I have a confession: Sometimes I lie awake at night and wonder which celebrities are bad tippers.
Thankfully, people who've worked as servers took to Reddit to expose the (alleged) reality of celeb tippage — the good, the bad, and the absolutely wild displays of wealth that I, too, would like to be able to experience one day.
Here's what they revealed:
1. "Laura Dern was kinda entitled and not a great tipper. She left a $9 tip on a $371 meal, so it actually cost several dollars to wait on her."
2. "I used to manage a cocktail bar on the West Side of LA, so we got a lot of celebrities, most of which were super cool. Some notable and very nice people: Owen Wilson, basically all of the original Avengers plus Anthony Mackie, Michael B. Jordan, Travis Fimmel, and Adam Scott. All were super nice and tipped really well as far as I remember. Owen Wilson used to hang out after the bar was closed and do shots with us pretty regularly for a while. Fun times."
3. "Shaq got so mad at being ID’d by our door guy that he threw a snowball into his face after he left. But otherwise, he was great and tipped well! He sucks at beer pong though."
"Shaq came into my restaurant to pick up a couple of his buddies who had just ordered drinks. He just said, 'You ready?' to them and then put down $500 on the table for a $28 tab that wasn’t even his. That was a good night."
4. "Jeff Goldblum. Exceptionally nice, very funny, and a great tipper."
5. "I got stiffed by Rachael Ray. She was just the worst."
6. "I got to chat and actually exchange a hug with Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone from The Office). He actually officiated a wedding that happened at another hotel I worked at and came in to grab drinks from me for the rest of the night and was just so rad. Super normal voice and demeanor, an excellent tipper, and overall a stand up guy."
7. "A coworker of mine a few years back waited on Willow Smith. She was super nice to her apparently and left a really good tip."
8. "I served Gordon Ramsay once. I was very nervous because of his TV persona, but he was actually very polite — probably the most polite customer I've ever had. He didn't even tell anyone to f*ck off! At the end of the night, he requested to see the head chef and shook his hand in appreciation and tipped us £100."
9. "Bill Nye the Science Guy is very down-to-earth and a good tipper."
—Anonymous
10. "The worst celebrity I waited on was one of the old 90210 guys (Jason Priestley, I think) whose group left $20 on a $600 bill."
11. "I served Rashida Jones and Adam Scott. They were in town to speak at the local university. Both were SUPER nice. I'm a huge fan of Parks and Rec, so I was really nervous! Adam asked me about the history of one of our side dishes as a joke and I said something like, 'Well, potatoes originally came from Ireland...' and they laughed at my terrible joke, so I felt good. It was them and who I believed to be their publicists/teams, and Rashida and Adam paid and both tipped 30%!"
—Anonymous
12. "Robert Plant. Very chill, he had a Philly cheesesteak with no bread and tipped 20%. He was messing with the bartender, a younger girl. He told her he was in a band and she asked 'Is it a band I might have heard of?' and he’s like, 'No, probably not. We never hit it that big.'"
13. "A friend waited on Morgan Freeman, John Goodman, and Steve Carell. At one point, Goodman pulled out a cigar, and without hesitation, she (the waitress) had a lit lighter waiting for him. He reached into his wallet and gave her $100 for that."
14. "Some guy in my section was a big YouTube personality. I didn't know him, but many of my coworkers recognized him and his new girlfriend. They all insisted he was rich, so I'd get a good tip — he left me $0."
15. "Charlie Sheen came into the café I work in with one of his daughters. Super polite, tipped extremely well. 10/10 celebrity experience!"
16. "I waited on Tony Hawk like 20 years ago when I was in college. One of the kindest humans out there. Good tipper too!"
17. "Nick Carter once paid with a debit card and tipped $30 on a $110 bill. He was super nice."
18. "I bartended at Dave Chappelle's private birthday party. He kicked everyone out at the end of the night and came back in to have a drink away from his sycophants and assistants. He was the coolest, except he spoiled the third to last Breaking Bad episode for me by acting it out word for word and dissecting every minute detail. But then he bought a Stella and gave us a $100 dollar bill. Actually, he took the bill out of his pocket, lifted it above his head, then slammed it down on the bar and shouted 'BAM!!!' I am happy to still be a fan of his."
19. "Anthony Kiedis was chill. He tipped well."
20. "My cousin had Drew Carey come into his bar one night after a gig. He said he came in and bought a round for everyone in the bar. Cousin said he was a real classy guy and extremely friendly. At the end of the night, he called my cousin over and asked how many staff were working that night. He then pulled out a check and wrote it for an amount that ended up giving each staffer a $100 tip that night."
And finally, the BEST tipper of all the celeb tippers. I give you:
21. "A friend of mine used to be a waitress at a brunch place near Atlanta that Tyler Perry used to frequent. One day around the holidays, another waitress had only two tables: one being Tyler Perry, and the other being some random patron. Apparently this patron was a complete a**hole — extremely rude, complained about everything, and left little to no tip. Meanwhile, Tyler was very nice and polite while eating his brunch, reading a book, and chatting with the waitress from time to time. When it came time for him to leave, he decided to leave her a nice $1,200 tip and wished her a Merry Christmas and apologized for the other random a**hole."
Answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.