Maybe I'm just too cynical for the modern world, but I tend to have my doubts about the kindness of strangers. Especially in this economy.

Don't get me wrong, though. I'm sure plenty of people are actually taking the #TipTheBill Challenge seriously and are, in fact, leaving tips equal to the total amount of their bills at restaurants. Whenever a server shares a photo of a finalized receipt, for example, I tend to believe them.

That said, plenty of people are jumping on the #TipTheBill bandwagon and posting pictures of their own receipts that supposedly show they're tipping the bill, too. Can you really blame them? It is a great way to get a bunch of Internet Feel Good™ points, after all.

The problem is that restaurant bills tend to come out on two tickets: one is the Merchant Copy, which you sign and leave on the table, and the other is the Customer Copy, where you fill in the tip and total to keep for your own records or turn into work so you can expense that steak dinner as a business cost.

Either way, when you look at a lot of these #TipTheBill pictures, the bottom of the ticket is usually cut off, so there's no way to tell if the person is showing us the Merchant Copy or the Customer Copy.

My money's on the Customer Copy.

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Why? Because you can literally write anything you want on that one and it doesn't matter. You can #TipTheBill, tip even more, or leave your server your house and car because they brought you extra rolls. It doesn't matter. You don't actually give them that ticket. You give them the real one where you only left a normal tip because you're just as broke as everyone else you know.

Of course, leaving behind either ticket is fine as long as they both have lines to sign, so showing that you've filled out the Merchant Copy won't really mean much. However, if you really want people to believe that you're as awesome as you say you are, then fill out both tickets and take a picture of them side-by-side. That way, we might believe you.

Maybe.

You can check out plenty of these things by searching for the #tipthebill hashtag on your favorite social media platform. A lot of them are probably even legit, too.

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