Waitress posts a TikTok video claiming she received only 1 cent after six weeks of work

The TikTok user, Liny, captioned her video with the phrase ‘Tip your servers!’

(via TikTok)

A waitress at a Nashville restaurant has claimed that she was paid as little as 1 cent for six weeks of work, in a now-viral TikTok video.

Liny, a 25-year-old service worker, made the extraordinary claim on the popular short-form video sharing platform, where she even showed her paycheck as evidence.

While it isn't yet known how many hours of work she completed during this period, Tennessee law can perhaps give some indication as to why her take-home pay was so meagre.

In the southern state, federal, social security and medicare taxes are dedicated from total income, which could help explain why Liny was so shortchanged.

This amount crucially doesn't include tips, the importance of which for service workers was outlined by Liny, who captioned her video with “Tip your servers!”

Despite the minimum wage for tipped employees across the United States being just $2.13 per hour, some fellow TikTok users were less than sympathetic to Liny’s situation.

“It’s not my job to pay your bills. I got my own to pay,” one responder claimed – a comment which received a massive 10,200 likes. “Blame the businesses you’re working for, not the consumers,” another viewer concurred. “In other countries, they don’t need to tip because they pay a living wage.”

However, for as many negative comments as there were, plenty of users jumped to the 25-year-old’s defence.

Liny’s TikTok video went viral, attracting over 100k likes in the space of a few days (Via TikTok - Ivndsmac)

“If you can’t tip go to McDonalds or cook at home,” one supporter stated. “Y’all did not pass the vibe check. When someone is taking your order and bringing your food, they are providing a service,” another user posited.

Liny’s video comes amidst the so-called “great resignation” in the US, where a number of industries are seeing staff walkouts en mass, amid longer hours and tougher working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s therefore understandable why such an emphasis is placed on tips, as for service workers like Kristen Songer, who works at a franchise in South Carolina, they can make all the difference.

As the New York Post reports, she bartended for seven hours on a Sunday and made a sizable $408 in tips. Working from 10.30am Monday to midnight, she made $350, and $190 for a six-hour shift the following day.