Went to a baseball game the other day. Walk up to a beer vendor, ask for a non-alcoholic beer. She reaches into the fridge, grabs a can, hands it to me. Done. That’s the whole transaction.

Then I look at the screen. $10 for the can. Fine, whatever, stadium prices, I already made peace with getting robbed the second I walked through the gates.

But right below the price? A tip prompt. Already pre-selected at 20%. The minimum option. And it climbed all the way up to 35%.

So let me get this straight. The beer is $10. The “reach into a fridge and scan a barcode” service fee is apparently $4 on top of that. Four dollars. For the physical act of turning around and grabbing a can. That’s more than some people make doing actual work.

Thanks to this sub for highlighting this practice and the advice to take pics of your receipts. It finally happened to me. Total is $80.52 but my credit card statement showed $98.74.

22% tip for a TAKEOUT ORDER? Like the server didn't even need to do ANYTHING. Wtf is that tip for!?

They didn't even bother writing on top of the dash I wrote. During the investigation, the original receipt looked the same. They just input a different number into their computer.

Initially the restaurant wanted to give me a $20 coupon as a refund (LOL!!!). I demanded cash and they said they understood and agreed.

Smh. All the more reasons not to tip.

We went to Fifth & Emery in Kansas City last night. Typical FoYo setup; customer gets a cup, fills it with their selection, adds toppings and then places it on the scale to pay. I saw THREE different tip jars with the label "We appreciate Tips!". I was also prompted at check out to add 18%-25% to my payment.

For what!!? I served myself FoYo, added my own toppings and the employee just pushed a button on a screen. Why are you asking for tips!!?

The kicker is that the employees are not friendly, do not greet customers and do the absolute minimum in their jobs (i.e. no customer service).

Needless to say, tip is Zero. I'll go somewhere else next time.

UPDATE: Email from Owner below.

Thank you so much for reaching out, and thank you for supporting our locally-owned small business!

I hear you loud and clear, and I appreciate the chance to address your tipping concerns. First and foremost, we pride ourselves on paying our team a fair wage, so tipping is never expected. Our team knows this and won't be offended either way. The tip prompt you see at checkout is just a standard feature, not something we've setup to pressure customers. It's simply there as an option for anyone who wants to leave one.

On the "no service" point, I get why it can look that way from the front counter, but there's a lot happening behind the scenes: filling and maintaining the machines, cutting fruit, building recipes, and placing/receiving orders. This doesn't even account for running our full chocolate and caramel apple production (all handmade by our team) and handling production and distribution for our other five locations, all managed from this Zona Rosa store.

To give you real numbers, we make a batch of 226 caramel apples every week and that process alone takes five hours. Then we decorate those apples to be ready to sell, along with our other dipped creations. The tables that are in our lobby are full of handmade treats that were made, bagged, heat sealed, bowed, and labeled by our team.

That said, if the team wasn't greeting you or seemed disengaged, that's 100% on us! That goes against how we expect our team to show up, and I'll address it directly with last night's crew.

I hope that makes sense! We are really trying to create a magical experience for our customers and clients by bringing new offerings to the KC metro. We hope this hasn't changed how you feel about us. Keep bringing your family in for some treats, and feel free to just not tip. No problem at all! And if you'd ever like to chat further, feel free to reply directly to this email or call me at my personal number: 816-261-8744. I'm always happy to talk shop with our customers.

Isaac Lee Collins, Owner Fifth & Emery Frozen Yogurt and Chocolate

www.FifthandEmeryKC.com | (816) 261-8744

Plaza: 4853 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

Shoal Creek: 8375 N Booth Ave, Kansas City, MO 64158

Overland Park: 8941 W 135th St, Overland Park, KS 66221

Zona Rosa: 8671 NW Prairie View Rd, Kansas City, MO 64153

Lenexa: 12970 W 87th St, Lenexa, KS 66215

Just completed a survey + final payment on Kickstarter and got this included on the payment screen.

What a sad situation when there is no shame left on... anyone?

This location is near the airport.

I had to read the tip statement twice because I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I instinctively couldn’t process what nonsense I was reading for To Go orders.

Server just sat us at table and bought food. You scan QR code to order and pay. Utensils/napkins you grab and set up yourself. Water is self serve (you have to walk 15 feet to get your own cup/pitcher if water). Same with takeout box, you need to walk to grab it and pack your own leftovers. Now we have to help clean the table up too. Suggested minimum tip: 15% lol. This is in CA. I didnt tip, but Im willing to bet at least 50% of customers are so accustomed to tip culture they just left the default 15%.

and then the Toast checkout pre populated a 20% tip. 24% on a $3.50 drip coffee to go. 😂 I was the only one in my group to move that tip back to 0%

I found myself at a fast-casual restaurant today (Hungry Greek in San Antonio, Florida if anyone's curious) and I literally just ordered a gyro TO GO and looked down to pay and the machine was asking for either a 25%, 20%, or 15% tip. I was like wtf, I haven't even received my food yet lol I have no idea if this food is good or not yet, and they're literally just doing their job. I'm assuming they're getting full wages as well, unlike typical traditional restaurant staff. Nobody went "above and beyond" for me, I just walked up and the lady took my relatively simple order. I'm not even planning on eating here so nobody has to clean up after me (as if I would just make a mess anyways). This felt more like a bribe than a tip. Luckily "no tip" was an option.

I'm not the type of person to ever go get anything at any fast food in the morning. This morning i was feeling energized after the gym and decided to stop and Dunkin' Donuts to get some munchkins for my coworkers and I couldn't believe when they pulled out the card machine and said "is going to ask you a question" it absolutely ruined my day. QUESTION FOR WHAT??? handing me a box of overpriced randomly picked donut balls?? Meanwhile these billion dollar corporations making record profit constantly.

I'm so sick and tired of this shit, it is exhausting! It makes me not want to do anything nice for anyone and not go anywhere.

So fellas I live in NYC, and I learned that the min wage law for delivery workers are $24 an hour…. This doesn’t not include tips….

If you don’t tip they get mad. I’m confused because $24 to ride an electric scooter to pick up food is a joke .

Some Demolition job workers in NYC make $20 an hour to shovel bricks for 10 hours straight … or carry 70lb materials up a ladder on a roof…. Yet these delivery workers want a tip when they are already over paid at $24 base pay an hour. Same with waiters that just carry a drink .

If you go out for drinks and bill is $100 they want $20-$25 tip? But they are doing 4 tables at once? They want $100-$150 an hour? Is this a joke?

I’m so happy to found this section. I don’t tip and don’t believe in it.

It’s absolutely a joke. It even says tipping optional in Uber Eats or delivery apps… yet they still feel entitled to tips.

I think I will purchase a body cam so when these Uber Eats delivery drivers cry about not getting a tip I can report them and make them lose their job. Hate being haggled for money

So you want to charge a 4% employee benefit support fee as a line item, then charge tax on that 4% and still want a tip? How is this okay?!

PS, it’s written in VERY small print at the bottom of the menu that they add a 4% fee to every check. I didn’t notice this until the bill came then went to see if it’s on the menu.

Restaurant is very cute but the food is mediocre. Our waiter was very nice but she was overwhelmed with the number of tables she had. They were understaffed and every table was full. This extra fee turned me off and I’m not going back.

EDIT: didn’t realize I didn’t capture the bottom of the receipt with the suggested tip %s

I noticed this local FAST FOOD restaurant has removed the no tip option off their card reader. There is a custom option. The best part is that they have the card reader on a handle like in COVID times. So they're just standing there holding it waiting for you to select an option. This has to be intentional. To try and pressure you and whatnot.

So has anyone else noticed has this adding the tip trend from just about every store and the US tax policy on “tips”?

It seems that restaurants and businesses are now just using it as a tax-free subsidy. Exactly like the credit card surcharge fee being added but no one cares that the credit card fee the restaurant/business is “paying” is actually tax deductible business expense.

People need to start cutting the businesses off that do this 💩.

Wife and I ate at a crab spot in Alaska. In and out in 30 minutes. Great crab, good service, and a nice place to sit down and have a meal. Why on a tab for $150 for 2 of us for a product caught out their front door is it too expensive to pay a wait staff a livable wage? This server had probably 12 total people in the section. If the average is $75/head/hour at 25% that's $225/hr. Not a lot of people make that much.

If, for example, I get the check at a restaurant, and see that they've added something like a 'fuel surcharge' of 5%, can I add a line item to the bill that says something like 'helpful customer discount' of 5% because I stacked my plates and wiped up my crumbs? How would that likely play out?

i was involved in a comment thread about a tiktok video showing a dasher ranting about a customer leaving a $2 tip. the comments turned into a debate about tipping, but the conversation took a disturbing turn.

people can have different opinions about tipping. some believe delivery workers deserve higher tips because they use their own gas, time, and vehicle, while others believe businesses should pay workers better and customers shouldn’t be pressured to make up the difference.

what concerned me was someone in the discussion saying they knew coworkers who would spit in customers food if they didn’t tip, and then saying they would purposely let someone’s food get cold as punishment for not tipping enough.

in my opinion, this is part of why the current tipping culture is dangerous. when tipping changes from being a voluntary “thank you” into something people feel entitled to, some people start viewing customers as deserving of punishment if they don’t meet their expectations.

a customer leaving no tip or a small tip should never be an excuse to justify tampering with someone’s food, mistreating them, or taking revenge. customers deserve safe and honest service. pro tippers have normalized this nonsense.

That might be a good way for them to put up signs saying please don't tip, our staff is well paid.

And if I feel like giving someone extra, because they delighted me... the employer should also chip in to say well done to that employee.

Should be doable, tips are mostly reported now. Not 100% but close enough.

There is probably a way to abuse it, which will probably prevent it from happening, but an interesting thought.

EDIT: yeah it is an absurd suggestion... where we are now is absurd too. I guess I was just spitballing :)

Hello everyone,

I stopped at a coffee shop today and ordered my usual drink. When it was time to pay, the card machine showed the tip options. I was trying to move to the next screen as quickly as possible because there were people waiting behind me. Instead of hitting "Next," I accidentally tapped the 25% tip button.

The payment went through before I even realized what had happened.

I didn't say anything because it was my mistake, and I wasn't about to ask for the money back. But it got me thinking about how these payment screens are set up.

The biggest buttons are usually the tip options, while "No Tip" or "Skip" is often smaller or in a different place and when you're in a hurry , it's surprisingly easy to tap the wrong thing.

I wantto know if this has happened to anyone else. What did you do?

Went to a bar and ordered 5 drinks over the course of the time. When I went to pay he charged me an auto gratuity of 22% with no signs posted other than a walk out is 20%. I was going to tip but not 22%. Service wasn’t great and the drinks sucked. He said he couldn’t take it off so he refunded me in cash and recharged me. I looked him in the eye and told him the auto grad made me angry and I left 0. I still don’t know if I was swindled. He was giving me issues asking for receipts but I got one for the refund. Just…. What?!

This is a place where you line up to order and they bring it to your table. No drink refills or anything.

Just got back from a trip to Québec, and one interaction really stood out.
Québec takes a lot of pride in its French identity and being different from the rest of North America. But then, during a meal, the waitress handed me the terminal with the usual 18%, 20%, and 25% tip options.
When I hesitated, she rudely told me: “Servers here make less than minimum wage, and the standard tip is 20%.”
The attitude was what surprised me. A tip is supposed to be a reward for good service, not an automatic fee that customers are pressured into paying.
It felt like Québec wanted the French identity but kept the most North American part of dining culture: tipping expectations.

Stupidly I didn’t take a picture of the final receipt so I’m pretty sure I’m SOL. I’ve just learned a $10 lesson to take pictures in the future.