Many waiters around the world struggle every day to find a way to increase the tip they receive from diners in the restaurants where they work, because in quite a few cases the same tips make up a significant part of their salary.
To help those waiters, influencer Dillon Brooks posted on his TikTok account (citizenscientist) a psychological method to increase waiters' tips, which he says the FBI uses to interrogate people. "It's an art that uses social psychological methods that really affect the diner," said Brooks, who said a waitress he knew heard about the trick, tested it — and found that it did help increase tips from diners.
"A waitress wanted to see what psychological method would make her get better tips from her diners," he said. "She tested two methods – positive reinforcement and reflection.
First, the waitress tested the positive reinforcement method - she complimented diners on their orders, saying phrases like 'great choice', 'no problem' and 'I'm coming right away'. The waitress tested the positive reinforcement method on 30 groups of diners and then tested the mirroring method, in which the diner's words of order are simply repeated verbatim."
@citizenscientist#waiter#serviceindustry#fbi#jedi#fyp#waitress#tips#hack♬ Paris - 斌杨Remix
According to Brooks, the results showed that by using the mirroring method, the waitress received 70 percent higher tips than using the positive reinforcement method. He explained the difference by saying that when someone repeats other people's words, you awaken in them the biological need for connection: "It's an unconscious need that has to do with the fact that human beings are social beings who need connection with others. The mirroring method inspires in the detainee confidence, a sense of security and a desire to build a good relationship with the interrogator," he said, referring to the FBI's use of the method.
The method caused much controversy among respondents. One waiter commented: "It's true, the customer feels safer when you act this way and rewards you more." Others argued: "Mirroring helps because it makes you a better waiter, you do better – and therefore you get a bigger tip."
Another waitress shared her method of obtaining high tips and claimed that she compliments customers on everything related to ordering: "I respond to every dilemma and every question with many compliments and arrive at unbelievably high tips in this way," she wrote.
She probably didn't use the right method. Frustrated waitress (illustration), photo: Getty Images
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