Oh, the joys of working in the service industry are truly infinite. One of the best perks? Having to kiss up to unmitigated douchecanoe customers in the merest hopes of chasing a decent tip. One TikTok user knows how this feels after she served a devout MAGA couple who awkwardly assumed that their waitress was a fellow passenger on the Donald Trump crazy train.
“I don’t talk about politics on here but I’m still reeling from this one,” TikToker Kate Swisher captioned her video. Kate explains that she was serving a married couple their drinks when the woman randomly said to her “I know who you’re voting for” in a sing-song voice. Not knowing what she was talking about, she left without responding, but when she came back with their food, the woman asked again: “Only a month left, I bet you’re excited.”
Kate’s confusion continued until it was time to bring them the bill, at which point the husband asked her to wait a moment so he could give her a tip in cash. “Only one month left until you don’t have to pay taxes on tips anymore!” the wife sing-sung again. Finally understanding what was happening, Kate politely told the woman that she doesn’t think Trump can really get Congress to pass a bill to ban taxes on tips. “Oh, don’t worry about that, he’s gonna get rid of all them, anyway.”
Wait, Kate asked, you mean the taxes or the United States House of Representatives? “Oh yeah,” MAGA mom replied. “He’s gonna get rid of all them. He’s gonna restructure the entire government.” Kate then admits that the couple hadn’t tipped her yet so she was forced to listen to the whole spiel, nodding and replying politely, all while her soul silently exited her body.
Kate was clearly uncomfortable with the conversation, though, and the wife got annoyed. “You act like you want to pay taxes?” she questioned. Kate then explained why she didn’t mind paying taxes, assuming they were “fair and equitable,” and why she wouldn’t want to avoid paying taxes herself if all her co-workers still did. This is when the woman dropped her ultimate, undeniable argument: “Don’t question it. Don’t question him.” The woman added, “I think he has a plan. Just trust it.” Kate sums it up when she stares at the camera for a long while before finally saying, “Is this a cult?”
This woman’s blind faith in America’s Orangest President, a devotion apparently so absolute that it would put Dennis Quaid to shame, has left the people of TikTok shaken. “To your question, yes,” one wrote, regarding Kate’s cult comment. Others, meanwhile, sense something familiar about Kate’s story. “Was that my mom?” one commenter quipped.
Some quite accurately pointed out that the woman’s entire line of reasoning for why Kate should vote Trump is flawed: although the two are rarely on the same side, both Trump and Kamala Harris support the “no taxes for tips” notion. The former first floated the idea in June, before Harris adopted the same position in August. It might sound nifty in theory, but some are concerned the move will become a loophole for the wealthy to receive hefty bonuses disguised as “tips.”
The biggest thing that’s concerning folks about Kate’s tale, though? She never even told us if Mr. and Mrs. MAGA left her a tip. “But were you actually tipped??” asked one comment, desperate for an answer, to which someone replied with a thread-winning response: “They left a concept of a tip.”
