Vault: Is she exploiting a military lie for larger tips?

Summary

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The Bert Show — Vault: Is She Exploiting a Military Lie for Larger Tips?

Air Date: June 19, 2026
Main Hosts: The Bert Show Cast (Bert, Kristin, Abby, Cassie, Tommy & others)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into an ethical—and relatable—dilemma from the world of waitstaff and bartenders: Is it okay to let customers assume a server’s significant other is deployed in the military to get larger tips? The cast shares personal stories, reflects on honesty in service jobs, and takes calls from listeners who reveal their own instances of "hustling" for sympathy-driven gratuities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Challenges and Hustle of Serving

• [01:00-02:45] The cast recalls their own experiences in the restaurant industry, debating how difficult the job really is and trading stories about learning to balance food and drink trays.
• Quote:
  "I've never done it because I was always afraid. I knew I couldn't. I would drop the food all the time."
  — Bert, [01:18]

The Ethics of Storytelling for Tips

• [02:45-04:54] Joanna (cast member) reveals she lets bar patrons believe her boyfriend Jason is deployed.
  • She does not explicitly lie, but doesn't correct assumptions, noticing it increases tips.
  • Jason is in the military, but he's not deployed; she admits this is a gray area.
• Quote:
  "From here on out, I don't tell people he is, but nor do I dispel the rumor that he is. So I let them on to believe… he's deployed. 'Cause I think it gives me more money."
  — Joanna, [04:16]

Does This Cross a Line?

• The cast banters about whether Joanna's practice is a harmless hustle or an unfair manipulation.
• Bert jokes about guys being "suckers" when a "bubbly" bartender shares tales of a military boyfriend.
• Quote:
  "So really, what we're learning is the waitstaff, bartenders, all con artists."
  — Bert, [08:48]

Safety and Real Military Families' Experience

• [06:34-07:57] Mandy, a caller and military wife, weighs in:
  • She empathizes, acknowledging many assume military partners are deployed.
  • Cautions against oversharing for safety reasons, citing risks in revealing deployment info.
• Quote:
  "We don't want the terrorists to know when those guys are gone and when they're home. So from a safety perspective, I appreciate that. Now, she's not saying yay or nay on that."
  — Mandy, [07:36]

Listener Confessions: Sympathy Tips Are Common

• [08:03-09:47] Other listeners call in to admit similar hustles:
  • Katie: Claimed she couldn't go home for the holidays to increase tips for a Vegas trip.
  • Brianna: Exaggerated her hardship returning to work with a knee brace, blaming a "mean boss" to get sympathy money.
• Quote:
  "And they felt so bad, and I went and just boozed and gambled on that money."
  — Katie, [08:39]
• Quote:
  "I ended up getting a whole slew of sympathy tips... So I ended up getting, while I had the brace on, like an extra, like, 200 bucks every weekend."
  — Brianna, [09:47]

Cast’s Take on the “Hustle”

• The show wraps up this segment acknowledging that for many in service jobs, storytelling (and bending the truth) is sometimes just “the hustle.”
• Quote:
  "Listen, you only make 2.13 an hour. If I could put an extra dollar in my pocket, I gotta do what I gotta do. I need a new pair of shoes."
  — Joanna, [09:52]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the art of storytelling for tips:
  "Hustle for a buck."
  — Bert, [08:54]

• On "patriotic" tippers:
  "Give them a couple of beers and they're getting all patriotic on you."
  — Cast, [05:43]

• On Joanna's true intent:
  "Well, just so you know, the bartender at Hudson Grill who's telling you about her military boyfriend, it's all a lie. Keep your money in your pocket. She doesn't need new shoes."
  — Bert, [10:05]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:00 — Cast discusses servers’ skills & the difficulty of waiting tables
• 02:45 — Introduction of Joanna’s “military boyfriend” story and tip strategy
• 04:16 — Joanna admits she lets patrons assume her boyfriend is deployed
• 06:34 — Military wife (Mandy) calls in: real risks and the ethics of military stories
• 08:03 — Katie’s Vegas hustle: sympathy stories for bigger tips
• 09:04 — Brianna’s knee injury exploit: using hardship for extra cash
• 09:57 — Cast reflects on the commonality of tip-motivated storytelling

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Tone & Feel

The conversation is irreverent, honest, and peppered with humor—typical of The Bert Show’s trademark style. While there’s a clear understanding that bending the truth for tips is widespread, the show never gets preachy, opting instead to spotlight the realities, pressures, and little white lies that permeate service industry life.

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Takeaway

The episode offers a funny, unfiltered look at the blurred lines between honesty, hustle, and harmless self-advantage in the service industry. It's a relatable listen for anyone who's ever worked for tips, revealing both the camaraderie and mild deception that can come with the territory.

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Transcript

[A]

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[D]

the

[E]

first show I have never been a true waiter. I was a busboy in a restaurant, but I have friends who have, including Tracy. She was a waiter when she started working at the show.

[F]

Waitress.

[D]

I was a server.

[E]

Server? Yep. You were a server. Okay.

[D]

I've never done it because I was always afraid. I knew I couldn't. I would drop the food all the time. Like I was nervous about going from the kitchen to the table and not

[G]

eating that whole thing.

[D]

The drinks and the food. I just didn't think I was coordinated enough.

[G]

And actually, I think the heavier the tray, the easier it was.

[E]

Cause it's balanced or something.

[G]

The lighter the tray, the more.

[F]

Yeah. And then once you get the technique down where you're holding the drinks and you're taking them off one at a time, Once you know how to balance that, you're good to go.

[G]

Yeah.

[E]

See, I appreciate the hard work that goes into being a server. I think a lot of it has to do with the story that Jessica tells, which she didn't think being a server was difficult and went in and lied about having qualifications to be a server. This is, you know, 20 years ago back in Arizona or whatever. And she went into a very busy Italian restaurant and said, yeah, I used to wait tables and made up some reference or something that they never called. And then the first night, the other server called in sick and she got fired. She worked one shift at her first serving job because she was so bad, because she didn't know all those techniques.

[F]

She's the worst.

[D]

She's the worst. There's the best. Like the Mexican restaurant, the guys that put the whole oven sleeve on and have 15 plates on one arm.

[F]

That's impressive.

[E]

She wasn't doing that. So I appreciate the hard work that goes into serving. And I would appreciate in return, honesty. I would appreciate in return that my

[G]

server

[E]

be honest with me about, you know, everything. The specials, what's good, what's bad, any story they might tell. I don't want to be scammed out of an extra tip. Joanna.

[F]

It's not scamming at all. I'm not scamming people, but I bartend. And as a bartender, I talk to my customers, I make conversation. And especially when it's. I work a lot of lunches, and when we're slow and there's nothing else to do, everything's cleaned, everything's stocked. I'm like, I guess I'll go talk to that dude at the end of the bar, maybe get a couple extra dollars because I spend a couple extra minutes with him. Well, a couple weeks ago.

[E]

And because you're working. It's called talking, not flirting.

[F]

Exactly. I'm not flirting. Honestly. It's strictly like, hey, what do you do? Do you work around here? And then they end up asking you what you do. I tell them, I work here, that my. And one thing leads to another. And I told this one guy that, you know, Jason was in the army, and your boyfriend. Jason's my boyfriend, and he is in the military. Well, I can't remember because it was a while ago, but the guy ended up leaving me a big tip, and I realized that he assumed that Jason was deployed. And I felt like because Jason was deployed, maybe this guy felt bad because I'm a girlfriend of a guy that's overseas and left me a really big tip. So from here on out, I don't tell people he is, but. But nor do I dispel the rumor that he is. So I led them on to believe

[G]

you let them assume he's deployed.

[F]

He's deployed. Cause I think it gives me more money. Oh, my God.

[D]

Do you have an active conversation with anybody about his deployment?

[F]

I've told him that. I mean, if they ask, like, has he been overseas? I'll say, yes, he has been overseas.

[D]

But you're talking about his trip to Italy on vacation.

[F]

So he has, in the past, been deployed. He has deployed. He served his time. He did 15 months, and I'm so proud of him. But he's home now, and he's safe here. Two hours away in Columbus, Georgia. He's not in Afghanistan, but one could

[E]

argue that living in Columbus qualifies as a war zone.

[D]

Have you ever been to Columbus? Anybody? I mean, seriously?

[F]

Yeah, it's pretty going on. Yeah, it's pretty bad.

[E]

So I know that you're not the only person. So our Phone number is 404-741-Q100. We have a voice disguiser that we're not afraid to use. You're more than welcome to use a fake name, be on the voice disguiser. But I guarantee you you're not the only server who tells stories especially. And I think you know what, guys are suckers. So if you're a good looking girl as Joanna is with an outgo with bubbly personality, and you can, you know, be flirty, guys will be like, you know what, I'm gonna give her a little something. She's a nice girl. What a nice. What a nice girl supporting her military boyfriend. God, how beautiful.

[H]

Yeah.

[F]

And guys are just not smart to ask those follow up questions.

[H]

Right.

[G]

Give them a couple of beers and they're getting all patriotic on you.

[F]

Exactly.

[G]

God bless America.

[F]

I love this country.

[G]

Here is my tip.

[F]

I'm doing my part. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

[G]

You need to start wearing like his dog tags or something.

[F]

Well, this one Jean, this one girl. I used to work at this other bar.

[G]

Wait, does that mean he died? If you wear this dog tags? That's not what I meant.

[F]

There's a flag you can wear showing your support for someone who is actively

[D]

would be afraid that that would jinx him to get deployed again.

[F]

Oh, that's.

[E]

Yeah, it's like when you're waiting for someone at the hospital or the airport and you sit in a wheelchair. Never do that because it's jinx. So maybe telling the story. But he's out, right?

[F]

Right. Yeah. He's not going back.

[E]

He's not even military right now, is he?

[F]

He is. He's still active. He gets out this summer. But I don't want to jinx that. He could all of a sudden just go back.

[G]

Sure.

[E]

Hey, Mandy, welcome to the show.

[I]

Hi. How are you?

[E]

Good, how are you?

[I]

I'm good.

[H]

I just wanted to tell her that, you know, that happens to us all the time. I'm a military wife. My husband is looking at his ninth deployment coming up. He's been gone 36 months in the last five years. So when they assume that he's gone, for me, he really is gone most of the time. But I would say that that is in this day and age is a very natural assumption. For people. And I don't know if she. You know, she's saying she didn't tell him because of the tips. And I get that. I'm a server right now, and I' I completely understand why she's doing that. I don't necessarily think it's the right thing to do. But from a safety perspective, we always talk about, you don't tell them whether they're gone or not just by saying that he's at Columbus. I can guess, probably in. Two guesses what unit her boyfriend is in. And one out of the two is something that the guys in Afghanistan really don't want to know. We don't want the terrorists to know when those guys are gone and when they're home. That's from a safety perspective. I appreciate that. Now, she's not saying yay or nay on that.

[D]

So you're not. So she's not giving away army secrets whether he's deployed or not.

[E]

But, I mean, see, you're protecting the national security. You're not just getting the extra two bucks from the rich guy at the end of the bar. You're keep your. You know what. Homeland Security, Joanna, Way to go.

[F]

Always keep him guessing if she can tell me what unit he's in, because I don't even know what unit he's in. So I'd appreciate if she told me.

[E]

Hey, Katie, welcome to the show.

[J]

Hey, guys. I was just gonna say, when I was in college, I went to a school kind of far away, and I was planning a trip over Christmas break to go to Vegas, and I would tell all my customers that I wasn't gonna get home to see my family for Christmas, and I hadn't seen him in months so that I would have

[I]

more money to go to Las Vegas.

[F]

Awesome.

[E]

And is there any worked?

[H]

Oh, yeah.

[G]

How do you weave that into conversation? I'm just saying.

[H]

Well, they would ask if it was

[J]

over the holidays in a college town,

[H]

and they would say, oh, what are

[J]

your plans for the holidays? I'd be like, well, I have to work here. I can't go home and see my family. I haven't seen them in. They felt so bad, and I went

[H]

and just boozed and gambled on that money.

[E]

And I hope you at least thought of mom and dad when you were in the front row of Thunder from Down under in Las Vegas.

[D]

So really, what we're learning is the waitstaff, bartenders, all con artists.

[E]

Yes.

[D]

Yes.

[F]

That's how you start.

[C]

Hustle.

[E]

Hustle for a buck. Hey, Casey. Welcome to the bird Show. Oh, Casey hung up. She did the same thing. Hey, Brianna. Hey, how are you?

[H]

I'm doing well.

[J]

Good.

[E]

What's going on?

[I]

I used to work at a golf club when I was in college and I ended up having. I tore my ACL and I had knee surgery and I had my knee in a brace and my doctor told me not to go back to work for like several months, but the money was really good, so I wanted to go back. And when the guys asked me what happened and asked me why I was back already, I told them that the manager was really mean and told me to come back early because we were short on girls. And I ended up getting whole slew of sympathy tips just because they felt bad for me and they were, you know, commiserating with me about how, you know, what a jerk the manager was. So I ended up getting while I had to brace on like an extra like 200 bucks every weekend.

[G]

Nice.

[E]

Sympathy tips.

[I]

Yeah, sympathy tip.

[G]

Work it, girl.

[F]

Listen, you only make 213 an hour. You gotta, you know, if I could put an extra dollar in my pocket.

[G]

You gotta do what you gotta do.

[F]

I gotta do what I gotta do. I need a new pair of shoes. Do you.

[E]

Do you want to plug where you work?

[F]

I work at Hudson Grill, Midtown.

[E]

All right, well, just so you know, the bartender at Hudson Grill who's telling you about her military boyfriend, it's all a lie. Keep your money in your pocket. She doesn't need new shoes.

[G]

He's not deployed.

[E]

Get it?

[B]

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[F]

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[A]

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