Server reveals secret tricks she uses to get 20% tips from customers

A server went viral on TikTok by revealing all the secret tricks of the trade she uses to get customers to tip 20% – with fellow servers and customers alike weighing in.

A server named Hailey posted a video that has racked up over 1 million views on the platform. “These are my server bits that get me an immediate 20% tip,” she begins. 

“Number one: ‘Oh, you need some more ranch? Yeah, let me go grab that for you real quick.’ I come back, they’re praying…as soon as they’re done praying, set that on the table. (I tell them) ‘Your prayers have been answered.’”

Her second tip is that if the customer is a veteran, she will say “‘I promise my service will be excellent today as well.”

If the customers are churchgoers, and decline an offer of drinks, she will say “Well, Jesus drank wine,” which she says earns a 30% tip. 

Finally, she’ll make a few “glorified dad jokes,” earning the good humor of her customers. 

TikTok weigh in on server’s 20% tip jokes

After the video was posted on TikTok, servers everywhere couldn’t wait to share their own tips and tricks, writing some of the witty quips they’d tried with customers.

“With a table of older ladies (say) ‘y’all staying out of trouble tonight?’ They eat it up.”

“When someone says ‘sorry one minute,’ I always say, ‘take your time, I get paid by the hour.”

“When they say it’s too much food I always tell them I’ll bring a to-go box and a wheelchair – gets them every time.”

One server, however, shared that she didn’t have the same response from customers, writing: “My roadhouse guests literally just do not like jokes 99% of the time – they just wanna eat and get out it’s so sad.”

Another server went viral, when they refused to serve a customer a glass of water, which resulted in their tip being removed.