Georgia woman was floored when her takeout bill included a $40 tip, even though she didn’t want to tip a dime: ‘She should totally be fired’
“Moral of the story: CHECK YOUR TRANSACTIONS”
A takeout order should be simple. You order, pay, grab the food, and leave. One Georgia woman thought hers was over until her bank flagged a surprisingly generous tip.
Unexpected charges can make anyone check a receipt twice. Customers have caught servers allegedly changing tips, while choosing not to tip can bring its own surprises. This time, $40 showed up where the customer claims she left nothing.
According to TikTok creator Adrienne (@yoadriennesellshomes), she spent $15.01 on takeout at Nuevo Laredo Cantina in Atlanta and put an X on the tip line. The next morning, Capital One asked whether she really meant to leave a 266% tip.
That explanation wasn’t working for her
The $15.01 order had become $55.01 after a $40 tip was added. Adrienne says the bank alert caught her attention, so she returned to the restaurant to find out what happened.
She showed an employee the email and explained that she had ordered soup for takeout on Sunday. Since she had not received table service, she had deliberately left no tip.
The employee reportedly pulled up the transaction before heading to the back to find the physical receipt. Adrienne recalls her reaction changing once she found it. “Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey,” Adrienne remembers the employee saying. She then told Adrienne she needed to speak with the owner.
Adrienne recalls the owner immediately apologizing and assuring her the restaurant would correct the charge. “We’re going to make this right,” she remembers him saying.
What Adrienne couldn’t accept was his explanation for the $40. The owner allegedly characterized it as an accident and explained that mistakes with restaurant tips can happen. He reportedly shared his own experience of having a tip processed for the wrong amount.
Adrienne saw one major difference: She had not written a number that could have been entered incorrectly. “I didn’t leave a tip,” she explains. “And I put an X in the tip space because, again, I got takeout.”
She argued that there was no $40, $4, or other amount an employee could have simply misread. Adrienne became more suspicious after asking whether the X was still visible on the restaurant’s copy.
Adrienne claims the employee did not directly answer. Still, she interpreted her initial reaction to the receipt as an indication that something had gone wrong when “Lindsey” handled the transaction.
The owner apparently stood by his explanation. Adrienne recalls him saying, “I’m going to stand by my staff.” “Before you make statements like that, you might want to check,” Adrienne responds in her retelling.
The restaurant ultimately returned her money. Adrienne explains that it could not refund only the $40 tip, so the entire $55.01 transaction was refunded.
“I probably wouldn’t have made the video because they did ultimately refund my money,” she admits. However, Adrienne maintains that the $40 was intentionally added because she had left an X on the receipt.
The experience also made her reconsider how closely she checks her transactions. Adrienne admits she normally does not examine every charge. Without Capital One flagging the tip, she might not have noticed it. “Moral of the story: CHECK YOUR TRANSACTIONS,” she wrote.
Viewers were considerably less forgiving. “Adding an unauthorized tip is illegal,” one person wrote, while another argued, “They should have refunded your entire order!” One viewer went further: “She should totally be fired.”
Others focused on avoiding confusion on handwritten receipts. “That’s why I put $0.00,” one commenter shared. Someone else said, “THIS is why I write out the words ‘no tip.’” One viewer shared a similar experience, claiming, “Bubbas in McAllen Texas did this to me. Elizabeth turned my $9.00 tip into a $79.00 tip.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Follow The Mary Sue:
