A mom of six working in a restaurant was forced to confront an elderly man who allegedly stole her cash tips that were left for her by previous customers.
Brittany Baker was hard at work during a shift at Perkins Restaurant in Fargo, N.D. on Saturday when she claims a man snagged cash from the table directly next to his booth.
“I watched him do this while I was at the computer and I was like ‘oh my goodness!” Baker shared with Valley News Live. “I had no idea what to do.”
The man then stood up and walked around the restaurant seemingly looking for cash at other tables, Baker claimed in a TikTok video.
The server’s co-workers were hesitant to cause a scene but insisted that she demand her money back.
Footage captured Baker walking up to the man, who was sitting in a window-side booth with his wife, and demanding her money.
“I just wanted to say that I noticed you have taken money off of this table and that money is mine,” Baker said in the now-viral clip. “That’s my tip that I made off that table so I don’t feel comfortable serving you until I get that back.”
The customer grabbed his wallet and handed her a couple of bucks — mumbling an inaudible response back.
“Is that all that’s there?” Baker asked.
“That’s all that was there,” the customer responded.
Baker took the money and walked away but believes he didn’t give the entire gratuity she was owed.
“He kind of peeled apart the money from another stack of money so I kind of feel like he didn’t give it all back,” Baker told the outlet. “He gave me $2 back. There was definitely a five and some other ones so I don’t feel like he gave the full amount back.”
Baker suspects that this wasn’t his first time sniffing for cash at the casual dining chain.
“One of my co-workers had told me that that was the couple who tried to walk out on her last weekend,” Baker shared.
In a follow-up TikTok video, Baker added that the man tried to walk out on the bill after the confrontation before “his wife stopped him and made him pay.”
He did not leave a tip.
“This was pretty intentional,” Baker claimed in her video. “He knew exactly what he was doing, old man or not.”
“And I work in North Dakota so I only make $4.86 an hour so yes tips are a big deal for me. I have kids to feed at home,” she added.
Some social media users praised Baker’s courage for standing up to the elderly customer while others suggested they would’ve removed him from the restaurant.
“I would’ve kicked him out, being old should not equal thief,” another TikTok user said, while a third added, “This is why I always hand my tips directly to my server.”
