You Can Pay For The Rest If It Makes Cents

(I am working alone at the front of a juice bar. My coworker is in the back stocking up on ingredients when a young couple comes up to order one drink.)

Me: “That’s going to be $4.58, please.”

(The guy starts going through his wallet. He clearly has a few $1, $5, and $10 bills, but looks through his pockets for change. He only has a few pennies and dimes.)

Guy: *to girlfriend* “Do you have any change?”

(The girl starts looking through her wallet and comes up with none. She clearly has lots of $1, $10, and $20 bills.)

Girl: “No, sweetie. I don’t.”

Guy: *to me* “Is there any way you can pay for the coins?” *points at my tip jar*

Me: “No, I can’t do that, sir.”

(The guy and girl both beg for a few seconds and I continue to deny their request.)

Girl: *huffs and pulls out a dollar bill and tosses it at me* “All right, b****. Here’s the money.”

(I make an exasperated face and complete the transaction. I try to hand the boyfriend his change when the girlfriend speaks up.)

Girl: “Let this b**** have the change. She clearly wants to hog it all, anyway.”

(I ignore her and hand the boyfriend his change and make his order. I usually make drinks really quickly, and this case is no exception. There is also a huge line, so it’s only natural of me to speed it up. In the middle of blending together the ordered drink, the guy approaches me.)

Guy: “I’m sorry about my girlfriend’s behavior. Can you not make my drink taste bad?”

(I stare at him a while and then reassure him that I would do no such thing. I also explain to him why I couldn’t help them pay for their own drink; I’m not allowed to even if I want to, and I also have to split the tip with my coworker. I then quickly hand him his drink and try to help the next customer when the girl approaches me again.)

Girl: “Listen here, b****. I want you to know—”

(The boyfriend cut her off and explained to her that I couldn’t pay for the drinks because of my coworker. NOT because they were completely capable of paying themselves, NOT because it’s wrong to put someone down because they aren’t paying for their things, but because I had to SPLIT my tip. The addition of them assuming that I would stoop low enough to sabotage their drink ruined my entire day.)