While TikTok is a great resource for useful advice and life hacks, it can also be a breeding ground for unsavory activity. In the past, TikTokers have shared tips on how to “borrow” (i.e., shoplift) from stores. Now, the new craze is teaching servers how to “float” drinks.
On the app, some servers have shared their “unethical” ways of getting tips, while customers have put servers on blast for attempting to sneak extra charges onto a restaurant bill from other customers. However, “floating” a customer’s drink is on another level.
Server and TikToker Kenneth Johnson (@kennyonshift) explained the viral trend to 545,300 viewers. He initially brought it up in a previous video, but in the one that blew up, he gave a more thorough explanation.
He prefaced the video by reminding viewers that this is technically “stealing” and that you could get in trouble for this. “Most people don’t, most probably just get fired, but don’t push your luck,” he said.
How Do You ‘Float’ A Customer’s Drink?
Johnson then walked TikTok users through a hypothetical situation. Suppose he is your customer (table one) and he orders a soda, a margarita, an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert that costs $50 overall. Additionally, suppose he gives $50 cash. The next step, as it were, is apparently to keep the check open. Then, you might get a second table where they order a Pepsi and a margarita—two items that overlap with the first order.
So, from the first bill, you could go and split it, and put Pepsi and a margarita from the first bill onto a new check. This means that, table one’s check will be $5 cheaper from the soda and $15 cheaper from the margarita. This makes a total of $20 off a $50 check you can effectively pocket.
Then, he says it’s a matter of saying you’re missing a margarita and making a new soda yourself from the machine.
“If they [table two] pay in cash, you can keep switching it over, but somebody eventually is gonna pay in card and clear off that check and you don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he said. “That is what floating the drink is.”
He then made two follow-ups. In one follow-up, in which he replied to a commenter who said they still didn’t understand, he said that it was probably best they didn’t because this is technically a crime. As well as this, he noted that this “tip” has been part of the restaurant industry for as long as he can remember. In a second follow-up, he also urged viewers not to do this to smaller businesses.
BroBible reached out to Johnson for comment via email.
How Did Commenters React?
In the comments, some current and former servers admitted they’d done this trick in the past. “I did this all the time with the soda machine,” one wrote. “It was amazing when i got an extra $40 each night.”
“Not that I’ve EVER done this… But if I had, it would have only been with sodas, because the bartender always needed a new ticket to make a new drink,” a second said. “And as less and less people pay with cash, the opportunity to do so becomes less and less proportionally.”
While a third added, “I definitely thought I invented that back in 2006.”
Others were less convinced. “Man, this is too complicated for a few dollars. It’s not even worth it,” a fourth chimed in.
While a fourth shared, “I caught a server doing this when I managed a restaurant. She got fired over $2.61 that day smh.”
@kennyonshift Replying to @OBCD
How Can You Stop It?
As Johnson mentioned, this practice is stealing, largely unethical, and technically illegal. From a management perspective, a blog post on Restaurant Systems Pro shared how to catch out people who do this.
The blog describes the POS system as the “grand theft identifier” because it can flag discrepancies. It advises each shift manager to go into the POS system’s back office report and run the transfer report. By doing this, you can see exactly who transferred both individual items and entire tickets.
“Management can easily decipher the transfers from the bar to a server for guests who were waiting at the bar for their table from the ones that are clearly theft,” the website reads.
“It doesn’t take long after the first bartender is fired for this scam for the rest of the bartending staff to stop or, better yet, never start this dishonest practice.”