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The restaurant bill appeared to include an $18 "birthday celebration fee."
A Nashville restaurant diner has gone viral after sharing how they purportedly got charged a “birthday celebration fee.” But things might not be as simple as they appear.
The viral TikTok, which has amassed 1.8 million views, shows a $79.70 bill for a restaurant, whose name was cropped out of the photo. Among other things, the restaurant bill appeared to include an $18 “birthday celebration fee.”
Seemingly in response to this, it looks like the TikToker chose to give no tip, writing on the receipt, “That song cost $18?”
Accompanying the TikTok was a description saying, “The song wasn’t even good.”
BroBible reached out to the TikToker via TikTok comment.
Is This Real?
Many commenters were taken in by the TikTok.
“$6 for a ice tea wow,” one wrote.
“I would of took off birthday song price too I didn’t ask them to sing,” a second added.
While a third asked, “Did they tell you the birthday celebration was $18 before they did it? If so you agreed to the charge”
And a fourth said, “I would have told them to remove that. Cause they have lost their f—— minds.”
However, other commenters speculated that this TikTok shows an AI-generated receipt.
“I have a theory that AI wants to take over the service industry and it’s putting anti human service propaganda everywhere,” a fifth suggested.
“I’m sick of these AI receipts with perfect handwriting,” a sixth complained.
And a seventh asked, “You guys understand this is fake right?”
Ultimately, it is likely that this TikTok is fake.
The main red flags are the receipt’s address not being associated with a restaurant and the fact that this account is full of similar videos—all with identical handwriting.
With this in mind, it’s pretty clear that this is a troll account.
There Are Other Ragebait Accounts, Too
Because we’re in such deep tipping fatigue, it should come as no surprise to hear that this isn’t the only restaurant ragebait account out there. As previously reported by BroBible, a video by the aptly named @captain.t.roll went similarly viral.
In this video, the TikToker showed viewers a receipt from The Gilded Oyster. On the bill, one of the purported charges included was a “frequent non-tipper” fee. It was accompanied by the following written message: “Servers pay attention to recurring customers who don’t tip. We got you covered. Next time, try not to forget.” The handwritten message was followed by a drawn smiley face.
Although many commenters believed the ragebait, it should be noted that the account explicitly said in its bio that it was satire. Additionally, it was found that The Gilded Oyster didn’t exist. Moreover, of all of the receipt videos that were produced on the account had the same handwriting on the “bills.”
All in all, the only difference between @lebugmental and @captain.t.roll’s respective accounts is that the latter clearly identified it was satire. So, when it comes to @lebugmental’s TikTok, it is an important reminder to not let rage blind your media literacy.