Bet this was at a pickup counter for a restaurant with no table service
I see them everywhere. The most insulting one was at sprinkles where I had to place order in the POS myself and the guy was just handing me a box from the shelf right behind him.
The most insulting one I’ve seen is at a self-serve convenience store in the Newark Airport. There is no staff that you ever interact with. Who does the tip go to? You for ringing yourself up?
I had a coffee vending machine in the airport asking for a tip. Incredible.
My job has an office in a multi-company building, and we have a self-serve lunch and snack station, and they ask for a tip.
Nobody is tipping that thing. They eventually removed the prompt
And that’s why I don’t feel guilty not tipping some places. What am I tipping for? Nothing.
I just got self-serve frozen yogurt yesterday, the only service interaction was the cashier telling me to put my cup on a scale and saying my total. What am I tipping for?
What am I tipping for?
The owners to pay their employees below poverty wages.
Whenever those POS ask for a tip I always click “no tip” and I learned to not worry about what someone else will think. I felt pressured the first time, but I learned that nothing happens if you don’t give a tip. I believe those go straight to the owner anyway.
I still have some hangups about when I am in a restaurant and I still do tip as this is still expected. I just stopped going to restaurants, and I only end up there is someone drags me in.
I hate that whole tip cancer culture, which essentially exists to cheat me to think I’m paying less.
A surprising amount of those kiosks straight up abuse tipping culture simply as another form of payment. My wife has worked at two places where the money just goes to the owner and the employee never sees a tip. I’ve also been directly told the number of times that tips don’t go to the employees by the employees.
I don’t trust it. I only tip in cash if I do.
yep where I’m at they say they go to us but afaik we get the same amount either way. I hit no tip for customers now.
I had a cashier do that to me once. I couldn’t tell if she did me a favor or if she was thinking “I already know this guy won’t tip.”
almost 10/10 they were thinking the former. shits expensive rn, service workers don’t want people paying more if they don’t have to.
That’s illegal, FYI.
Could it be construed that you intended to tip the owners of the establishment rather than the employees?
Considering wage theft is the biggest kind of theft we have, I think it’s an unfortunate fact that many employers don’t particularly care what’s legal as long as you can’t practically retaliate.
Most places have laws against tipping to employees that don’t interact with customers in transaction. So owners, cooks, and managers legally can’t get tips.
Edit: But those laws probably aren’t followed at some establishments
That does depend on the state though too. I worked in a restaurant where any tip on take-out/drive-thru/catering was spread among the kitchen staff. No manager can receive tips, but at least the staff preparing and packaging the food still have an opportunity to earn something extra. When I worked there, because of the tips, I earned an extra $2-$3 a shift.
No, cause no one thinks that way. Tipping has always been for the workers.
it absolutely is but no one has the money to take an employer to court even if it’s a slam dunk case
That should be illegal. Back in the day, if it was an owner run company, then the owner wouldn’t accept tips, even if you tried.
So how this legal ?
It’s probably not. There might be an argument however by saying that technically you could’ve been interpreted as wanting to tip the business which includes the owner not necessarily the person working there.
It should be illegal though.
If I walk in a pick something up, no tip.
It also exists to allow restaurant owners to outsource a decent chunk of payroll directly to the customer. Technically it also allows wait staff to make extra money as well.
The reason these payment devices default to asking for a tip (with the option to disable that feature hidden) is that they take a small percentage of every transaction made through them and it goes to the company that made the device.
Christ these comments are horrifying
A few fuckers tried this on me at a restaurant in Greece last year.
The proper reaction is not to click “no tip” then cower in case someone judges you.
The proper reaction is to click “no tip” then get on every fuckin review site you can find and every social media site the restaurant is on, and leave 1-star reviews for spoiling my fucking lunch by begging for money. Put the price I pay on the menu, or fuck off.
I’ll tip a max of 10% if I want to. That’s generous where I am
Fuck that, your whole point of hospitality is to make me feel comfortable, not uncomfortable.
If you don’t do this, you’re the reason it still happens.
Incidentally, was back in Greece this year and only got harassed for a tip once. Anecdotal but hey, felt like I made a difference
^This. 10% if it was a really good experience, otherwise you simply fulfilled your task and get paid the advertised price and we’re good.
I lock eyes with the checker as I press “no tip”. People get uncomfortable real quick if they try to shame you and you’re not ashamed. They should be ashamed because the dirty tactics they use.
I agree with everything except the cowering part. Ask them if they’re insane.
This whole system is designed so that the public subsidizes poorly run businesses.
The only way to make it stop is to force such businesses through legislation to pay their employees more, and to do that you have to get past the “but my business will close / but they’ll replace us with AI / but the market says…” crowd.
Wasn’t there a comic going around about pro-laborer regulations throughout history, like, “giving them two days off each week will kill me,” “taking child laborers out of the mines will kill me,” “covering up all the giant exposed gears in the facility will kill me,” and so on?
Exactly what I was thinking of, thank you!
And saved. Thank you.
Yeah I remember that
In California, restaurants were sneaking in 3% upcharges. They started out as “we’re adding 3% to pay the state-mandated health care costs for our employees.” It quickly progressed to “we’re add 5% to your total bill because fuck you.”
California recently mandated that practice illegal and requires all “extra fees” to be reflected in the prices instead.
Multiple restaurants stated (in public… recorded on TV, no less) that they “would lose business if they stopped this practice because then customers would know how much they’re paying up front.”
I was amazed at their candor. These “entrepreneurs” don’t even know how to be embarrassed by their greed anymore.
They’ll be replaced with AI anyway if they keep demanding tips like that.
AI will still ask for tips.
400%
Somebody a while back posted pictures of self-checkout kiosks asking for tips.
100%. To be clear, I’m not defending any of those kinds of arguments – they just make it difficult for these kinds of changes to happen from a practical standpoint.
Companies will replace all workers with AI or other automation regardless of anything happening with wages. It’s their only option for the endless growth they claim they need.
That’s a weird way to phrase it. Customers are always “subsidizing” businesses by paying for their goods/services. That’s how businesses work, whether they’re well run or not. What tips do is hide the cost of what you’re buying. It was at least possible to calculate it yourself when everyone agreed on the standard 15% and only at places like dine-in restaurants. But that’s no longer the case, so how much you’re expected to pay is a mystery until you’re handed the machine.
If the tip starts at 30% I’m no-tipping and never returning
I’d hit no tip because I left a tip on the table for the waiter. Fuck the establishment getting a cut of the tip. I understand being in the waiters position though and if they wants to report that on their slip they can. I probably wouldn’t tho, I’ve had managers that told me not to worry about it but don’t bring it up with the owner.
At a bagel place I used to go to, the person behind the counter said not to bother leaving a tip on the machine because the owners just took that. I came back the next time with cash and a printout of the law that shows that is considered wage theft and the Department of Labor number to call.
said not to bother leaving a tip on the machine because the owners just took that.
What a disgusting human that is. How low do you have to be?
How low do you have to be?
Conservatively low.
If I’m at a place where there is no service involved and I see a tip menu, I never return. I’ll usually leave a review, too, so they know why.
Custom tip: -30%
I really want to try that sometime now 😅
There’s a custom button.
No tip is a better choice in this case.
Custom tip: 1 cent
I wonder if it accepts “fuck you”.
So much edge, careful, sweetheart.
I saw one of these where the restaurant taped over the “no tip” button so you couldn’t push it. If you ever encounter that, add a custom tip and punch 0.00
Fuck them for that nonsense.
I’ve tipped zero at a sit down place because the waiter was an ass. (And I’m a generous tipper, because I’ve done the job and I can now afford to).
Tipping isn’t required.
My grandmother taught me to never tip $0 if the service is terrible, because the server will just assume you’re a cheap bastard who doesn’t tip. Instead, she would tip 2¢, because it sends a message.
My dad did that once, and the waitress followed him out to the parking lot and threw it at him. Which I always thought kind of showed she got the message, but didn’t learn the lesson.
So, literally “giving your two cents” about the service?
If the service is terrible, then I write that on the tip line instead of tipping.
I think there’s a lot of establishments that forget that tipping is not a mandate. It’s a courtesy and it should be based on your level of courtesy to the person that you are hoping to receive courtesy from. For me, no courtesy given, then you’re not getting that courtesy. Beyond that, the wait staff needs to be pissed off at the restaurant owner for not paying enough.
Only exception to that rule would be Dick’s Last Resort, but their schtick is being rude
As a non-American, sometimes there threads are hilarious.
I mean I get it it’s not as simple as we sometimes mockingly make it out to be, but it is a gratuity, meaning something extra on top of a legally required amount.
So yeah, you’re very correct it isn’t required.
I mean is tipping truly legally mandatory anywhere in the US? I’m sure they could decide to not serve you again, but by law, is tipping truly required anywhere?
No, but not tipping is a great way to ensure you’ll get crap service (and potentially tampered with food) if you ever go back.
Also, traditionally tipping was only for waitstaff, “fast” delivery drivers (think pizza delivery and same day couriers maybe), and certain specific one on one service scenarios (hair stylist, barber).
This expansion into other things is mostly because everyone is starting to use the same payment processing pads that have the tipping menu turned on by default and hard to disable, because the company making the processing pads takes a small percentage of every transaction. Combine that with opportunistic business owners figuring out they can pressure anxious people into tipping by just implying they should, and here we are.
No, but not tipping is a great way to
Just as I thought. I do understand the culture, I’ve just never been personally subjected to it. I would ofc tip in the US, but that’s one reason it’s not high up on my list of places I want to go to.
Well, traditionally it started out as a way to keep your slaves doing slave work without compensation while saying they’re not slaves anymore and definitely are getting paid through tips.
https://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/minimumwage/History-Tipped-Minimum-Wage.pdf
Tipping is never required. Even if some on menu try to make the claim “you have to tip”
No I don’t have to tip
No, never.
Most restaurants have a policy of requiring a tip for parties larger than a certain size. In that case, where the policy is known in advance, then it’s part of the bill, and I’d think you have to pay. Otherwise I think it would be treated like theft.
Service charge on the bill is imo a bit different from a tip, a gratuity.
But again, wouldn’t know, haven’t been.
Definitely not my expertise this subject.
A gratuity fee must be removed if requested in the US even if it is called “mandatory”. They cant legally force a tip even with it stated before hand in the menu and signage (there is probably some state where this is somehow ambiguous). Oddly that isn’t true about service fees that go to the owner.
However service fees were getting popular in certain parts of California where they had to raise wages and provide medical insurance but they didn’t want to advertise higher prices so they just added fees, undisclosed until the bill most of the time. Now California has passed a law to stop the service fees in the “Junk Fees” law. It also banned the automatic tipping practice, which surprised me, as well.
Here’s the response I remember from reddit (probably from servers themselves…):
Tips are often pooled. For bad service, tip 20% & find the manager to complain.
Quite the system, USA!
Give them a horrible review and never go back. They deserve bankruptcy
Give them 0.01, just as a statement
Nothing is more of a statement than something
Nothing is just “I don’t want to give”. Nearly nothing is “I’m mocking you with a cent. This is how much I appreciated your service.”
Uh… That’s a surefire way to make sure I don’t even pay my bill.
Custom tip: -30%
50%??? Is this an app for millionaires??? I might leave 30% at a nice restaurant if I got exceptionally great service lol Asking for 50% is basically saying “please don’t ever eat here again” lol
Well it was inflation, so the tip percentages needed to be higher to account for it /s
I feel like the “/s” isn’t enough to express just how much that’s Not How This Works, 'cause there are some people who think that actually makes sense.
For those, I’ll spell it out: with anything based on a percentage, such as tipping, increases due to inflation are already built in. Inflating the percentage as well is multiplying the increase!
(This is also why “we need to increase the tax rate due to inflation” is also bullshit and any politician who says it is trying to pull one over on the public, by the way.)
I feel like this is just not talked about enough. I will never understand why the discussion is what percentage is enough. The percentage would always be enough. The value will increase so long as the price does. But it’s like people just gloss over that and are like “well back in the day 15% was enough but now? It’s gotta be 50%”
This is also why “we need to increase the tax rate due to inflation” is also bullshit and any politician who says it is trying to pull one over on the public, by the way.
Incomes haven’t been increasing anywhere near inflation, so increasing income tax rates to cover increased government spending caused by inflation wouldn’t be “bullshit”. Increasing sales tax rates would be, though.
I might leave 30% at a nice restaurant if I got exceptionally great service
Some ball fondling? Taint licking? The fuck kind of service warrants a 30%+ tip?! The majority of servers just take your order, bring you your plate and ask if there’s anything else you want (often annoyingly so in a pestering manner). If that’s your price then I might as well walk the few meters and grab the shit myself. And if it is the type of place where that isn’t possible, then that warrants tipping even less so if that service is straight up mandatory.
I usually tip that at restaurants we frequent. Usually ends up being about $10, and it comes with perks like stronger drinks, better seats outside of the normal rotation, getting our drinks and such as we sit down, etc.
so… tipping is serial bribery?
IDK sometimes the server is absolutely brilliant, maybe it’s a holiday
Is this an app for millionaires???
If this was an app for millionaires it would be a 5% tip button.
Ew 5 Percent they can have a shiny crisp dollar and be happy for it.
I would consider this for a haircut, maybe?
Standard tip options for hair cuts going up to 40-60% is why I cut my own hair now.
If the person does a great job,I don’t mind tipping that much.
Shit like this results in an automatic “No Tip” from me.
I’ve started to do that. If I don’t see 10-20% options, I’ve started doing no tip–even if I would have tipped more.
It irks me.
They’d done some data analysis and I guess if you show higher percentages people just click them. So I am bringing it back to reality with my 0%.
Many people habitually click the lowest option, so they made the lowest option outrageously high. Fuck tips, I always go for a flat zero.
Custom tip > -100%
If the system is shitty enough to allow negative tips then I would also think it might be shitty enough to do something like treat it as unsigned and add a 4,294,967,196% tip.
If the percentages look to large, I just hit no tip.
Yep, this is the quickest way to not get any tip.
There’s this nice Chinese restaurant near my place that doesn’t take tips. I go there once a week or so for takeout, largely inspired by the fact they don’t take tips.
Because in China, tipping is considered insulting. Like "Aww, poor restaurant needs extra money to function properly, here you go, little restaurant.
I am now Chinese.
Why stop there??!!
Please let this be shopped.
Ai generated
Duh.
I can’t resist posting this comic whenever tip screens are mentioned or shown.
I don’t support the idea of tipping. The responsibility shouldn’t fall on the consumer to ensure that employees are paid well — that competition is, and should be, between the employer and employee — tipping encourages employers to underpay their employees, thereby artificially reducing their overhead. It makes even less sense when one considers people who set their own rates, eg hair stylists — one should charge what they think their service is worth. If no one is willing to pay the price of the service, then the service isn’t worth the price — tips will just end up artificially inflating prices. Furthermore, it just rubs salt in the wound when taxes, ie VAT, are charged after tipping.
I can be a little sympathetic to the argument “this feature is built into our Point of Sale device, we didn’t ask for it”.
But 30/40/50% tip is not the default anywhere, that was done on purpose.
I can’t. They are computers and they can be programmed however the restaurant wants. Any default other than zero is unethical and predatory.
Can confirm I work with the setup of Toast on a daily basis, and you can set those default percentages manually. This was most definitely done on purpose, the defaults are not that high.
There is a military bar at the base I work, and currently operated by coworkers until they can hire staff. Their PoS System automatically pops up the tip, and they have to tell us every time that they legally can’t accept tips. So yeah, definitely default.
Many restaurants I go to will tap the “no tip” button for you before letting you pay.
You guys STILL accept signatures? Signature for payment on cards was phased out 10 years ago in Australia.
Honestly, I don’t think the signature actually does anything. Any of them that require a signature on a pad, I just do a short scribble, and it’s fine. If it’s a paper receipt (like at a sit-down restaurant), I usually just use my actual signature.
Screen based ones I let my inner child play and draw a dick. It’s an easy way to tell if they actually see it, or just capture it.
I’m now imagining your real name is Dick, and you’re just messing with people (assuming anyone looks at the signatures) by drawing that.
Yes, make all customers touch a germy touchpad. Infect them all.
Uh, mostly we do contactless for that kind of amount, we just wave the card at the machine.
I try my hands at cool graffiti
It’s only looked at when the customer issues a chargeback, and then the card issuer goes “oh, it doesn’t match, so sad” and yoinks their money back.
Fortunately every first world country uses chip and pin or contactless now.
There was a comedy website a good 20 years ago at this point (Zug, if anyone else out there remembers them) where someone tested this by doing more and more ridiculous “signatures” every time to see if anyone called him on it. If memory serves, the closest thing he had to an issue was a store manager chuckling a bit when it devolved to him just straight up drawing dicks.
