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Gratuity Tips
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2016-02-15 at 6:52 AM UTCMy friend noticed something while out spending gift cards this last holiday season. He went into a decent steakhouse and bought a $19.99 meal(no alcohol because he didn't want to show his ID), ate the delicious meal, paid with a visa gift card that only had $20 on it, but tipped $10 because he's a bad ass. The transaction went through because the rang it up for $19.99 but he was able to tip because after they rang it up, they brought him the slip to sign and that's were he got to write down how much he wanted to tip.
Later my friend logged into the account that he registered the card in and noticed that the gift card did have a negative balance of $9.99. I know from another little scheme that these little cards can end up with a negative balance, but I was wondering if there could be anyway to profit from an outrageous tip.
One way I know of, would be for a person to go to a restaurant where their friend is working, buy a $20 meal, pay with the gift card that has $20 on it, but tip $500, lol. There friend would get a nice bonus for that night.
Are there any other services out there that could be taken advantage of with this? -
2016-02-22 at 11:09 AM UTCShit nigger. If you got one of them fancy card readers that connect to your iPhone or some shit im sure you could figure something out.
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2016-02-22 at 12:01 PM UTC
Shit nigger. If you got one of them fancy card readers that connect to your iPhone or some shit im sure you could figure something out.
If I understand how this works correctly then this fancy card reader thing is just something to read a magnetic stripe and transform that into an electric signal ie. take apart an analog tape player, get the reader-head out, solder it to a 3.5mm jack, plug jack into your microphone input and run some audio recording software, scan card and you got the data.
I'd assume this is a lot more complicated with the chip-n-pin cards recently rolled out in the US :/. -
2016-02-22 at 1:09 PM UTC
My friend noticed something while out spending gift cards this last holiday season. He went into a decent steakhouse and bought a $19.99 meal(no alcohol because he didn't want to show his ID), ate the delicious meal, paid with a visa gift card that only had $20 on it, but tipped $10 because he's a bad ass. The transaction went through because the rang it up for $19.99 but he was able to tip because after they rang it up, they brought him the slip to sign and that's were he got to write down how much he wanted to tip.
Later my friend logged into the account that he registered the card in and noticed that the gift card did have a negative balance of $9.99. I know from another little scheme that these little cards can end up with a negative balance, but I was wondering if there could be anyway to profit from an outrageous tip.
One way I know of, would be for a person to go to a restaurant where their friend is working, buy a $20 meal, pay with the gift card that has $20 on it, but tip $500, lol. There friend would get a nice bonus for that night.
Are there any other services out there that could be taken advantage of with this?
How does that work?
Surely the card would read how much is on there ie $20. -
2016-02-22 at 3:16 PM UTCwhy the fuck do outrageous and restaurant go to google searches
also I'm surprised it worked, but the company that issues the cards is likely to do a chargeback like CC companies do, reversing the payment, so chances are if you try that the restaurant will be rather upset -
2016-02-22 at 6:05 PM UTC
If I understand how this works correctly then this fancy card reader thing is just something to read a magnetic stripe and transform that into an electric signal ie. take apart an analog tape player, get the reader-head out, solder it to a 3.5mm jack, plug jack into your microphone input and run some audio recording software, scan card and you got the data.
I'd assume this is a lot more complicated with the chip-n-pin cards recently rolled out in the US :/.
Yes, here's a tutorial with pictures...
http://web.archive.org/web/20070214070116/http://www.timmatheson.com/91/
Here's one with a writer as well...
http://www.gae.ucm.es/~padilla/extrawork/stripe.htmlHow does that work?
Surely the card would read how much is on there ie $20.
They charge the card for the base amount and then later they charge the tip, causing it to overdraft. -
2016-02-22 at 6:34 PM UTC
They charge the card for the base amount and then later they charge the tip, causing it to overdraft.
Right, but the card company can reverse any given transaction, like they do for fraud or contested transactions or whatever. If the negative balance isn't paid off they may reverse it after some amount of time. Still, I wonder if it's long enough that a waiter could cash out their tips and make the restaurant eat the loss -
2016-02-23 at 7:35 AM UTCMan, don't fuck with the gratuity system. You won't profit like you think, see Lanny's posts. Servers rely on it and you're just going to make their lives more difficult.
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2016-02-23 at 3:51 PM UTC
Yes, here's a tutorial with pictures…
http://web.archive.org/web/20070214070116/http://www.timmatheson.com/91/
Here's one with a writer as well…
http://www.gae.ucm.es/~padilla/extrawork/stripe.html
They charge the card for the base amount and then later they charge the tip, causing it to overdraft.
But what if there i no overdraft? Which I am guessing with Gift cards you cannot get?
If there is $20 on it surely you cannot spend more then $20 no matter what. -
2016-02-23 at 7:53 PM UTC
But what if there i no overdraft? Which I am guessing with Gift cards you cannot get?
If there is $20 on it surely you cannot spend more then $20 no matter what.
The account balance went negative though. They're just hard to overdraft, just like prepaid debit cards that require a SSN. Usually the over draft comes via a mandatory charge. -
2016-02-24 at 11:39 AM UTCMaybe they are different in the UK then.
Here you take one up to the counter and you say 'Please put X amount on' and then that is it you cannot spend more. -
2016-02-24 at 11:41 AM UTCBut if they went into Overdraft I am guessing the banks etc will chase the cardholder not do a chargeback.
Chargebacks are only for fraudulent transactions or a transaction you are querying, if you spent too much that is on you.
Well in the UK it is. -
2016-03-01 at 5:35 AM UTC
Right, but the card company can reverse any given transaction, like they do for fraud or contested transactions or whatever. If the negative balance isn't paid off they may reverse it after some amount of time. Still, I wonder if it's long enough that a waiter could cash out their tips and make the restaurant eat the loss
You could maybe pull this off once, and probably not for near that much. Restaurants would certainty care about $500 missing, and if they suspected foul play, the server would be out of a job, that probably pays around that much every week. I know if a table dine and ditched, I'd be in hot water even for like $50. -
2016-03-01 at 6:10 PM UTC
Man, don't fuck with the gratuity system. You won't profit like you think, see Lanny's posts. Servers rely on it and you're just going to make their lives more difficult.
Perhaps they should get some marketable skills and go work a real job then, fuck tipping.
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2016-03-01 at 9:01 PM UTC^Pretty much this. If you dont like or cant survive on making $3.75/hr plus tips maybe you should work a job that doesnt have tip based pay.
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2016-03-01 at 10:05 PM UTCServing is a pretty decent way to go for not being a 'real job.' Get yourself a gig at any even moderately busy restaurant and a server will almost always make, at minimum, $50 on a weekday and $75 on Friday/Saturday (always slightly more as a female), on top of their hourly pay, and usually on a 25-30 hour work week (4-5 hour shifts). At least $1200 a month in tips plus $500 in regular wages- $1700 a month working a part time job. And again, work in the right restaurant and these are typically minimum values. Work in the wrong restaurant and these are of course exaggerated values. When I worked at a basic diner, the night servers would typically make like $20 on any given night. It was actually so bad that the owner would pay the closing server an extra $20 out of his own pocket just because he felt bad for them. Of course, that was a good job for young servers with no experience.
I don't think very many people stick around at serving jobs where they are going into each week with their fingers crossed hoping they'll make enough to get by. There aren't many places where having a few people 'fuck with the gratuity system' is going to have some type of major impact on a server's income and livelihood. There will always be people who tip, and there are a lot more people than you'd think who tip at least 20% just based on their own values and how they were raised, etc.
If I wasn't in a nearly perpetual state of depression, I would have become a server a long time ago. Having worked with them most of my life, I've really gotten to see first-hand how fucking easy of a job it is for the relative income. Easy save for the having to talk to strangers thing, which most people can either do, or hate doing. I generally fall into the latter category as do most back-of-house restaurant workers.
Anyway, I'm gonna go rob a liquor store. -
2016-03-01 at 10:11 PM UTCDon't try and make excuses for your cheapness for not tipping. A lot of them are working to for pay school so they can get a "real" job.
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2016-03-02 at 2:08 AM UTC
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