The tip trick has been met with mixed reviews on the internet after 17-year-old Garret Wayman, who works as a waiter at a restaurant in Kansas posted a photo online.
Garret Wayman said he was excited on Tuesday to see a $20 bill tucked under a ketchup bottle as a tip, but was shocked to find it was not real and read: "Don't be fooled! There is something you can have more valuable than money."
A customer had really left a religious leaflet, it was disguised to look like money and suggests the recipient finds "faith thru Jesus Christ".
Speaking in Tech Insider, Mr Wayman expressed his disappointment: "I'm 17-years-old, $7,000 in debt because I had to buy myself a car, juggling full-time school, and working seven days a week."
He continued, saying that he was excited to see the cash at first because "getting a $20 tip at the restaurant I work at is very, very rare."
The customer did not leave an actual tip with the pamphlet: "He just left that," said the teenager.
"I wanted to tell him that I only make $3 an hour and bust my a-- at my job to make way less than I deserve, but he was gone by the time I had the chance to."
Garrett Wayman shared pictures of the fake tip on Twitter and his image has been retweeted more than 3,000 times.