Paying a service provider for their good job seems like a sensible thing to do, doesn’t it? Especially knowing that servers likely don’t make enough to live comfortably without the tips. Well, apparently that’s not everyone’s opinion.
Like for these dudes, who despite spending quite a few hours at a restaurant, decided to leave the establishment after leaving a $0 tip. But then, a manager caught up to them, reprimanding them for not tipping and creating a viral moment on TikTok when the interaction was posted there.
More info: TikTok
Tipping someone for good service seems like a sensible thing to do for many, but not for all
Image credits: Drazen Zigic / freepik (not the actual photo)
Tipping culture has often become a topic of heated online discussions
No matter if you live in the United States or not, you likely have heard what a big deal tipping is there. Well, at least if you spend a good portion of your time online – here, we nearly constantly have discussions about this topic.
So, why is tipping in the US such a debatable topic online? Well, their service industry workers typically receive a minimum wage, which is around $7.25 per hour. And as this Quora answer pointed out, that is barely enough to survive.
And so, servers depend on tips as a major source of income. This makes them go the extra mile to provide a good service in the hope that they’ll be rewarded for it.
If the customer doesn’t tip, it’s normal for them to be dubbed the “bad guy” in the situation. So, it's no wonder why, according to the Pew Research Center, 29% of Americans view tipping as an obligation.
Image credits: @gladys_nicole
So, when a TikTok user posted a video related to this topic, it quickly went viral
At cafes, restaurants, and other food-related places, it is recommended to tip at least 15% to 20% of the bill. It should be noted that some view tips that are under 20% as poor ones. At the same time, a bigger tip is always welcome, especially if the service is excellent.
Also, servers at restaurants and similar establishments aren’t the only service providers that might expect a tip in the US. For instance, bartenders and hotel staff need to be tipped as well. It’s said that around $1 is a standard tip for them.
At the same time, now more and more people are saying that tipping culture is getting out of hand in the US. Apparently, now there are barely any payments that don't involve a prompt for a tip. Even some self-checkouts now tend to ask about tipping.
Image credits: Kenny Eliason / unsplash (not the actual photo)
In it, she filmed a restaurant manager approaching a group of customers who were about to leave without tipping a waitress and requesting that they leave a bigger than $0 tip
This makes the consumers feel pressured into “guilt tipping” in places where it’s not really needed, like in self-checkouts. No human service provider is working there, so who are the people tipping?
Yet, not everyone tips, even where real people are working. And that can cause quite a drama.
As an example of this, we can take this video, posted by TikTok user @gladys_nicole. She filmed a group of men who spent time at an establishment and decided not to tip the waitress who waited on them the whole time. But non-tipping didn’t go so smoothly for them. When the group was leaving, the place’s manager approached them to talk about their $0 tip.
The manager started explaining to them that as with paying for the beer and pool, they also needed to pay the waitress who waited on them. He said stuff like: "In English, it’s tipping. In Espanol and Spanish, it’s…so let’s say you get cerveza, you pay for pool. Don’t forget her, you gotta give her a little bit. Comprende?"
Image credits: @gladys_nicole
Apparently, these customers spent hours at the restaurant playing pool and drinking and still left their waitress tipless
And when one of the men pointed to the server, the manager clarified: "Si, for her. But that right now is zero. [...] You gotta give her, you gotta give her some money, man."
Basically, the men got scolded for being jerks while the TikTok user filmed the interaction from afar, later posting it online. The video pretty quickly gathered over 2M views. It was another piece in a discussion about the out-of-hand tipping culture. The comments under the video only prove it.
Most of them were people complaining about how minimum wage isn’t enough for the service providers, and so they’re put into situations like these, where not even hard work gets them paid. People were scolding the manager, who instead of getting his workers paid fairly, went on to scold the customers for not doing so.
Basically, the video didn’t bring any new points for the never-ending discussion, just fueled its fire once again. And what could it bring - probably everything that can be said about it, is at this point. And the change, unfortunately, isn’t in the internet folks’ hands. So, what’s left for them to do is keep bringing up the issue time and time again with the hope that one day, the conditions in the US will change.
Watch the video here
People online were once again eager to join in discussing how obnoxious tipping culture is in the US, where workers can't survive on minimum wage alone
