Went out to dinner with my boyfriend last night, and our waitress—let’s call her Katie—took our order and then must’ve gone to Narnia because she straight-up vanished. No check-in, no refills, didn’t even bring our food. Some other guy wandered over with our plates while Katie was apparently off solving world peace or scrolling TikTok in the back.

Then, out of nowhere, she reappears just in time to drop the check, circle the suggested tip like she just ran a triathlon for us, and flashes a big customer service smile like we’re all besties. Girl, we had one interaction—congrats on showing up to work for five minutes.

Still, I left a 20% tip. Why? Because I’ve worked in service and I know sometimes it’s not all on the server. Also, I’m not about to ruin someone’s night over lukewarm Diet Coke and ghost energy. But my boyfriend flipped out. Said I’m just rewarding bare minimum behavior and "this is why nobody takes pride in their jobs anymore.”

I told him I’d rather be generous than bitter, and if tipping for five minutes of effort keeps someone afloat, so be it. He said I’m being a pushover and practically sponsoring bad service now.

So, AITA for tipping a vanishing waitress when my petty king of a boyfriend wanted to “teach her a lesson”?