Woman buys 2 Coronas on a $16 tab. Then she checks her bank statement and claims the server added a $50 tip: ‘They’re literally scamming people’

A woman is accusing El Jardín on Clark Street of scamming customers in Chicago. In a TikTok video, Eve (eve.thegemini) alleged that she ordered two Coronas at the Mexican restaurant and left a $4 tip on her $16 bill. However, she said she later checked her credit card statement and realized the restaurant had charged her $50, which she suspected the bartender had added as a tip.

Eve said she called the restaurant to demand answers, and the bartender apparently recognized her. She said he mentioned the $50 tip, at which point she told him she hadn’t intended to make that transaction. Eve said she asked for the receipt, but he told her he didn’t have it, further complicating the situation.

The bartender apparently told Eve she could call the manager the next day, but he declined to share his name. Based on her experience with the server, Eve concluded in her comments, “They’re literally scamming people. Do not go there or pay in cash.” That said, while Eve’s experiences are valid, it should also be considered that one employee’s conduct during a customer interaction doesn’t necessarily reflect the restaurant’s overall ethics or values.

Eve pulled up the receipts that showed the $50 tip

In another video Eve made after this one, she showed the receipt but did not mention where she got it. The receipt confirmed that she was charged $18 as the base amount and $0.72 as a debit/credit fee, bringing her subtotal to $18.72. However, the receipt included another section for tip, and instead of printing a number, someone wrote $50 beside it with a pen, bringing Eve’s new total to $68.72.

Eve said the server told her it was “against the rules” for servers to write in their own tips. But after reviewing the receipt, Eve found that this was not the case. She also noted that she hadn’t signed the receipt and said it was “proof” for her case. 

There’s, however, a somewhat silver lining to Eve’s story. She said the server told her she would get the $50 back, which Eve hoped was true.

Servers cannot write their own tips

According to an article published by The Takeout, servers cannot add tips or service charges to a bill without informing the customer beforehand. The article states that such incidents should be reported immediately to the appropriate authorities, which Eve did.

In a series of videos on her TikTok account, Eve addressed accusations that she had written the tip herself. She pulled up a document she had written earlier and compared how she wrote her numbers to how

Eve is yet to provide an update on whether she received the money.

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