Suggested tips for coffee and water slammed as they reach new high
Americans have been taking to social media to slam out of control tipping suggestions, which they say have become unjustifiable high in recent months.
Inflation, self-checkout machines and a new expectation to tip for transactions a simple as buying a water bottle have prompted many to share their frustration online.
Social media users have recently posted images of receipts that appear to show suggested tipping of as high as 30 to 50 percent.
'Remember when the suggested amounts were 15%, 18% and 20%?' wrote Twitter user Jeff Catalfino earlier this year alongside a picture of a receipt totaling $61.48.
'I'll tip 20% for all but the worst service. Sometimes even a bit more. But 30% will never happen,' he added. 'tipping has gone rogue. There needs to be significant push back on this by everyone.'
Americans are now bound to become even more fed up after a new bill in Colorado passed allowing workers at Walmart and McDonald's to accept tips. In Maryland, a unionized Apple store is also in talks to implement a tipping system.
Social media users have recently posted images of receipts that appear to show suggested tipping of as high as 30 percent.
A TikToker who goes by @broadwaychey claimed she was asked to leave a tip while ordering an item online
Twitter user Andrew Johns shared a receipt that showed a suggested tipping range of 20 percent to 24 percent, but pointed out a four percent 'kitchen' fee that had been added to his bill.
He said: 'Not only is the cost of dining increasing with higher food prices and therefore a higher tip, but add in a higher percentage for tip and kitchen charges.
'Going with the upper end of this 'suggested' tip, total gratuity is nearly 30%!'
Some claim to have encountered suggested tipping that starts at 30 percent and go as high as 50 percent.
A Reddit shared an image of an iPad that shows the tipping range to the popular 'mindlyinfuriating' subreddit and titled it: 'A bit presumptuous are we?'
'The absolute audacity and arrogance to put those amounts on there,' wrote a commentator under the post. 'If I saw that screen, I wouldn't even bother going to Custom Amount.
'I'd go straight to skip, pay my bill, and never return to that place.'
Social media commentators have expressed particular frustration over being asked to tip on an iPad after simple transactions.
TikToker @poorandhungry went viral this week after posting a video where she claimed she was asked to tip as much as 50 percent at Ben & Jerry's for a $2 ice cream cone.
When she opted to not give a tip, the cashier expressed her frustration with a facial expression, according to the tiktoker.
@poorandhungry went viral this week after posting a video where she claimed she was asked to tip as much as 50 percent at Ben & Jerry's for a $2 ice cream cone
A Reddit shared an image of an iPad that shows a tipping range from 30 to 40 percent to the popular 'mindlyinfuriating' subreddit
Twitter user Andrew Johns shared a receipt that showed a suggested tipping range of 20 percent to 24 percent, but pointed out a four percent 'kitchen' fee that had been added to his bill
'Like on no planet is that ever appropriate, even if I got $100 worth of ice cream, and I don't tip you,' she said of the uncomfortable encounter.
Consumers say they increasingly encounter iPad machines prompting them to tip even when they have not interacted with an employee.
'I picked up take-out yesterday and was presented with one of these screens,' said a Twitter user who goes by @RealPandaTheMan and posted an image of an iPad's screen suggested tipping.
'Will they hate me if I press no? The guilt tripping is insane…'
Another TikToker who goes by @thejmancomesquick posted a clip complaining about being asked to tip for a pizza he ordered online and picked up himself.
'They were like, 'oh would you like to leave a 20 percent tip? For what? What did you do?' he said, exasperated.
'20 percent is when people come to your table and they wait on you and they pick things up and they bring you things! What'd you do? Directed me to your website? It's crazy!'
Consumers say they increasingly encounter iPad machines prompting them to tip even when they have not interacted with an employee (Self checkout machine at Shake Shak above)
Shockingly, one TikToker who goes by @broadwaychey claimed she was asked to leave a tip while ordering an item online.
'I'm sorry, what? Am I a bad person? Cause it's making me feel guilty, which is what they want,' she explained. 'But I'm not tipping you, I don't even know what I'm tipping you for.'
A traveler who was asked to tip after buying a $6 water bottle at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey told the Wall Street Journal the iPad prompt was akin to 'emotional blackmail.'
While business owners say the automated prompts significantly increase tips and thus boost staff pay, critics of the new tipping culture say employers are putting the responsibility to pay their employees onto the consumer instead of raising their pay themselves.
Some consumers have complained that they don't even know where the tipping is going when they received no help from any employee.
And it appears tipping will continue to expand in the near future.
A bill passed in Colorado earlier this month would allow workers of businesses like McDonald's and Walmart to accept cash tips. Both businesses have previously forbidden employees to take tips from customers.
Meanwhile, staff at Apple's first unionized store in the US are in talks to implement a tipping system at the check-out.
Workers at the Towson, Maryland, branch - which became unionized last year - plan to ask customers if they wish to add an optional gratuity worth 3 to 5 percent of their purchase or a custom amount.
Currently Apple's policies state that store workers who accept a tip from a customer will be automatically fired.
Source: Daily Mail
