A Canadian Left A Tip That 'Embarrassed' Their Father-In-Law & Reddit Is Debating Who's Wrong

The Reddit community of Am I The A**hole (AITA) often features unique situations where denizens of the internet can write in to find out whether or not they were in fact "the a**hole" in certain situations, and a Canadian recently shared their story.

On October 23, Reddit user u/InformationPrimary31 had an important question for the forum: "AITA for tipping and embarrassing my boomer FIL," they asked.

"I worked as a server in university and my daughter worked at Starbucks and a local restaurant when she was in school," the user wrote. "I know how servers earn their money."

They explained they were invited out to dinner by their father-in-law (FIL) for his wife's birthday at a "nice Greek restaurant," where the FIL said he would be paying for the meal.

"Cool my kids are well behaved and know not to go crazy on their grandparents' money," said the user before they delved into the heart of the issue.

"I have known my in-laws for almost twenty years now. I know he doesn't tip," InformationPrimary31 explained.

"So I always bring cash and tip whenever we dine out with them. So after the meal as we were leaving I checked the bill and dropped 20% on top of his cash."

The problem arose when FIL thought he left too much money and asked for his change, which resulted in the server returning the tip.

"My FIL knew how he paid and it didn't include a fifty dollar bill," they explained. "He blew his top. Saying I disrespected him by doing this I was implying that he was cheap after he took out my family to a nice restaurant."

The user said they weren't trying to be "a hero or a jerk," and that they were just trying to "do right by the server" who attended to them for almost two hours.

"My wife is mad at me for upsetting her father," they said. "My daughter gave me a hug and said I was right. Aita?"

While u/InformationPrimary31 was ultimately dubbed "not the a**hole" by the community, they were given some advice by the group.

"In the future, it may be better to say something like 'since you covered dinner, I thought I would cover the tip' - even if he’s resistant to tipping (AH), at least the point of the gesture was in the ether," someone recommended.

"I always drop my own tip when my meal is paid for," another explained.

They continued, "I'm already saving money and this way either the server still makes enough for rent and food if my hosts are cheap, or if they tip too, or server gets a bonus at our table - something I always appreciated when I was a server."

Others pointed out a similar scene that happened in the show Friends when Ross topped up the bill after Rachel's father paid.

"I'm pretty sure there was a Friends episode where this happened," one person wrote. "NTA. Your FIL is an AH."

To be fair, Rachel's dad also got pretty peeved by the situation!

So, who do you think is the a**hole?

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.