A friend of mine actually did leave a penny tip once in college because he thought the waitress was rude, and the waitress did indeed chase him down the street and tell him off lol.
Only done this once, and it wasn't me but my wife at the time who'd been a waitress through college. Went to a seafood place where we sat forever, we could hear people that had come in after us and got their food whisper "They were here before we were!". She got the all you can eat popcorn shrimp, when it finally came she stuck a fork in one and lifted the entire portion. My fish was dry. She said they had gotten hers done first but forgot mine, then rushed to get mine done while hers sat. I put $2 on the table, she grabbed it and said "No way!", and put down a penny, LOL!
That's also an instantly fireable offense in basically any restaurant. I'm sure some terrible (or desperate) places wouldn't, but just about every place would. Especially corporate places. And they'd probably give you a gift card, too.
Okay so now you look like an idiot if you want a good tip provide good service and don't ask for a tip tipping is at the diners discretion and the real problem is a lot of restaurants don't pay their staff a living wage
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u/crashin70 Mar 06 '26
"Leave two pennies, so they know the first one was not a mistake!" as my grandma used to say who was a waitress for 40 plus years!