Waitress sparks debate after sharing how she got better tips by talking back to customers

‘I just stopped caring and started being a little b****y back to all of my tables’

(@tamela.anderson/TikTok)

A waitress has sparked a debate as she revealed that she started to receive better tips after she began talking back to rude customers.

On TikTok, Tamela, @tamela.anderson, shared multiple videos about her experiences as a server and how she has reacted when customers made comments about her physical appearance.

In one clip, Tamela acknowledged that “if men were going to be making inappropriate comments to her,” she was just “going to start making inappropriate comments back”.

She then recalled an experience where her behaviour towards customers helped her “get more money,”  after a man had asked her to “sit on his lap”.

“I was working at a brewery and this guy that would come in sometimes came at the bar,” she explained. “And he was pretty drunk and asked me to sit on his lap.”

“And I looked at him and I was like, ‘I’ll come sit on your lap, if you give me that $100 bill that I know is in your wallet.’”

She went on to note how the man grabbed his wallet and gave her the money. However, she said that she didn’t abide by his request, which he didn’t appear to be offended about.

“I took and I was like, ‘thank you, I’m not going to come sit on your lap though.’ And I walked away,” she continued. “And I could hear him laughing about it.”

Tamela shared that the man started to come to the brewery “more frequently” and would “only request” to have her as “his server”.

In another video, Tamela noted how a male customer made a comment to her about her hair colour and how “crazy” that was to her, as she highlighted how any remarks about a server’s “appearance” isn’t appropriate.

“You know what else is crazy? Making a comment to your server who is just trying to do f***ing her job, that you’ve never been a fan of women with her hair colour,” she explained. “Or making a comment about her appearance at all. That’s what’s f***ing crazy.”

“Me deciding to make an inappropriate comment to a man who thinks he has a right to just make comments like that to a server is not that crazy,” she added.

In a separate video, she noted that the customer initially left her a $5 tip. However, after she talked back to him about her hair, she gave him more money.

According to Tamela, she didn’t snap back at him for the sake of money, as she had “stopped caring” about what customers say. However, she said that having this attitude had been beneficial to her.

“I got to a point in my serving career, near the end, when I just stopped caring and started being a little b****y back to all of my tables,” she said. “And what’s funny is I actually started making more in tips.”

“So if you’re a server/bartender and you’re still new, and you’re trying to push through the s***ness by being overly nice, do not kill them with kindness. Kill them with b***ness.” she added.

She also still acknowledged that she had to be a “good and efficient server” in order to get those tips.

In the comments of her videos, many TikTok users agreed that servers should be able to stand up for themselves when customers are being rude towards them, despite that fact that their behaviour could affect how much they make in tips.

“Literally so many people brushed over it & were focused on ‘no me big man means no tip ever,’” one wrote. “Instead of the fact that you literally got insulted.”

“Yes! if a table is rude, I already know their tip is not worth faking niceness,” another added.

A third user added: “He has the ‘right’ to say anything he wants to you, but you have the right to say anything you want back.”

However, some viewers expressed how they thought that servers should never be snarky towards guests, regardless of if a customer is nice or not.

“Why does someone being rude allow you to be rude back? I don’t do that. I ignore it because it won’t fix anything nor make anything better,” one wrote.

“All I know is if a waiter/waitress tried to “shame” me for a 15% tip —and I WASN’T rude— I would lower the tip by A LOT,” another wrote. “We don’t have to tip.”

The Independent has contacted Tamela for comment.