How often do you tip? Is it every time you see the prompt, only in certain establishments, or even never? There's no denying that tipping has become all the more prevalent as time passes, and you can feel whatever way you want about that, including 'annoyed'.
That's how one woman on TikTok feels anyway, and after she made a video expressing this, it got a lot of attention, with most people agreeing that it's gotten out of hand.
There are those who vehemently oppose the act and others that encourage it, some calling for the abolishment of it and others thinking it's fine. One woman named Lauren Romeo gained a bit of notoriety for sharing her thoughts on the matter after a particular incident.
As of writing, it's sitting at almost 500k views and just under 70k likes, suggesting that many agree with her.
"Tipping culture is getting way too big right now," she says at the beginning of her video.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for tipping servers and people in the service industry. I'm literally the person to leave 20-25%, I get it, it's expected [...]."
What's got her talking about this then? She goes into her story where she's on her way to pick up her dog from a boarding facility as she was out of town.
The text said her dog is ready to be taken home, and at the end it reads "by the way, we only accept cash tips, so please tip in cash."
Lauren then gives the camera a questioning look. "Why was I even expected to tip in the first place?" she asks.
"You didn't give any extra service."
"Am I crazy?" she asks, clearly confused about the whole ordeal, "Also, the fact that they were like 'hey...please tip...in cash'. I never said I was going to tip or anything. Why is it expected that I'm tipping them? They're literally doing their job."
"Uhmmmm I with you, that’s super weird. Not only to ask for the tip, but to expect one when they set their pay rates..?" read one reply.
"I don’t understand why tips are expected on everything now. Tips are for people in the service industry who actually depend on tips . Not everybody," said another, sharing the same confusion as Lauren did.
People gave examples like the thrift store, those self-serve yogurt shops, even at a self-checkout in a retail store.
The top comment on the video seemed to echo everyone's wishes, reading, "[This] is exactly why they need to abolish tipping altogether. [Just] pay those in the service industry an hourly like every other industry."
h/t: Daily Dot
