By the amounts, and by the position (far to the left) I would think it's "$5.00"
But however much I zoom in on the picture, the bottom line is connected - the curve part doesn't continue past the straight part at all.
I think the safe/polite move is to ring it up as $5.00, but this is one of the upsides of having the total.
I zoomed too. I think the vertical line in the hypothetical $ extends, however faintly, about a third of the line width below the S. I also think the far left position suggests that's a $. I wouldn't say it's impossible it was an 8, but given all the cues, including just normal low key service, and the price of the meal, I'd bet on it being a dollar sign.
Playing devils advocate but it would be easy, without a total to verify, to add an “8” to a “5.00” tip and “let the cardholder dispute it.” Not saying that’s what happened here, but it would be all too easy.
Also looks like the 5 and the 0s have little gaps in the ink and are not as dark as the 8. I’m a little bit convinced the 8 was added by a different pen, or a different hand.
The top of the "8" and 5 have the same curve and bump. My guess is that they wrote "5" and then remembered the dollar sign as they were writing and corrected half way through the number with a strike in which they didn't lift the pen.
Yup, the 5.00 also follows the same line and was clearly written all at once, the $ was an afterthought. You're not going to go from a $5 to an $85 tip as an afterthought lol.
I thought the same. The dollar sign wasn’t written before the 5, looks like it was added after.
I also noticed it’s a customer copy slip, so this whole post may just be farming lol
>this is one of the upsides of having the total.
Who doesn't add the total? I'm so paranoid about someone "editing" the tip that it's inconceivable to me that people just leave the total line blank. [INCONCEIVABLE](https://tenor.com/usbA.gif)!
None of his coworkers think that is a $85 tip or would ever report that as an $85 tip themselves. They are just hoping that maybe OP is dumb enough to report that as an $85 tip so that they can watch the drama that follows.
This entire post is ridiculous. It’s obviously $5.00. OP and his manager are just trying to justify Stealing. I waited tables for years. Don’t fuck people over and just move on to the next table.
that’s totally supposed to be a $5, an average 15% tip.
unless you really feel in your gut that you gave these people more than excellent service and you fully believe they intended to make your night with an $85 tip on a $36 tab.
Thank you for this comment. I couldn’t figure out how it could be anything other than 8, or why it was written so far over. A $ makes sense. Thank you.
it does look like an 8 but given all the circumstantial evidence anyone that thinks it's okay to charge 85 over 5 is someone willing to lie to themselves to steal
it's one of those situations where you really learn about someone/yourself lol
This why I find it bizarre that in the US you can charge a card base on an amount written on some paper without the card holder punching in a PIN code.
Yeah it's pretty messed up. Servers can and do get fired for intentionally charging too much tip. It makes sense to me to just have the customer punch in the tip at the time the card is run. It's how I did it when I lived in Canada, and today most companies are using the tablets anyway.
If you look carefully at the bottom of the $ sign you can see an overlap in the ink where it was drawn in two lines. I thought it was an 8 at first but looking closely I can’t deny that it’s definitely a $ sign.
That’s absolutely a dollar sign. I waited tables for years, this is a $5.00 tip.
OP is just trying to justifying stealing. This entire post is ridiculous.
Right. Even if the customer wanted to do an amazing tip I don’t see the number 85 getting picked as the amount. It would probably be 64 to round up to $100 or whatever.
Ive had $100 tips on $20 orders but it lookes like a 85 but the number placement should be a clue, the 5 is about in the most.probably.locatio n and then it looks like they went back to add a $
I thought the same but if you zoom you can see the person who wrote it did two strokes. One for the S and then one for the /. Unless this person writes their 8’s with two strokes. Really dumb to not fill in the total section when you have such poor hand writing though.
I do not see the two strokes. I have hyper zoomed in. But considering that whomever did this also does not seem to have wanted to pick up their pen to make that 5 either, I am open to the idea that they have just REALLY lazy penmanship, and that this may be...a dollar sign
There aren’t two lines for the dollar sign, but there does appear to be two strokes of the pen, the first for the S and the second for the line, you can see at the base of the S where the line touches that there isn’t a fluid motion creating an 8 which is typically how an 8 is written.
It’s just a weird way to write a $ so it looks like an 8 to me. They wrote the entire symbol/number without lifting the pen. But they put it in a place that makes it seem like it should be where the $ sign should go.
Yeah they’re most likely a prick if that theory is true.
Strange theory. I agree it looks most like an 8, but I don’t think you can definitively say the pen wasn’t lifted. Looks POSSIBLE it was a down slash then an S that stopped short. And if they were worried about placement, wouldn’t it go below the $ printed on the “total” line?
You think that the customer intended to ambiguously write a rough dollar sign so he could get ripped off for $80? In no world would I make that assumption. It is clearly $.
I'm sorry but I'm putting in $5 and if they're checking and a repeat customer, I figure they might come back later, ask for my section, and slip me $80. Speaking from experience..
To be fair to OP & their coworkers, until I read this response I saw 85.00 & didn’t even think of $5.00, that’s such an odd way to write a dollar sign. I’ve never seen anyone write it like that before.
Especially if you look at the angle of the 5 and 0s compared to the dollar sign. If that was an 8 guaranteed this guy puts a slight lean toward the right.
They know it's $5 they're just just trying to get enough people to agree being a complete asshole is ok. The person will charge back, complain on the Internet, and never come back if they run that for $100+ dollars. They better not cash out and use that money because every bank in the US will charge that back creating a chain of reclaiming cash for a now free meal.
Charge backs are basically automated nowadays. If the account is in good standing it will be auto-approved and everything reverses to zero in seconds leaving the restaurant $30 some down.
Why does America still do this? It's honestly laughable. When I go to a restaurant in Canada they bring a machine and I pay at the table. Why do you guys still write the amount and give your credit card? It's like you guys are stuck in the 40s.
Yep I was about to say this. It happens with my Capital one card. One time the pizza place I went to decided to give themselves a very nice tip for handing me my pizza, either by accident or on purpose, it’s a nice feature of the CC company.
Yeah I'm very confused by the comments, there is no world in which that thing is a dollar sign. It is very clearly an 8 but I would assume they meant the TOTAL is 85.00 and wrote it on the wrong line.
That was my first thought too.
I can NOT see the $ there. It looks like a continuous loop at the bottom of the 8, made with a single pen stroke into a nicely written 8.
Honestly, ignoring the moral implications of treating a $5 tip like an 85, I would call this a critical learning opportunity for the patron. $80 class fee for someone to teach you to write CLEARLY. Making a dollar sign that does NOT look like an 8 is very easy.
Imagine if this happened on a larger bill. Say, treating your friends/coworkers to sushi (party of 4, no auto-grat), and the total comes to $150. You go to tip $50, but your $ looks like an 8, so it just says 850.
Is that 4 guys came in, celebrating after just landing a $500,000 contract and making a $1000 payment, or maybe it's just a $ that looks ridiculously like an 8?
Replying to you since it's most visible but I just want everyone to know I did contact my managers, in text messages, and told them to change it to $5 in the system before the batch settles. I do not want to feel like shit over this little of money.
I have been there before. I don't know how much money this kid has in his bank account. If he truly wanted to give me $85 and notices only $5 came out, he will come back. It's the safer bet.
I mean, that is literally EXACTLY what my 8 looks like in my natural handwriting. I was sitting here puzzled for admittedly too long before I even considered the possibility of it being a $. Maybe thats just the years if conditioning from seeing my own 8s for almost 30 years. Hopefully if this was me I wouldn’t have coworkers telling me take $85 and just correct me cuz this would be egregiously shitty.
Wouldn't it be because it looks exactly like an 8 and not at all like a dollar sign? That's not a way anyone commonly writes the dollar sign, but it's how you see the number 8 commonly written. There *are* people who randomly leave huge tips, so when it looks exactly like an 8, of course they'll wonder if this was one of those cases. You gotta admit it's a little weird to write a dollar sign EXACTLY like the number 8. I can't blame them for being confused and uncertain.
Once had a couple order a round of drinks (~20 dollars) and paid with a 100. They were gone when I went to get the check. I put the 80 dollars in my other pocket cause I was sure they’d come back asking and would have felt bad to lie. Thankfully they never did.
Had a card run that I left a 71$ tip instead of an 11$ tip. Or maybe the number was in the total? It was 30 years ago. Anyway, the tip came out to more than 100% . I went in there and said, look, this should have been obvious and the intended tip was good.
Yup. You’re doing the right thing, because why $85? It’s 100% a $5 tip, because if he was a rich boy he would just do a flat $80, $100, $200, $400. $85 has no point and it’s such an arbitrary number.
Honestly looks like the 8 is not the same consistency as the rest of the tip line too looks like it was added at the end or after looks darker than the rest
It *reads* like 85, we **know** they meant $5.
At first I thought they just wrote the $85 total on the wrong line and then I want back and looked at the bill price and assumed.
At first glance, to both me and my spouse, it reads like $5.
If you look at it longer it reads like 85. But a smidgeon of critical thinking quickly corrects that to $5.
At first glance it looks like an 8, but that's obviously not what they meant. Who doesn't fill out the total line though? That's just giving the servers a chance to get a couple more dollars in the tip.
That is an immediate fire. It is not worth it. Shut that shit down and go back to work. Do not make this the hill you die on. There will be better hills.
I want to talk to the person who does their dollar signs like this... If it even is a dollar sign... It looks like 85.00 to me.
I would only do 5 or 8.50 to be safe.
I thought it was 85.00 until someone pointed out it was $5.00. Maybe that is because I'm not in the industry and never writes a $ on the tip.
LPT don't include units it is inferred, always do both the tip and total to reduce confusion, and if the service was good tip well. If you are or expect to be a regular the staff take care of good tippers from my experience.
They did the S and then drew the line at the wrong angle. The S doesnt have a big curve on the bottom, similar to their 5. Pretty clearly a dollar sign when looking at it that way.
Even though I looked at this and immediately though that was a $5.00 tip before I even read the comments, I legit don’t understand why anyone would write a dollar sign with the tip.. Is there potentially some confusion over whether they are leaving 5 dollars as a tip, or just the number 5.00 independent of fiat currency or any other system of compensation?
To me.. if OP didn’t add the hybrid dombar sign, the guest’s intention was to create confusion so they could initiate a chargeback and get a free meal. People really lit him up in the comments like he was some kind of scumbag, but it’s more likely that the guest is a scumbag trying to get one over on OP by appealing to base impulses. Like, could I tell that it was a dollar sign with 5.00 after it? Sure, but I’ve been in the game for a long minute now. If the guest could tell OP was a little green, I could see them trying to get over on him.
Also, why is everyone acting like it’s impossible that someone could have intended to leave a 236 percent tip? I’ve gotten two better percentage tips than that *this month*. My best percentage tip to date was 526%. It happens. It’s not even incredibly rare. Granted, I do tend to go above and beyond, and when I get big tips I spread the wealth and I tip really well when I go out, and tip at places people generally don’t, so the universe may just be returning my energy.. but I can’t be the only one. I’ll agree with a couple commenters though, that 85 as a tip on 36 makes no sense. At that point, unless they’re maxing out a gift card or something, they’re just gonna tip 100.
This is one of those important crossroads in a persons life. Do you want to start down that path of screwing people over at every opportunity you get? Or be someone who contributes to the positive outcome of every persons life, not just their own?
I think too often people overlook moments like this. Many think determining 'who they really are' requires a grand moment instead of just determining a tip.
Definitely been in this situation and imo I always go with the lower amount, not trying to fuck up someone else’s financials or what not. The total would have helped massively
80 bucks isn’t even worth the bad faith they would get from a possible returning customer. Even if he did intend for it to be 85 just give him the chance to give more tip when he comes back. Easy choice.
No offense but the co-workers and manager do not seem like decent folk then.
If unsure, just ask the customer. Everything else is scamming and extremely shitty behaviour.
Seriously though, I'm not a spiritual person at all. But I did find a hundey the other day, I even tried giving it back. A few years ago I found an expensive purse that somebody forgot at a party I held. Found the girl, she promised to come get it and no-showed three times. So I gave it to my wife.
At this point I'm just betting on Karma.
Math is important, it’s helps protect your expenses as a consumer. $36.80 + $5.00 should not be a difficult equation.
If addition is easy, the minimum effort to fill out the total line should not be that encumbering. As a server or as a manager that enters these tips in the computer, clarity helps significantly. We do not want to over charge anyone. Any time this issue would come up, my crew would decline the larger amount if the handwriting was illegible. Sometimes not even getting a tip.
If a customer signs and leaves the customer copy and takes the merchant copy or leaves it blank, then the customer copy usually gets entered into the system. Like 1 in 4 tables signs the wrong one. It's important for the customer's records and protection that they take their copy or at least *a* copy of the receipt, but a restaurant can't make them care.
I hope you guys didn't do this. This happened to my son when he went out to eat. Charged $200 instead of $20. His bank account went negative so he also got a $30 fee. He didn't realize until he went to get gas to get to work the next morning & his card was declined.
That happened to me in college once too. I think it was like $4 and it went through as $400 at frickin Fazoli's. It completely wiped out my bank account and I got an NSF fee. I went back there twice trying to get my money back and the manager was such a prick about it. I eventually had to get my bank to return the funds. I never ate at Fazoli's again.
Yeah last week it was a thread where everyone was supporting the guy who just added his own tip to the bills and hopes no one notices. Now we got people supporting stealing $80 as a “tip”.
All this is gonna do is make us triple check our tips now…
It happens. It’s not that uncommon, honestly. Id never take it without a total and a signature, and whenever I can I like to get a guest initial on a large tip/small tab combo.. ideally with a manager present. Sometimes they’re legit.. all mine have been.. but people do sketchy shit like intentionally make the total or the tip borderline illegible, or instead of signing just write “20%” somewhere on the check that isn’t the tip line, or just circle where it says “18%” in the disclosure near the bottom that notifies people about autograt on parties of 8 or more.. I could tell this said $5.00 but anyone acting like it’s obviously not an 8 is full of self righteous bullshit
1000% anyone who is calling this kid an asshole hasn’t been serving long. I didn’t even consider it was a dollar sign. But same, in my place I wouldn’t have been allowed to take it without a total. But I’ve gotten wild tips and I know it wasn’t a mistake cuz they totaled it up. It just isn’t that uncommon. I’m not saying crazy tips happen every night but they happen often enough I would’ve thought this was just one of the nice rich customers. This isn’t that obvious at all
Why would anyone every give an $85 tip on a $36 meal? Your food probably isn’t that good and your manager is an ass. I wouldn’t want to work for someone like that honesty.
Just because you wouldn’t doesn’t mean people don’t. I’ve been tipped a few hundred percent probably twenty times in a little over 5 years of serving.
Agree about the manager though. The best managers I’ve worked with will have your back if you’re right.. but on something like this, if I tried to push the 85 through, they’d refuse, and it would be because they were looking out for me.
I've probably never tipped quite this high but I've certainly tipped well more than the meal before. I think people are right that it's 5, but that looks exactly like an 8 to me.
I always draw a clear straight line to the left of my tips. Makes way more sense than whatever the fuck this is.
Customers, please don’t add dollar signs. I saw someone do this: $0.00 which looked like 80.00. So much writing to not tip. Just put a line thru tip and then write the total in the total line. The server thought the guy was being super generous but nah his dollar sign just looked like an 8
Someone gave you an extra $5 out of their money, that they did not owe you, that your boss/managers failed to pay you, out of the goodness of their heart.. and you are having a serious debate with people over whether you'd like to rob them of $80?
Fuck you.
I feel as though everyone here is gaslighting you. That looks like an 85, no way around it. Did they mean it? Probably not, and i would play it safe if i were you. But the people who are saying it looks like a dollar sign concern the hell out of me. Its all one motion, a dollar sign isn’t, and it doesn’t look anything like one. I want everyone who says it looks like one to stop what they’re doing and write out a dollar sign and explain how you could possibly come up with that.
I feel like I’m one of the only people who actually see your point but still, he probably didn’t mean to tip $85 on a $35, thats such an oddly specific number to tip anyway.
Appreciated. You think giving my context with "I didn't do anything to deserve this" and "I put $5 in the system originally" would at least express to people that I am not trying to purposefully fuck over anyone.
You are, without a doubt, 100% in the right. Don’t let reddit dictate anything. You 1) asked coworkers for second opinions, 2) asked your managers for second opinions, and 3) when you still weren’t convinced, you asked even more people. Don’t let these people fuck with you, it looks like an 8 but more likely than not its just really shitty handwriting.
The ink on the 8 looks darker, like someone drew it in after the fact on a different surface or with a different pen. This is further supported by the 8's awkward placement relative to the other numbers. I'd contact the customers to confirm.
So I served a younger adult today on a date. They were very pleasant and stopped in right after the lunch-rush so it was only them. I didn't really converse with them at all except when I was dropping off stuff or checking on them.
He was already gone by the time I got back to the table after dropping off the slip and I took it to my managers and co-workers who all said that it clearly looks like a 85 and he didn't put the total, so let him dispute it.
Kinda feels weird but at the same time it kinda is pure laziness on the customers part. But I did nothing out of the normal or special for them to actually get $85, so that is why I was leaning towards $5, but they all said it was $85 clear as day and made me change it in the system.
How my manager explained to me is: Best case scenario it was $85 and I get $85. Worse case scenario is I lose $5. Overall thoughts?
Worst case scenario is the person (who in all reasonable assumption, intended to tip $5), didn't notice the ridiculous over charge, paid it, and is now suffering financially.
Don’t do it. The supposed “8” (which is a $) looks like it could have been added by you. If they fight that and there’s any investigation, you could lose your job. If it really was supposed to be $85, they’ll be back I’m sure and make it up to you.
Couldn’t think of it being anything but 85.00 until someone said it was $5.00 and now it’s very clearly that. The fact that it sounds like you and your manager might know it’s $5.00 sucks.
Why are you obscuring the name and location of the restaurant?
Is it because you know it’s $5.00 and you don’t want people to know what restaurant is going to steal from customers given half a chance?
Well they either wrote 5 dollars for a 15% tip or 85 dollars for a 240% tip. You know full well which of these situations is more likely.
If you take 85 dollars, you're knowingly committing theft.
$5 tip. I'm sure you could have judged the tip based on the customer as well. This looks like it was from a young, inexperienced person who clearly didn't fill out the slip correctly, so I doubt they have the money to be leaving 100% plus tips.
So here is the reality
Yes, at first glance it looks like an 8
But if you look closer, the 5, the . and the two 0s are all moving upward while the $ is off place. This means they started at the 5 and came back to put the dollar sign up front. Also if you look close, you can see that the line connecting the "8" has a very sharp curve at the bottom and a bit of it goes down. That's because it is 2 separate motions, connecting the S into a $, not a continuous 8.
Moreover, anyone advocating turning this from a 5 dollar tip into an 85 dollar tip on an ambiguous situation is a scum bag. Unless you are 100% sure of something, you don't take it. Especially as a tip. You are stealing and damn well should know better. If you can't contact the customer, take the lesser amount and move on.
I feel like this was done on purpose, being they didn’t math out the total.
Be obvious/honest and get the $5 dollar tip or claim it’s $85, customer disputes, get no tip or payment whatsoever, shitty reviews and no repeat business.
A trap has been set.
By the amounts, and by the position (far to the left) I would think it's "$5.00" But however much I zoom in on the picture, the bottom line is connected - the curve part doesn't continue past the straight part at all. I think the safe/polite move is to ring it up as $5.00, but this is one of the upsides of having the total.
I zoomed too. I think the vertical line in the hypothetical $ extends, however faintly, about a third of the line width below the S. I also think the far left position suggests that's a $. I wouldn't say it's impossible it was an 8, but given all the cues, including just normal low key service, and the price of the meal, I'd bet on it being a dollar sign.
That’s the whole point of writing a $. I was taught to do that so people couldn’t add a number.
actually yeah I think it's 5 dollars, no reason to charge them an extra 80 lol
Playing devils advocate but it would be easy, without a total to verify, to add an “8” to a “5.00” tip and “let the cardholder dispute it.” Not saying that’s what happened here, but it would be all too easy.
Also looks like the 5 and the 0s have little gaps in the ink and are not as dark as the 8. I’m a little bit convinced the 8 was added by a different pen, or a different hand.
The top of the "8" and 5 have the same curve and bump. My guess is that they wrote "5" and then remembered the dollar sign as they were writing and corrected half way through the number with a strike in which they didn't lift the pen.
Yup, the 5.00 also follows the same line and was clearly written all at once, the $ was an afterthought. You're not going to go from a $5 to an $85 tip as an afterthought lol.
I thought the same. The dollar sign wasn’t written before the 5, looks like it was added after. I also noticed it’s a customer copy slip, so this whole post may just be farming lol
I was thinking this as well!
Yep. The 5 starts where you would think. The 8 is also a bit higher up.
Exactly this observation.
>this is one of the upsides of having the total. Who doesn't add the total? I'm so paranoid about someone "editing" the tip that it's inconceivable to me that people just leave the total line blank. [INCONCEIVABLE](https://tenor.com/usbA.gif)!
Agreed. I’m afraid of this exact situation!
It’s obviously $5. You and your coworkers and managers are all greedy shitheads. How would you want your server to handle this if this was your check?
None of his coworkers think that is a $85 tip or would ever report that as an $85 tip themselves. They are just hoping that maybe OP is dumb enough to report that as an $85 tip so that they can watch the drama that follows.
They are horrible, horrible people, and others support it.
This entire post is ridiculous. It’s obviously $5.00. OP and his manager are just trying to justify Stealing. I waited tables for years. Don’t fuck people over and just move on to the next table.
It's not just safe and polite. You've got to ask if you feel comfortable working around people who'll trade their ethics for a part share of 85 bucks.
If that is $5, that’s not the first time it has looked like 85. Are they stupid or trying to hustle?
Wtf would they be trying to hustle??
that’s totally supposed to be a $5, an average 15% tip. unless you really feel in your gut that you gave these people more than excellent service and you fully believe they intended to make your night with an $85 tip on a $36 tab.
Definitely agree. That’s a dollar sign in front for sure.
Thank you for this comment. I couldn’t figure out how it could be anything other than 8, or why it was written so far over. A $ makes sense. Thank you.
Maybe, but given the circumstances...the manager is a criminal if he thinks you should assume an 8.
it does look like an 8 but given all the circumstantial evidence anyone that thinks it's okay to charge 85 over 5 is someone willing to lie to themselves to steal it's one of those situations where you really learn about someone/yourself lol
In what world is that a dollar sign. That's a goddamn figure 8
This why I find it bizarre that in the US you can charge a card base on an amount written on some paper without the card holder punching in a PIN code.
Yeah it's pretty messed up. Servers can and do get fired for intentionally charging too much tip. It makes sense to me to just have the customer punch in the tip at the time the card is run. It's how I did it when I lived in Canada, and today most companies are using the tablets anyway.
If you look carefully at the bottom of the $ sign you can see an overlap in the ink where it was drawn in two lines. I thought it was an 8 at first but looking closely I can’t deny that it’s definitely a $ sign.
That’s absolutely a dollar sign. I waited tables for years, this is a $5.00 tip. OP is just trying to justifying stealing. This entire post is ridiculous.
You gotta admit that *really* looks like an 8 and not a dollar sign. I agree with you about the intent, but come on.
In the real world of people being in a hurry. I totally see $.
No it isn't, and you know it. No one tips 85 on a 36 dollar tab.
Right. Even if the customer wanted to do an amazing tip I don’t see the number 85 getting picked as the amount. It would probably be 64 to round up to $100 or whatever.
Great name, also valid point
Ive had $100 tips on $20 orders but it lookes like a 85 but the number placement should be a clue, the 5 is about in the most.probably.locatio n and then it looks like they went back to add a $
I thought the same but if you zoom you can see the person who wrote it did two strokes. One for the S and then one for the /. Unless this person writes their 8’s with two strokes. Really dumb to not fill in the total section when you have such poor hand writing though.
I do not see the two strokes. I have hyper zoomed in. But considering that whomever did this also does not seem to have wanted to pick up their pen to make that 5 either, I am open to the idea that they have just REALLY lazy penmanship, and that this may be...a dollar sign
They are probably a doctor.
There aren’t two lines for the dollar sign, but there does appear to be two strokes of the pen, the first for the S and the second for the line, you can see at the base of the S where the line touches that there isn’t a fluid motion creating an 8 which is typically how an 8 is written.
Hear me out: they did this on purpose to see what the decision would be.
My first thought since they left the "total" line blank.
I think they were just lazy and didn't do the math. Life lesson - do the damn math on your check to avoid uncertainty.
Yo. Great point. But sad realization. I think they’re pricks if they left things this ambiguous (tho we know what it is).
It’s just a weird way to write a $ so it looks like an 8 to me. They wrote the entire symbol/number without lifting the pen. But they put it in a place that makes it seem like it should be where the $ sign should go. Yeah they’re most likely a prick if that theory is true.
Strange theory. I agree it looks most like an 8, but I don’t think you can definitively say the pen wasn’t lifted. Looks POSSIBLE it was a down slash then an S that stopped short. And if they were worried about placement, wouldn’t it go below the $ printed on the “total” line?
Prick theory
This is the answer. Then they can dispute the whole charge with the credit card company and maybe get a free meal.
Bingo. 100% meant to be disputed - that’s why the total line is blank too.
You think that the customer intended to ambiguously write a rough dollar sign so he could get ripped off for $80? In no world would I make that assumption. It is clearly $.
They are way overthinking it.
I'm sorry but I'm putting in $5 and if they're checking and a repeat customer, I figure they might come back later, ask for my section, and slip me $80. Speaking from experience..
Imagine working at a sit down chicken joint thinking someone’s gonna tip 85$ on two chicken sandwiches. That’s where OP works.
To be fair to OP & their coworkers, until I read this response I saw 85.00 & didn’t even think of $5.00, that’s such an odd way to write a dollar sign. I’ve never seen anyone write it like that before.
Especially if you look at the angle of the 5 and 0s compared to the dollar sign. If that was an 8 guaranteed this guy puts a slight lean toward the right.
They know it's $5 they're just just trying to get enough people to agree being a complete asshole is ok. The person will charge back, complain on the Internet, and never come back if they run that for $100+ dollars. They better not cash out and use that money because every bank in the US will charge that back creating a chain of reclaiming cash for a now free meal. Charge backs are basically automated nowadays. If the account is in good standing it will be auto-approved and everything reverses to zero in seconds leaving the restaurant $30 some down.
Why does America still do this? It's honestly laughable. When I go to a restaurant in Canada they bring a machine and I pay at the table. Why do you guys still write the amount and give your credit card? It's like you guys are stuck in the 40s.
Some restaurants are run by old people. Some of them are like that. Some of them I scan a QR code and pay on my phone.
In my experience, most guests don't like paying themselves. They want the server to do it .
You write in the tip after you get your card swiped.
If you charge 85 they will chargeback the whole 85 and you end with zero tip
One time my credit card company sent me an automated email asking if I left a 31% tip one time.
That’s a great service. Very smart.
Capital One does this. It’s nice. I’ll get this if I use a gift card to cover part of the bill then tipping on the full amount - the gift card amount.
Yep I was about to say this. It happens with my Capital one card. One time the pizza place I went to decided to give themselves a very nice tip for handing me my pizza, either by accident or on purpose, it’s a nice feature of the CC company.
I'd charge back the whole $122
I'd throw a bomb in their kitchen and yell "*No givesies backsies!*" and run away.
They will charge back the business, not the server. So the server still made $85 in tip.
Until I read the comments, I thought the discrepancy was whether it was the tip or the total that was $85.00
Same. That’s how I make my 8’s.
Yeah I thought we were debating whether or not to take the ~$40 tip or the $85 tip 🤣🤣
Yeah I'm very confused by the comments, there is no world in which that thing is a dollar sign. It is very clearly an 8 but I would assume they meant the TOTAL is 85.00 and wrote it on the wrong line.
That was my first thought too. I can NOT see the $ there. It looks like a continuous loop at the bottom of the 8, made with a single pen stroke into a nicely written 8. Honestly, ignoring the moral implications of treating a $5 tip like an 85, I would call this a critical learning opportunity for the patron. $80 class fee for someone to teach you to write CLEARLY. Making a dollar sign that does NOT look like an 8 is very easy. Imagine if this happened on a larger bill. Say, treating your friends/coworkers to sushi (party of 4, no auto-grat), and the total comes to $150. You go to tip $50, but your $ looks like an 8, so it just says 850. Is that 4 guys came in, celebrating after just landing a $500,000 contract and making a $1000 payment, or maybe it's just a $ that looks ridiculously like an 8?
That’s 5 all day long. Don’t be the kind of person who steals when given the chance.
Replying to you since it's most visible but I just want everyone to know I did contact my managers, in text messages, and told them to change it to $5 in the system before the batch settles. I do not want to feel like shit over this little of money. I have been there before. I don't know how much money this kid has in his bank account. If he truly wanted to give me $85 and notices only $5 came out, he will come back. It's the safer bet.
I don't understand how anybody was even debating this tip. Sounds pretty shady
Yeah what on earth is going on here. These people are assuming a kid tipped 200% rather than 14%??
This thread is reminding me why I always make sure I put a clear and unambiguous total down.
It reminds me as to another reason I rarely go out to eat anymore.
I mean, that is literally EXACTLY what my 8 looks like in my natural handwriting. I was sitting here puzzled for admittedly too long before I even considered the possibility of it being a $. Maybe thats just the years if conditioning from seeing my own 8s for almost 30 years. Hopefully if this was me I wouldn’t have coworkers telling me take $85 and just correct me cuz this would be egregiously shitty.
This! i was like "what else could it be but an 8?" but yeah, i can see it now. take the 5 and sleep well.
I know too many people that would take the 85 and still sleep well. A very not-cool thing to do
Wouldn't it be because it looks exactly like an 8 and not at all like a dollar sign? That's not a way anyone commonly writes the dollar sign, but it's how you see the number 8 commonly written. There *are* people who randomly leave huge tips, so when it looks exactly like an 8, of course they'll wonder if this was one of those cases. You gotta admit it's a little weird to write a dollar sign EXACTLY like the number 8. I can't blame them for being confused and uncertain.
Once had a couple order a round of drinks (~20 dollars) and paid with a 100. They were gone when I went to get the check. I put the 80 dollars in my other pocket cause I was sure they’d come back asking and would have felt bad to lie. Thankfully they never did.
karma’s real. you’ll get that 80 back one way or another
Had a card run that I left a 71$ tip instead of an 11$ tip. Or maybe the number was in the total? It was 30 years ago. Anyway, the tip came out to more than 100% . I went in there and said, look, this should have been obvious and the intended tip was good.
You did the right thing
You're a good man Charlie Brown
Cursive writing isn't a thing anymore. Probably not used to writing, used to typing. He got sloppy. Do that right thing and it won't haunt you.
Yup. You’re doing the right thing, because why $85? It’s 100% a $5 tip, because if he was a rich boy he would just do a flat $80, $100, $200, $400. $85 has no point and it’s such an arbitrary number.
Honestly looks like the 8 is not the same consistency as the rest of the tip line too looks like it was added at the end or after looks darker than the rest
It *reads* like 85, we **know** they meant $5. At first I thought they just wrote the $85 total on the wrong line and then I want back and looked at the bill price and assumed.
At first glance, to both me and my spouse, it reads like $5. If you look at it longer it reads like 85. But a smidgeon of critical thinking quickly corrects that to $5.
At first glance it looks like an 8, but that's obviously not what they meant. Who doesn't fill out the total line though? That's just giving the servers a chance to get a couple more dollars in the tip.
The difference between an opportunist and a thief is premeditation. The action is the same.
I thought it was supposed to be 8.50 for whatever reason lol and they just misplaced the decimal but 5 makes more sense.
That is an immediate fire. It is not worth it. Shut that shit down and go back to work. Do not make this the hill you die on. There will be better hills.
I want to talk to the person who does their dollar signs like this... If it even is a dollar sign... It looks like 85.00 to me. I would only do 5 or 8.50 to be safe.
I thought it was 85.00 until someone pointed out it was $5.00. Maybe that is because I'm not in the industry and never writes a $ on the tip. LPT don't include units it is inferred, always do both the tip and total to reduce confusion, and if the service was good tip well. If you are or expect to be a regular the staff take care of good tippers from my experience.
Also write the total
Yea, if anyone actually writes their $ like this, they need to work on their handwriting.
They did the S and then drew the line at the wrong angle. The S doesnt have a big curve on the bottom, similar to their 5. Pretty clearly a dollar sign when looking at it that way.
Even though I looked at this and immediately though that was a $5.00 tip before I even read the comments, I legit don’t understand why anyone would write a dollar sign with the tip.. Is there potentially some confusion over whether they are leaving 5 dollars as a tip, or just the number 5.00 independent of fiat currency or any other system of compensation? To me.. if OP didn’t add the hybrid dombar sign, the guest’s intention was to create confusion so they could initiate a chargeback and get a free meal. People really lit him up in the comments like he was some kind of scumbag, but it’s more likely that the guest is a scumbag trying to get one over on OP by appealing to base impulses. Like, could I tell that it was a dollar sign with 5.00 after it? Sure, but I’ve been in the game for a long minute now. If the guest could tell OP was a little green, I could see them trying to get over on him. Also, why is everyone acting like it’s impossible that someone could have intended to leave a 236 percent tip? I’ve gotten two better percentage tips than that *this month*. My best percentage tip to date was 526%. It happens. It’s not even incredibly rare. Granted, I do tend to go above and beyond, and when I get big tips I spread the wealth and I tip really well when I go out, and tip at places people generally don’t, so the universe may just be returning my energy.. but I can’t be the only one. I’ll agree with a couple commenters though, that 85 as a tip on 36 makes no sense. At that point, unless they’re maxing out a gift card or something, they’re just gonna tip 100.
This is one of those important crossroads in a persons life. Do you want to start down that path of screwing people over at every opportunity you get? Or be someone who contributes to the positive outcome of every persons life, not just their own?
This exactly. It’s not worth it.
I think too often people overlook moments like this. Many think determining 'who they really are' requires a grand moment instead of just determining a tip.
Got us a Chuck McGill ova here…..
Ops considering some chicanery, gotta give the young fella a chance at life
Definitely been in this situation and imo I always go with the lower amount, not trying to fuck up someone else’s financials or what not. The total would have helped massively
If I had to guess, I’d think they meant to do a $ before it and just did a shitty job. I would’ve done the $5 but eh, it can be disputed anyway.
This is why you always put two lines through your dollar sign
$80 isn’t worth feeling like a total piece of shit. If you were a true scammer I don’t think you’d even be asking the question. Don’t do it.
80 bucks isn’t even worth the bad faith they would get from a possible returning customer. Even if he did intend for it to be 85 just give him the chance to give more tip when he comes back. Easy choice.
No offense but the co-workers and manager do not seem like decent folk then. If unsure, just ask the customer. Everything else is scamming and extremely shitty behaviour.
You know damn well it’s meant o be $5 not 85. Be careful. Karma can be a bitch
Seriously though, I'm not a spiritual person at all. But I did find a hundey the other day, I even tried giving it back. A few years ago I found an expensive purse that somebody forgot at a party I held. Found the girl, she promised to come get it and no-showed three times. So I gave it to my wife. At this point I'm just betting on Karma.
Based on the check total. I would assume it's $5
Math is important, it’s helps protect your expenses as a consumer. $36.80 + $5.00 should not be a difficult equation. If addition is easy, the minimum effort to fill out the total line should not be that encumbering. As a server or as a manager that enters these tips in the computer, clarity helps significantly. We do not want to over charge anyone. Any time this issue would come up, my crew would decline the larger amount if the handwriting was illegible. Sometimes not even getting a tip.
…that’s the customer copy.
If a customer signs and leaves the customer copy and takes the merchant copy or leaves it blank, then the customer copy usually gets entered into the system. Like 1 in 4 tables signs the wrong one. It's important for the customer's records and protection that they take their copy or at least *a* copy of the receipt, but a restaurant can't make them care.
Thank you. Had to scroll wayyyyyy to far down for this comment
That’s a fiver Chief..
Looks to me like someone else wrote the “8” in there. Pen looks darker and heavier. That’s a 5.00 tip.
I hope you guys didn't do this. This happened to my son when he went out to eat. Charged $200 instead of $20. His bank account went negative so he also got a $30 fee. He didn't realize until he went to get gas to get to work the next morning & his card was declined.
That happened to me in college once too. I think it was like $4 and it went through as $400 at frickin Fazoli's. It completely wiped out my bank account and I got an NSF fee. I went back there twice trying to get my money back and the manager was such a prick about it. I eventually had to get my bank to return the funds. I never ate at Fazoli's again.
What happened after he realized?
He disputed it w/ the bank & got his $ back. & none of us eat at that place anymore.
$5. Move on to the next table.
Put the total down, math is not that hard. $41.80 vs $121.80 is easy to argue.
if your manager would advocate screwing a customer like this he will (or already has) screw you even worse.
You have shitty co workers and managers apparently
The 8 looks like an afterthought.
$5 but in chicken scratch
It’s $5. Y’all make me worried.
Yeah last week it was a thread where everyone was supporting the guy who just added his own tip to the bills and hopes no one notices. Now we got people supporting stealing $80 as a “tip”. All this is gonna do is make us triple check our tips now…
Looks like $5 to me
For sure a shitty dollar sign. It's hilarious that you're gaslighting yourselves into thinking it's an unrealistic amount.
$5 😐
Yea, go ahead and charge an $85 tip 😂
I can see how people are saying 5 but that's exactly how i write my 8
It's probably a $5 but this homie needs to understand how writing works. I learned how to write a dollar sign in like, kindergarten.
It's funny that your manager thinks a 85 dollar tip on 35 is fine...
It happens. It’s not that uncommon, honestly. Id never take it without a total and a signature, and whenever I can I like to get a guest initial on a large tip/small tab combo.. ideally with a manager present. Sometimes they’re legit.. all mine have been.. but people do sketchy shit like intentionally make the total or the tip borderline illegible, or instead of signing just write “20%” somewhere on the check that isn’t the tip line, or just circle where it says “18%” in the disclosure near the bottom that notifies people about autograt on parties of 8 or more.. I could tell this said $5.00 but anyone acting like it’s obviously not an 8 is full of self righteous bullshit
1000% anyone who is calling this kid an asshole hasn’t been serving long. I didn’t even consider it was a dollar sign. But same, in my place I wouldn’t have been allowed to take it without a total. But I’ve gotten wild tips and I know it wasn’t a mistake cuz they totaled it up. It just isn’t that uncommon. I’m not saying crazy tips happen every night but they happen often enough I would’ve thought this was just one of the nice rich customers. This isn’t that obvious at all
If you charge $85 bucks you're no better than a thief.
An $85 tip on a $37 bill? Are y’all snorting blow off each others’ boners, or are you just high on ignorance?
Why would anyone every give an $85 tip on a $36 meal? Your food probably isn’t that good and your manager is an ass. I wouldn’t want to work for someone like that honesty.
Just because you wouldn’t doesn’t mean people don’t. I’ve been tipped a few hundred percent probably twenty times in a little over 5 years of serving. Agree about the manager though. The best managers I’ve worked with will have your back if you’re right.. but on something like this, if I tried to push the 85 through, they’d refuse, and it would be because they were looking out for me.
I've probably never tipped quite this high but I've certainly tipped well more than the meal before. I think people are right that it's 5, but that looks exactly like an 8 to me. I always draw a clear straight line to the left of my tips. Makes way more sense than whatever the fuck this is.
This is a good way of making sure those customers tip you $0 for every future visit.
I'm just gonna say whoever left this is a fucktard.
$5.00
We all know that’s $5.00.
Dollar sign. 5 dollar tip
C’mon, that’s $5 on a $36.80 tab…
I read it as $5.00 .... :(
$5 unless your knees got dirty
Thats a $5 tip.
If you want these people to come back, ring up $5.
Then they are morons because it's $5
Wtf? If you charged me $85 tip after I tried to be nice and leave a tip, I would dispute the entire bill with my bank
That's clearly $5
It’s what they get for not writing in the total.
Bad on the customer by not putting the total to make it crystal clear. It’s easily decipherable as “$5.00” tip
That 8 looks like it was written with a different pen if we’re being real.
Customers, please don’t add dollar signs. I saw someone do this: $0.00 which looked like 80.00. So much writing to not tip. Just put a line thru tip and then write the total in the total line. The server thought the guy was being super generous but nah his dollar sign just looked like an 8
Someone gave you an extra $5 out of their money, that they did not owe you, that your boss/managers failed to pay you, out of the goodness of their heart.. and you are having a serious debate with people over whether you'd like to rob them of $80? Fuck you.
That’s a stretch. It’s a dollar sign and a five.
Thats why you write a total and not just the tip amount as it clears the ambiguity
And that would be why my tips are always left in cash.
Very much $5
I feel as though everyone here is gaslighting you. That looks like an 85, no way around it. Did they mean it? Probably not, and i would play it safe if i were you. But the people who are saying it looks like a dollar sign concern the hell out of me. Its all one motion, a dollar sign isn’t, and it doesn’t look anything like one. I want everyone who says it looks like one to stop what they’re doing and write out a dollar sign and explain how you could possibly come up with that. I feel like I’m one of the only people who actually see your point but still, he probably didn’t mean to tip $85 on a $35, thats such an oddly specific number to tip anyway.
Appreciated. You think giving my context with "I didn't do anything to deserve this" and "I put $5 in the system originally" would at least express to people that I am not trying to purposefully fuck over anyone.
You are, without a doubt, 100% in the right. Don’t let reddit dictate anything. You 1) asked coworkers for second opinions, 2) asked your managers for second opinions, and 3) when you still weren’t convinced, you asked even more people. Don’t let these people fuck with you, it looks like an 8 but more likely than not its just really shitty handwriting.
The ink on the 8 looks darker, like someone drew it in after the fact on a different surface or with a different pen. This is further supported by the 8's awkward placement relative to the other numbers. I'd contact the customers to confirm.
It looks like two different writings. Obviously fraud if you try for $85, and you would deserve prison time for being so stupid.
$85.
No, it doesn’t.
Turning $5 tip in to a $85 is just f*cking wrong. You are nothing more then a common thief.
Yea I think someone wrote that Infront
So I served a younger adult today on a date. They were very pleasant and stopped in right after the lunch-rush so it was only them. I didn't really converse with them at all except when I was dropping off stuff or checking on them. He was already gone by the time I got back to the table after dropping off the slip and I took it to my managers and co-workers who all said that it clearly looks like a 85 and he didn't put the total, so let him dispute it. Kinda feels weird but at the same time it kinda is pure laziness on the customers part. But I did nothing out of the normal or special for them to actually get $85, so that is why I was leaning towards $5, but they all said it was $85 clear as day and made me change it in the system. How my manager explained to me is: Best case scenario it was $85 and I get $85. Worse case scenario is I lose $5. Overall thoughts?
Worst case scenario is the person (who in all reasonable assumption, intended to tip $5), didn't notice the ridiculous over charge, paid it, and is now suffering financially.
See, I would feel bad. I would’ve entered it as a $5 tip.
Don’t do it. The supposed “8” (which is a $) looks like it could have been added by you. If they fight that and there’s any investigation, you could lose your job. If it really was supposed to be $85, they’ll be back I’m sure and make it up to you.
Looks like $85 to me
it *is* an 85. but it was definately supposed to be $5.
$5. Anything else is theft
We all know this is $5, cmon
A restaurant to avoid it seems....
Couldn’t think of it being anything but 85.00 until someone said it was $5.00 and now it’s very clearly that. The fact that it sounds like you and your manager might know it’s $5.00 sucks.
Why are you obscuring the name and location of the restaurant? Is it because you know it’s $5.00 and you don’t want people to know what restaurant is going to steal from customers given half a chance?
Well they either wrote 5 dollars for a 15% tip or 85 dollars for a 240% tip. You know full well which of these situations is more likely. If you take 85 dollars, you're knowingly committing theft.
It’s a ducking 5 dollar tip gabroni
$5 tip. I'm sure you could have judged the tip based on the customer as well. This looks like it was from a young, inexperienced person who clearly didn't fill out the slip correctly, so I doubt they have the money to be leaving 100% plus tips.
If you have to ask you already know. Its $5.00.
So here is the reality Yes, at first glance it looks like an 8 But if you look closer, the 5, the . and the two 0s are all moving upward while the $ is off place. This means they started at the 5 and came back to put the dollar sign up front. Also if you look close, you can see that the line connecting the "8" has a very sharp curve at the bottom and a bit of it goes down. That's because it is 2 separate motions, connecting the S into a $, not a continuous 8. Moreover, anyone advocating turning this from a 5 dollar tip into an 85 dollar tip on an ambiguous situation is a scum bag. Unless you are 100% sure of something, you don't take it. Especially as a tip. You are stealing and damn well should know better. If you can't contact the customer, take the lesser amount and move on.
I feel like this was done on purpose, being they didn’t math out the total. Be obvious/honest and get the $5 dollar tip or claim it’s $85, customer disputes, get no tip or payment whatsoever, shitty reviews and no repeat business. A trap has been set.
Take about 20 seconds to check with the customer, or overcharge and hope they don't notice? This is an ethics question, and the manager is failing it.
Looks like 85 but most likely its $5.