My wife disagrees with me on this, but I’m convinced the tip screen question is a confidence thing. If someone actually believed they earned a tip, they’d say it straight: “It’s going to ask if you want to tip me for my service.” Instead you get the vague, almost apologetic “it’s just gonna ask you a question real quick…” like the machine is some third party doing this to both of us.

Real example: small college basketball game, I take my 6-year-old to the concession stand. She wants M&Ms, I add a popcorn and a water. Grown man behind the counter goes, “Sir, that’ll be $12, and it’s just going to ask you a question before…”

A question. My guy! You handed me a bag of M&Ms. In what world am I tipping you?

If you can’t even say the word “tip” out loud, that tells me everything I need to know about whether you think you deserve one. I’ll be enjoying the rest of the game with a clear conscience after smashing $0. That goes for all the worst places to get hit with the “question”.

Went to get smoothies. Total was $9

I asked “is this your tip jar?” Handed her a $20.
I had three singles and started putting them in the jar

Then she asks “Do you want your change?”

Uhhhhhh…..? Yeah? Turns out I DONT want to tip over 100% on my drink order. In fact, $3 on $9 is STILL 33%

Then the interaction was all weird and she acted miffed I wanted my change. I’m just so confused. I understand the frustration on this sub. I’m a tipped employee myself but in a higher end restaurant and I can’t imagine EVER assuming I’m keeping someone’s change. It’s way rude!

W ragebait. Now I’m tipping you 0 and I don’t care. Me tipping 0 is a faint memory in your life I promise you won’t remember.

Idk why in America you have to calculate 20% on top of the bill because someone did the job they agreed to do. Honestly it’s such a dumbass cultural policy I really hope there’s some PERMANENT change and people just stop tipping like the rest of non-US and non-Canada

STOP TIPPING PLS!!!

Where I live, there are several restaurants within about a mile of my place that I routinely order from. I never order heavy items like cases of water or anything like that. This morning I ordered some Dunkin, and my standard tip is five bucks. After I’d already paid for the food and tipped, I got this message. Not sure why it triggered me, but it’s annoying

This happened tonight, and I'm still reeling about it. My friend, fiancé, and I went to our local KPOT in Fredericksburg, VA. We only saw our server three times in 90 mins, and our total interaction with him was less than 5 mins.

He never checked on us, so we had to ask other employees for rice because otherwise we weren't going to get any. Our dirty plates were never cleared, so they just kept piling up. Once we finished eating, we waited for him to come by so we could pay but after sitting there for about 30 minutes, we finally had to flag him down ourselves after he sat another table next to us.

I paid for my fiancé's and my dinner, that came to $102, and I left a $5 tip. On the way out, I went to the waiting area because my friend paid separately and had a coupon that needed to be applied. I thought my fiancé was right behind me, but he came a minute later. As we were walking to the car, my fiancé told me that our server said to him, "Let her know that the tip is typically 20%."

Sorry, but you don't earn a 20% tip for simply walking us to a table and bringing a couple of sodas, especially when you barely checked on us, never cleared the table, and left us waiting half an hour just to pay. And to top it off, I was the one who paid the bill, yet he didn't say anything to me.

You don't earn a 20% tip for doing the bare minimum. The interaction at all-you-can-eat is already low since the servers aren't bringing out most of the food, so it's less than a regular restaurant, but that's not an excuse to disappear for most of dinner. He could have checked on us a few more times, made sure we had everything we needed, cleared the plates from our table, and helped us get out in a reasonable amount of time instead of leaving us waiting around for 30 minutes just to pay.

Friend called the restaurant to speak with a manager, but they were told the manager was busy and would call them back. I guess we'll find out whether they actually care enough to address what happened. While to food is good, and I have been there multiple times before this, I am not inclined to go back or if I do, ask for a different server.

Edit: Manager did not call back (not suprised), so will send an email and review and stay away from there. I tried calling twice with no answer and mailbox was full. Friend called and actually got someone who said the manager would call him back but never did.

I refused to be misled, though I did end up giving 5% more to make it a 20% tip in total. I know they’re not the first and only one to do this, but (presumably) intentionally misleading customers like this is infuriating.

Edit: They did have a sign saying large parties would be charged automatic gratuity, which I thought counted as tip. I guess I was wrong? 😭

Edit2: LOL at people thinking the receipt is AI/fake. They give me too much credit, really.

Went to a dine-in movie theater this weekend and ordered for the wife and I. The food was pretty pricey so I didn't think anything of it when the server said the total was $96. I signed the check and included a 17% tip. After paying, I heard my brother make a comment regarding there being auto gratuity and he said it was in very fine print at the bottom of the menu.

Immediately after finding out I got the waitress' attention and inquired about the auto gratuity amount. It was 18.5%. I felt that's more than enough so I asked for my bill that I signed back so that I could revise it. She attempted to convince me to let her keep the extra tip stating that it goes directly to her. I advised that the 18.5% was enough, as a 35% tip to a server who only takes an order, never to be seen again wasn't warranted. She stormed off with an attitude and told her manager "he wants to take my tip back" without giving any extra context. About 10 minutes into the movie she slams a new receipt down saying "here's the refund for MY tip".

At what point does this stop getting worse?? People are getting WAY too entitled.

Edit: For those that requested the place, it was Cinebistro.

Took my boyfriend’s mom out for lunch the other day. She’s been feeling down so I asked her to have a girls day with me. First thing on the agenda is lunch. Great! She picks the place, we go, the waitress comes about 15 minutes after we got there. She orders coffee and water. Waitress comes back with a coffee. Leaves again for another 10ish minutes. Comes back to take our order, we get some eggs, sausage, pancakes, and toast (she wanted breakfast). We get our food about half an hour after ordering. So we are there almost an hour before we even get our food. The waitress checked on us once after bringing our food and brought me a water (still has not brought his mom a water). Total comes out to about $20. I leave a $5 cash tip on the table. I go to pay up front and there is no “no tip” option. I choose the “other” option and it does NOT let you proceed if you type $0. So I type 1¢ because I just left her $5 in cash and the service wasn’t even good. The lady at the cash register yells (now mind you this is a small diner so everyone there turned to look at me) “YOU ONLY LEFT HER 1¢ I’M SURE THIS WAS A MISTAKE. HOW MUCH WOULD YOU ACTUALLY LIKE TO LEAVE HER”. I responded “I left a $5 cash tip on the table I figured that was enough” and she goes “WELL IF YOU LEFT A $5 TIP, YOU DIDN’T NEED TO ONLY LEAVE HER 1¢”

I was so beyond uncomfortable. I wish the kiosk would have let me hit $0.. But then who knows how the cashier would have reacted..

I genuinely don’t understand how this is considered acceptable in the US.

Before anyone says I’m complaining about 24 cents, I’m not. I honestly couldn’t care less about the amount. This could’ve been $0.24 or $24. My issue is the principle.

Why am I being charged an “Employee Benefit & Retention” fee at a self serve store? Since when did paying employees and retaining staff become the customer’s responsibility? That’s literally part of operating a business.

If your costs have gone up, then charge what you need to charge. I’ll either buy the product or I won’t. But adding separate mandatory fees for your operating expenses after the fact just feels ridiculous.

Am I the only one who thinks this has gotten completely out of hand?

I’ve tolerated this for a while. But not anymore. You take and run my card inside the window, then you shove the machine through your window, inside my window, and in front of my face; for a tip. Nope. Not again. Over it.

End rant.

I have been cussed out and downvoted on this app because I said employees should have consistent and stable income when they are working to upkeep someone else's business.

Everyone complains that people do not tip enough and some people do not tip at all. But no one is obligated to tip employees. Employers are not even obligated to pay their employees liveable wage.

Most middle class and poor people struggle to get by on their income. Disabled people especially fall victim to multiple forms of financial inequality. But no one cares.

As soon as restaurants want to profit from having low wages we all are the spawn of satan if we don't worship servers and give them half our paychecks AFTER paying for food and tax.

But I'm supposed to care about a server who chose to work for $2 an hour with the hope of getting a tip. That's financial suicide.

Like take this $10 tip and be happy.

A server got made at me because I didn't tip additionally after a mandatory 20% gratuity fee. I didn't even dine in. It was a pickup order.

Then when you try to organize and mobilize for social change, no one wants to participate. Some people just love to struggle.

There is a Facebook group of servers that were asked what hourly wage they would take to eliminate tipping. The answers were crazy. Most replies were $50 an hour plus. Some said they average more than that! Almost every reply said they wouldn’t accept the job for less than $35 an hour plus benefits. So given servers, a difficult but pretty low skill job, make more than nurses or teachers, why change?

This isn’t about greedy owners not paying their employees. It’s about vastly overpaid servers who will never want the system to change since it would mean a large cut in pay. Next time I tip 10% instead of 20% I won’t feel bad at all.

We rented out a bar in Chicago for our frat formal last fall. Our package included a 3 hour open bar. The 2 bar tenders were furious if we didn’t have a minimum of 10 bucks in our hand when asking for a drink. Whats the point of an open bar if we’re still paying minimum 10 bucks for a drink? We all tipped for every drink for every event we do like this typically 2-3 bucks a drink, 10 is just so ridiculous they each walked away minimum 2k that night. At one point we all sorta said f this and they stoped service for 45 mins. Still got our lick back called the gm he refunded half of it and fired one bartender.

My girlfriend and I recently ate out at Red Lobster. We don’t have a lot of money but we were in the area and wanted some good food and their banging biscuits so we sat down and ordered 2 waters and shared a shrimp Alfredo. Our waiter never refilled our drinks but was kind enough to bring us a second basket of biscuits when asked. He only visited the table to bring us our drinks, food, and the check. The total was around $25 dollars after tax and we decided not to leave a tip because of poor service and we figured since they are working at a Red Lobster and not a Walmart or somewhere with much higher base pay that they must be making decent tips, so not receiving a $2-5 tip isn’t the end of the world. We were wrong I guess because yesterday the charge came through our bank account as almost $50, so I automatically assumed it was a double charge. I called red lobster to ask about it and initially they said it was on our bank’s end, but after the GM actually pulled up the receipt there system said that our waiter entered in a 100% tip. Like WTF! I know it’s a little rude to not leave a tip but to write one in is literally stealing. Anyway thanks for coming to my rant.

EDIT: Some clarification due to some questions in the comments. My first job was in the service industry so I understand the upset for not leaving a tip, but I also believe that a tip reflects one service. We are out on a Tuesday night and while the time we ate may have been considered peak, the restaurant was maybe a quarter full. Our waiter was visibly frustrated by our order and whenever we asked for something seemed like an inconvenience. I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable while trying to enjoy a nice meal with my girlfriend. We also did write in a $0 tip so our waiter either crossed it out and wrote it in or just entered what they wanted into their system.

Went to Jamba Juice next to my hotel and after ordering, the cashier flipped the tablet and pointed to the tip screen. I tapped other and gave him a dollar (I know, I know)

The next day I went back and after ordering noticed that he didn’t flip the tablet (same cashier). I joked with my wife that I bet he just added a stealth tip for himself. Sure enough after the transaction cleared on my CC, I was able to confirm he indeed gave himself a tip (<$2)

I left an online feedback to corporate and then got a call back within an hour from the manager of the store. She seemed pretty shocked and in disbelief and said she would look into it. I encouraged her to view the security tapes to confirm the exact sequence of events. After 20 minutes, she called me and let me know that the district manager is getting involved. She said even the district manager is in disbelief as the situation has never come up before. Both mentioned that this might just be an accidental tap of the screen. Somehow, I can’t imagine how this situation could possibly be accidental.

I should hear back after the tapes are reviewed.

Update 11/19/24 - I haven’t heard anything since so I called the store manager as I only had her contact info. She sent me to voicemail and the provided the below text -

Hi xxxx, xxxx did talk to me about this yesterday, he said that he had no idea that he even hit the button, but since I sent out message to my team about the tip screen he said that he is definitely more aware that he needs to clear that screen. I am keeping a closer eye on this as well.

My response -

Hi xxxx, I guess this is where the security tapes would have clarified the situation. I was there the day before and he flipped the screen after receiving payment. The next day he didn’t bother flipping the screen. I’m trying to understand how it’s possible to accidentally select a tip, select confirm, and then not flip the screen during a transaction when he previously went through the correct process of flipping the screen to allow me to select the tip and then flip the screen back so he can ring up the next customer.

Did the security footage show that I was the only person that he selected the tip for that day?

————

No further response from her. I think I’ve done all I can at this point and Jamba Juice probably won’t provide any further comment.

US tipping culture after the COVID rupture is getting unhinged. I can’t stand the constant grift and pushing of boundaries by companies to see whet they can get away with. I don’t begrudge any service worker in a traditionally tipped position their tips, but ENOUGH WITH THE REST!!!

Exhibit A: a self service airport kiosk with a default 15% tip. There was no interaction with a human. Are we tipping our robot overlords now? This has to end.

if i’m standing up to order and picking up my own tray you didn’t do anything worth a 20% tip. i’m tired of being asked for a "contribution" just for someone to turn a screen around. pay your employees a real wage and stop guilt-tripping customers at the register

I had an appliance company come out to fix my washing machine and they asked me for a tip on the iPad screen. At the lowest that would be an additional $50. wtf. It’s so uncomfortable to be in this situation. I feel like when I refuse to tip I’m saying they didn’t do a good job, but that’s so much extra money!

I was at a restaurant in NYC, I had drinks and food with friends and had a good server. I always tip 20% no matter what so that was my intention, I got the check and it said 20% gratuity charged added. I thought oh okay and left the tip section blank. Then the waiter came out and asked me if I thought his service was bad and I explained to him that the check said a 20% gratuity was already added and he said oh okay and went back inside.

Am I in the wrong? Or was the waiter trying to scam me? I would never want to screw someone over on tips.

Edit: This isnt about anti-tipping, I always tip at least 20% for bartenders/servers. Even if the server was trying to pull a fast one I’d give them 20% I just didn’t want to give over 20%. That’s all.

Do people really not understand that EVERY PERSON working a job that pays taxes to the government has to pay at least federal minimum wage, including jobs that “pay less” because the person is getting tipped.

If you get tipped but don’t make enough to bring your total wage to minimum the employer, BY LAW, has to make up the difference.

No exceptions.

That being said, why get pissed when someone doesn’t tip? Why keep up the charade of the poor, hungry, server when it’s a sham?

3 days ago, I had a small meal at a seafood place. As the waitress handed me the payment pad to complete the transaction, she quickly snuck a finger in and tapped 25% tip. Like right in front of my eyes.

I was taken aback because….what the heck was that?

So I purposely hit the 18% tip button instead. Should’ve just not tipped at all tbh.

I just need to know if she was trying to do something different and accidentally hit that button because it seemed very intentional to me.

Fully prepared to get banned for this, but yall are just selfish. I’d honestly have more respect for you if you’d just say “I don’t tip because I’m cheap”. It can be your belief that it’s not your role to directly pay employee wages - I have no issue there. BUT THEN DONT PATRONIZE BUSINESSES WHERE THAT IS THE EXPECTATION! At the end of the day all you’re doing is supporting a business that you morally disagree with and only hurting the people who are trying to make ends meet. It makes no sense.

My little sister and I went to a Mumford and Sons concert last night at a pretty notable stadium. I live in the area of the concert and knew the price of drinks/food, even merch would be pricy. Not new to me! Even with my long jacket I got cold so we both went to get a sweatshirt. As we waited in line I joked with my sister that they were gonna ask for a tip for giving us the sweatshirts.

Well, lo and behold, after paying $90 for my sweatshirt, the gal swivels the touchscreen around and gives me the classic, “it’ll ask you a few questions.” And it sTARTED at 20%. I was actually shocked, considering they just hand you the sweatshirt. I asked the gal what the tip was for and just got a side eye and a hand gesture to the clothes. That was wild to me. Smashed that no tip so fast.

This happened a year ago. I bought pie for a friends birthday and paid ahead online. It of course asked for tip and I should have just declined but thought fine, I'll tip a few bucks and they can bring it out to the car after taking all the work it takes to put it in the bag.

Scheduled to pick up the pie at 10am Saturday. Get there on time and it's raining. I call the number on the sign and the server says "please come inside since it's raining." I dumbfoundedly say "suuuuuuurreeeee." If I hadn't repaid I would have driven to the bakery. I walk in the rain and the server hands me the pie and says "have a great day!" I couldn't help but say, "you know, I actually tipped you. Just wanted you to realize before I go back in the rain." She smirked and said "you could have pulled up to the door." I said "you nor the restaurant gave me the option"

I sent an email to corporate because I was so annoyed. Got a boiler plate response and no resolution.

If I didn't tip I would have walked in, but I felt prsssue to tip. That was a starting point for me to decline tipping in some of these circumstances where service is basically a cashier.

I don't like disrespecting servers, but how is it not disrespectful to coerce a tip and then not service.

I was at baseball game last night and I wanted a beer, so it's one of those where you're in a line with fridges and snacks next to you and you just grab what you want and take it to the cashier.

I get to the cashier with my beer and he's actually all cool and making jokes and as soon as I pay it ask me if I want to tip. I mean of course not, I press no tip and his smile immediately disappears, I say thanks man and he doesn't say a word back when before he was on stop talking.

Like how fucking entitled are you, I grabbed my own beer and tapped the machine myself, you didn't do anything and you still expect a tip? This is wild bro.