked.
In a separate video, Kimball answered a user’s question about whether servers don’t like it when tabs aren’t closed before a customer leaves.
“First of all, no,” Kimball explained, “we appreciate you opening an account.”
‘It takes a lot longer if you just order one beer at a time and close each time instead of starting a tab.
‘Secondly, if you walk up to the bar and it’s so crowded that you can’t get a bartender’s attention right away, that means we’re making drinks for other people, meaning we’re making money.
‘So if you walk out without paying and you were going to tip 20 percent, we love you.
“It takes a lot less time to close the deal at the end of the night and then just add 20 percent,” he added.
Some viewers of the video agreed that leaving a bill open with the expectation of receiving a 20 percent tip is a helpful practice.
“When the bar is packed and I know they’re closing with a 20% tip, I feel like I’m doing both of us a favor, but correct me if I’m wrong,” one user wrote in the comments.
“It’s actually cheaper for the bar to swipe the card just once. Those swipe fees can be deadly for business,” added another who agreed.
While many are happy to leave a customary 20 percent tip, a recent study found that three-quarters of Americans believe tipping culture has gone too far.
The findings come amid a widespread backlash against “tip inflation”, which has seen tipping culture spread from bars and restaurants to shops, takeaway chains and even self-service machines.
84 percent of those surveyed by CouponBirds argued that the minimum wage should be raised to offset the need for gratification.
Overall, tipping was most common for restaurant services. About 59 percent of consumers said they would tip for dinner, while 43.8 percent would do so for takeout.
This was followed by hairdressing and beauty services, for which 41.1 percent of respondents said they would tip.
About 39.6 percent said they would tip in a taxi, while 36.8 percent said they would tip in a bar.
The place shoppers were least likely to tip was at a convenience store or a grocery store. About 4.9 percent of respondents said they would add a tip in this case.