Florida TikTok user Büeli sparked a debate about a recent restaurant experience with her now viral video.
Under her user name, @buelistic, Büeli stitched a TikTok with user @africanbarb, and she shared a time when she was denied service at a restaurant location because one of her friends didn’t leave a tip during a previous visit.
The original video posted by @africanbarb has over 90,000 views.
In her video, @africanbarb said, “Nobody is obligated to tip no f**king body! If you give me good service then OK, besides that shut the f**k up.”
Büeli went on to make a video in agreement and included a storytime to prove her point. Her video has now garnered over 1 million views.
Büeli started her video by saying that @africanbarb was “absolutely correct,” emphasizing the point that it is not mandatory to leave a tip.
She then said as a “tattoo artist” she “encourages” all of her clients to tip, especially because tattoo artists make their entire living off of that money. Still, she acknowledges that it’s “not a requirement.”
She added that if she just gets paid for the price of her service then she is “fine with that.”
She then begins with a storytime explaining how a restaurant allegedly denied her and a group of friends service.
“So yesterday I went to a restaurant with somebody that I love, and we decided that this time we would turn our duo into a trio and we invited one of our friends,” she starts. “When we sat at the table, none of the servers showed up and one of the managers came by and told us that they would not like to serve us anymore.”
“We asked them why and they told us that tipping was a big reason,” she continued.
“Not everyone can afford to give the waiters a tip, and this should not prevent individuals from being served in the future,” Büeli continued explaining.
She went on to ask viewers if they felt like “this was a good enough reason to deny service to someone for the rest of their life, especially if the service is not always up to par.”
Büeli told the Daily Dot that she and her partner had frequented the restaurant for some time.
The content creator said she always tipped at the establishment, noting that she left the server $20 the last time she was there. However, her friend who joined them for dinner only tipped if they had the means to do so.
The TikToker also clarified a few details about the situation — particularly regarding their interaction with the restaurant’s manager after they had been waiting at the table for 10 minutes.
“The manager showed up and told us that multiple staff members have expressed that they would not like to serve us and asked if we could leave the restaurant,” she said.
After more conversation between the trio and the restaurant staff, it was determined that they were asked to leave because of tips. And while Büeli and her friends disagreed with this, they left quietly and vowed never to return to the restaurant again.
In her conversation with the Daily Dot, Büeli also revealed other past negative experiences with the restaurant.
“I boycotted this restaurant because another friend, the third person, felt that they were racially profiled,” she explained. “As a spiritually aware person, I don’t feel comfortable accepting food from beings with potentially negative energy toward me.”
The debate around the video is possibly rooted in the American tradition of always leaving a tip for your service.
But there were some interesting views shared on tipping in the comments of Büeli’s video.
One user, @amberedge2020 wrote: “I tip based SOLELY on service. I don’t tip just because I’m ‘supposed to’ I don’t go the percentages suggested if I get amazing service. I overtip,” they said.
Let us know how you feel! Do you think tipping should be mandatory? Or is it based upon quality of service?
