The holiday season can really put a dent in your wallet, and there’s a chance that sometimes, you might be out of cash but flush with gift cards.
That’s precisely what happened to a sibling trio on TikTok during a recent trip to a Korean BBQ spot in California.
Kaitlyn and Gustavo Lombera, along with their older sister, decided to grab some food together but found themselves in a pickle when they had no spare change left to pay their tip.
The siblings posted about the awkward moment on TikTok, in a video that shows them leaving a $25 Amazon gift card on top of their almost $100 bill.
@kaittwest holidays left us #broke 😮💨😮💨
The caption read: “holidays left us #broke.”
To be fair, they asked the waitress first if she’d accept her tip in gift card format, the siblings told BuzzFeed. The server was totally OK with it and even thought it was funny, they said.
However, other TikTok users were torn over how they felt about paying with a gift card. Many who identified as service industry workers said they’d love to get a gift card as a tip, while others thought it was a cheap move.
One commenter said: “I’m a bartender. I WOULD HAVE LOVED THAT AS A TIP!!! 😁😁😁”
Another agreed and even pointed out that the $25 gift card was probably more than she would get in tips anyways.
“Also that $25 gift card is not taxable. You get that money all for you,” said another person in the comments.
However, not everyone agreed with the move.
One person said: “I didn’t think it was bad till I saw the bill. ‘We didn’t have money for a tip,’ you should’ve put some food down then.”
Other people also brought up the hefty bill and questioned why they were unable to pay the tip.
“Really?! The receipt says it cost $95, and he couldn’t afford to tip her $10 like wow.”
Many people came to their siblings’ defence and pointed out that tips are up to the guest, so a gift card should be more than acceptable.
“It blows my mind that people get angry at customers for not tipping them, rather than be mad at companies for not paying a livable wage,” one person wrote.
Another person joked that the card might be nearly empty. “Gift card has $0.37 in it,” they wrote.
One user who claimed to be the restaurant owner’s son even joined in on the fun.
“LMAO that’s my dad’s restaurant!” he wrote. “Hope you guys enjoyed.”