Picture this: It’s date night, and you and your spouse are out celebrating a significant milestone. Amelia, a feisty 30-year-old, along with her equally delighted husband, had just settled in at a quaint restaurant to toast his recent promotion. Right up until the check came, everything was as smooth as butter on a hot pancake.

Here’s where it gets juicy. Amelia, always the considerate tipper, left a $10 bill on their $85 tab. Now, you’d think this is fairly decent, right? Wrong. Hold onto your hats because the waitress, gracing the table with a scowl that could curdle milk, sneered, “Ten bucks? This isn’t the 1950s anymore, you know.”

Excuse me? Oh, Amelia was not having it. “I think 10 bucks on an $85 bill is more than fair,” she deftly replied, clearly trying to restrain an eye-roll of her own.

But oh no, the waitress just couldn’t leave it be. Rolling her eyes with impressive vigor, she shot back, “It’s a standard 20% tip these days, cheapskate. Do you not know how to calculate that?”

At this point, the gloves were off. Amelia, now visibly vexed, retorted, “With that kind of nasty attitude, you don’t deserve a tip at all!” And like a rebellious teenager reclaiming her allowance, she snatched back her $10 bill.

Boom. You could almost hear the record scratch. The situation exploded faster than a microwave full of foil, with the waitress launching into a dramatic tirade that could rival any daytime soap opera. So loud and unpleasant it was, the restaurant manager had to swoop in like an air marshal to defuse the bomb.

In the ensuing chaos, Amelia and her husband made a swift exit, ditching the tip entirely. “Maybe I overreacted,” Amelia later confessed, still seething from the fiasco. “But her entitlement really rubbed me the wrong way.”

She’s got a point, though. Let’s do some math here: that $10 was just over 11% of the bill. Now, call me crazy, but last I checked, that’s not exactly chump change. It’s certainly not befitting of a public shaming.

This whole kerfuffle shines a glaring spotlight on the ever-murky waters of tipping etiquette. How does one navigate these tempestuous seas without capsizing into conflict?

Here’s some food for thought. Should Amelia have kept calm and carried on, like the plucky British slogan advises? Or was her reaction a perfectly justifiable counterpunch to an unprovoked slap of rudeness? The jury’s out, my friends, and the comment section is ablaze with opinions hotter than a jalapeño’s armpit.

Dealing with the service industry can be a high-wire act. Tips are not obligatory but are certainly a standard gesture of appreciation. Yet, where do we draw the line between fair compensation and unwarranted expectation?

Food for thought, right? Perhaps, next time, the words “thank you” might taste a whole lot better than a side of sarcasm. And maybe, just maybe, 11% can be a start, not the end of a conversation.