Most restaurant servers in the US rely heavily on their tips since many of them are barely able to make rent by earning minimum wage.
Not only is it infuriating when patrons refuse to leave a tip, but it's also downright criminal when customers dine and dash.
This happened to TikToker Jessica Guevara, aka @jurassicah, who served a group of patrons who racked up a $125 tab and left without paying.
But when one of the patrons in the group forgot their glasses at the table in the process of absconding, Guevara saw an opportunity to enact revenge.
She channeled her outrage in a TikTok video and held up the pair of glasses supposedly left behind by one of the dashers and said:
“To the girls that ran out and didn’t pay their tab? You left your glasses, b*tch.”
What she did next was what many in her position might have considered doing.
Guevara threw the spectacles on the ground and furiously stomped them to pieces.
In the caption, the TikToker wrote:
“Hope those were $125 dollars."
The value was presumably for the tab that was left unpaid.
Those in the service industry who likey experienced conflict with customers supported her.
@jurassicah/TikTok
@jurassicah/TikTok
@jurassicah/TikTok
Some diffused the tension with some levity.
@jurassicah/TikTok
@jurassicah/TikTok
@jurassicah/TikTok
However, some commenters had mixed feelings about her retaliatory reaction.
@jurassicah/TikTok
@jurassicah/TikTok
After some backlash to her video, Guevara posted a follow-up claiming she made the video a while ago and would never have posted it while she was still employed at the restaurant.
She also said the glasses that she destroyed were not real prescription glasses but were "plastic, fashion trend frames."
Guevara went on to justify her outrage by explaining the establishment she worked for made her accountable for the unpaid bill and they took the money out of her paycheck–which she didn't realize was illegal at the time.
Said Guevara:
"In some states including California, it's actually illegal to require the employee to pay out of their own pockets for dashed tables or other business losses."
She said that was not the case for the restaurant she worked at.
The manager allegedly told her that "any lost tabs would be coming out of my pocket, and that is what happened."
One commenter shared:
"In CA it's illegal to have employees pay for customers who dine and dash or pay out of pocket if the register is short (unless theres proof u stole $)."
Another clarified:
"Illegal. Same in Oregon, Washington, California and NJ."
And this user claiming to work in the industry said:
"It is extremely illegal for them to make you pay for a dine & dash. As a service manager."
According to Free Advice:
"The server is not liable for the customers’ bad act (or the tab)."
The website added that most restaurants recover a dine and dash bill not by deducting it from the server’s pay (wages or tips).
"The law only allows an employer to withhold pay with employee consent or agreement (or if there is a valid court order, such as for wage garnishment)."
Guevara clarified why she was so "p*ssed" and felt compelled to make the controversial video.
"I was not upset that I didn't receive a tip. I was not seeking vengeance for the restaurant."
"I'm literally a minimum wage worker trying to make rent."
She concluded her explanation by advising other servers to know their rights and for potential dine and dashers to pay the tab since, in some cases, it's the servers who are the ones impacted.
"We're all just trying to make it out here," she said.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter