Imagine working hard all night, juggling multiple tables, doing your best—and then instead of a well-earned tip, you get a note. That is exactly what happened to a waitress named Janet, a 22-year-old server at a chain restaurant in the southern Midwest.
After serving a table of 18- to 19-year-olds, she went to pick up their check and found a bizarre message scrawled where the tip should have been: “Wear a life jacket.”
At first, Janet said she thought it was a joke, especially since her area had recently experienced historic flooding. But as it turns out, the teens meant it as a comment on how overwhelmed she looked during their meal.
What does “wear a life jacket” mean in this context?
You might be wondering, what kind of message is that to leave on a bill? Well, according to the bartender on duty that night, the teens told the manager they left the note because “she was drowning in work.”
So in their eyes, this was supposed to be a clever or empathetic remark.
But for Janet, it did not feel that way. She said:
“If everyone else thought I was doing great, I do not know what they were thinking.”
Instead of helping, their note came off as sarcastic and tone-deaf—especially considering she relies almost entirely on tips to pay her bills.
Why are tips so important to servers like Janet?
This is not just about feelings—it is about money. In Janet’s case:
- Her weekly paycheck after taxes is just $100
- She depends on tips for nearly all of her income
- She also has to tip out 2.5% to 5% of her credit sales to the support staff—even if a customer does not leave her anything
So when a table skips the tip altogether, it can actually cost her money out of her own pocket.
How did other customers treat her that night?
That is what made the teens’ gesture even more frustrating. Janet said:
- Every other table that night tipped at or above 20%
- One table left her $50 on a $170 bill
- She had to hustle and even asked the manager to help run drinks because she was so busy
In short, she was doing everything right—yet this group chose to make a comment instead of showing appreciation with a tip.
What was her response to the experience?
Janet eventually shared her experience on Reddit under the username u/Wrong_Confection331, hoping to raise awareness about how these kinds of actions can feel from a server’s perspective.
“I just wish they would have been more understanding of what was going on,” she said.
Whether the teens meant well or not, their message missed the mark. And for hardworking servers like Janet, that kind of dismissal can sting.
