If you have worked at a restaurant, bar, or cafe, you have probably had that rush of joy when you see someone leave a bit of extra cash as a tip. And if you haven’t worked at this sort of establishment, never fear, somehow, little by little, tipping culture is expanding.

TikToker Incrediboii shared her somewhat confusing experience with a cashier in a grocery shop pulling out the dreaded tablet and asking for a tip. Netizens shared their shock and gave their own examples of places where they have been asked for tips.
More info: TikTok

Tips used to be a reward for good service

Image credits: Sam Dan Truong (not the actual image)

People online are sharing all the places where they have been asked to tip

Image credits: incrediboii

One woman detailed the time she was asked to give 25% on a $40 grocery bill

“My boyfriend and I went to this grocery store in Austin called Tiny Grocer, and it’s a bougie grocery store. It’s not one that we would ever usually go to, but we were going for like a date night.”

Image credits: incrediboii

“We were going to get some cheese, some cured meat, some wine, have a little date night. And I expected it to be more expensive than your regular grocery store.”

Image credits: incrediboii

“I think it came out to like 40 bucks and the cashier rings me up and flips the tablet around and asks for 25% of a tip on a $40 grocery bill. And I look at her and my jaw like…”

Image credits: incrediboii

“We grab our stuff and we left and we start walking to my car. And I just say to him, I’m like, ‘They just asked for a tip. They just asked for a $10 tip on a $40 grocery bill’. I was f****d up about it for days. It was… I’m probably still f****d up about it now.”

Image credits: incrediboii

You can watch the full video here

@incrediboii #stitch with @minna ♬ original sound – Ev

Companies are finding new ways to try and guilt us into giving gratuity

The slow, steady, and omnipresent expansion of tipping requests in the US might be the worst thing to have ever happened to tablet marketing. For many people, this simple device, a stopgap between a phone and a laptop, is now synonymous with a screen “suggesting” some numbers for gratuity.

The exploration of this topic tends to cover two different areas, firstly, the ever-increasing sums of money people are being asked to fork over for service, and secondly, the expansion of places where one might even be asked to tip. In the recent past, one would generally tip in a restaurant, or perhaps you might tip your barber or a delivery driver.

But now, as mentioned above, this can go as far as the cashier requesting a tip. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In the past, we have already covered other, similar situations, such as the woman who was asked to tip at a bridal saloon after purchasing a wedding dress. You read that correctly, a woman, who had just forked over a significant amount of money, was being asked to give even more.

Image credits: Blake Wisz (not the actual image)

The size of tips has grown as well

The former issue is no laughing matter either. People have reported being asked for tips that now reach 30 to 40%, a far cry from the days when 20% was considered generous enough. To add insult to injury, as it were, in many cases these tips, presented on the accursed tablets, are being “suggested” in establishments where the servers simply hand you something from behind the counter.

None of this is to say that these service jobs are easy or unnecessary, but the vast majority of us would agree that picking up an item and handing it to a person standing, at furthest, a few feet away does not warrant adding even 20% to the bill, let alone 40%. To be clear, the vast majority of shops, restaurants, and cafes you might visit would not do anything like this, but a few bad apples can spoil the entire bunch.

Image credits: Dan Smedley (not the actual image)

Tips are the result of servers being underpaid

It’s also important to remember that tipping does have its place. In a perfect world, servers would simply be paid a living wage, but setting that aside, tips are a way to incentivize good service. Because it is an often stressful job, servers do tend to struggle from burnout and general dissatisfaction at work.

So some studies suggest that tipping is actually good for a server’s mental health since it allows them to feel more appreciated and motivates them to maintain quality of service when they are tired. In the long run, better, more consistent wages are what is actually needed, so “tipping tablets” making their way into places where they shouldn’t be is a step in the wrong direction.

After all, while being a store cashier is probably not easy, it doesn’t come with the constant demands, carrying, and need to commit things to memory that a server or host might have to do at a sit-down restaurant. On top of that, groceries are a necessity, not a “luxury” (in the broadest sense of the word) like eating out. So, like Incrediboii’s video says, it might be time to skip tipping in general.

Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual image)

Netizens shared their thoughts and stories

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