#TipTheBillChallenge: Why diners are paying it forward with 100 percent gratuity
#TipTheBillChallenge is the latest challenge to explode on social media, and is showing how generosity and kindness can be contagious, as well as helping some lucky servers make ends meet.
The origins of the viral challenge -- which asks diners to tip their servers at restaurants 100 percent of the cost of their bill -- are not immediately clear, but it has shed light on the plight of service industry workers who often rely mostly on tips as their main source of income.
Hundreds of servers at restaurants across the country, have been sharing snapshots of patrons who left them a tip as big as the cost of their meal, many of them scribbling #TipTheBillChallenge on their receipts.
One Twitter user shared a post in support of the challenge, writing that for most servers, "your only source of income are tips," and if someone tips more than 50 percent, it "goes a long way. Mentally and financially."
Hundreds more users have shared posts of pure glee when they have become unexpected recipients of the pay-it-forward challenge.
Still, others are saying that the challenge should raise awareness for how restaurants should be paying servers more so that they don't have to rely on the generosity of customers or tips in order to pay the bills.
