Customer tipped me $50… then apparently clogged the toilet on purpose because he thought I’d have to clean it?
I work part time at a local restaurant while studying veterinary medicine. I’ve been there almost 2 years and rely on the job to pay rent and survive through uni.
For context, I live in a pretty small town in New Zealand with only a couple universities, and this week is graduation week so the restaurant has been packed with families celebrating.
A family of 5 came in — 3 older adults, one recent grad, and who I assumed was the grad’s boyfriend. I greeted them, took their order, etc. The mum commented that the restaurant, including the toilets, was really clean and nice. I jokingly replied, “Thank you, I cleaned it.” Everyone laughed and it seemed completely normal.
They ended up being our last table of the night. While we were closing, I went to chat with my best friend/coworker near the bathrooms. The boyfriend walked toward the men’s toilet, so we moved out of the way and let him in. The family paid, left, and tipped me $50, which honestly was super generous considering the tipping culture in NZ. Then a few minutes later my coworker told us the men’s toilet was clogged. I went to check and someone had apparently pulled half an industrial-sized roll of toilet paper into the toilet and flushed it. It looked very intentional, not like someone accidentally used too much paper. The timing also makes me think it was the boyfriend specifically, because he was the only one who went in there right before we left.
The weird part is… it almost feels like he did it because of my joke about cleaning. Like some bizarre “oh yeah? then clean this” type thing.
What confuses me is:
everyone laughed at the joke,
the family was kind the entire time,
they tipped well,
and then THIS happens.
I know exactly who this guy is because the town and uni community are small, but I’m not planning on publicly naming him or anything. I’m mostly just sitting here wondering why someone would go out of their way to do something so petty to a service worker.
Has anyone else experienced customers doing weird passive aggressive stuff like this for absolutely no reason?