11/09/2025
I walked in, ordered one single bowl, and before I could even blink, this screen popped up asking if I wanted to leave a tip. The total was $17.97 for one bowl of food, and the first thing it asked me was not āDo you want a drinkā or āWould you like to sit inside,ā it was āAdd tip?ā with three giant buttons already ready to take my money. 10 percent, 15 percent, or 20 percent. The āNo Tipā button? Tiny, grey, and practically hidden like itās something to be ashamed of.
And tell me why Iām tipping for pressing buttons on a screen. Nobody carried my food to a table. Nobody refilled a drink. Nobody wiped a plate or took my order by hand. I ordered off a kiosk, paid on the same screen, grabbed a number, and stood there waiting for someone to call it. Yet Iām being guilted into tipping almost four dollars because the iPad asked me to.
What exactly am I tipping for here? For existing? For the privilege of paying eighteen dollars for a bowl of chicken and rice? For doing half the job myself? Itās actually wild how normalized this has become. Every single place you go now asks for a tip. Coffee shops, smoothie places, bakeries, even self-checkouts. Weāve reached the point where screens are asking for tips before a human even says hello.
Itās not about not wanting to tip. Itās about how absurd itās gotten. Tipping used to mean something. It used to be for actual service. Now itās just a guilt tax. Companies know they can underpay their employees and rely on customers to make up the difference, so they push these screens in your face and make you feel bad if you say no.
Look at the setup. Itās literally designed to make you uncomfortable. The worker stands right there pretending not to look, but you can feel them watching. Everyone behind you in line can see what you choose. Itās like a public morality test. You click āNo Tip,ā and suddenly you feel like you just confessed to a crime.
When did we let businesses guilt us into paying more for basic service thatās already overpriced? You order food, and they act like youāre offending them by not adding an extra three bucks. Meanwhile, half the time they hand you your food without saying a single word. No eye contact, no thank you, just āOrder 54.ā But sure, let me tip 20 percent for that.
And the worst part? Itās always pre-selected. They donāt even ask anymore. The screen pops up like itās mandatory. They used to give you the option of writing in a tip if you felt generous. Now you have to fight the touchscreen just to say no. And they know people wonāt do it because nobody wants to be seen as āthat person.ā Itās psychological manipulation hiding behind politeness.
This whole tipping thing has spiraled out of control. I went to a store the other day, bought a bottle of water, and the screen asked if I wanted to leave a tip. A tip for what? For the person who handed it to me? For gravity? For the machine that printed the receipt? Itās ridiculous.
And letās be honest, the prices are already insane. $17.97 for one bowl. Thatās before tax, before tip, before anything else. And now theyāre asking for 20 percent on top of that. Thatās almost four extra dollars. For what? To press āConfirm orderā? I might as well just hand out twenties every time I breathe.
Itās not even about the money at this point. Itās the principle. I shouldnāt have to feel like a bad person for not tipping a machine. I shouldnāt have to justify why I donāt want to tip when nobody actually provided service. If I sit down at a restaurant and a server takes care of me, Iāll tip generously. I always do. But this? This is pure corporate greed wrapped in fake politeness.
And hereās whatās even worse. The owners love this. They donāt care if youāre uncomfortable. They want you to feel pressured. Because every time that screen pops up, someone caves. Someone taps 20 percent without thinking. And thatās how they make millions. Theyāve turned basic transactions into emotional guilt traps.
Itās everywhere now. Coffee shops, acai bowl places, fast food counters, frozen yogurt shops, even airport kiosks. I ordered something from a vending machine once and the screen literally asked me to leave a tip. A vending machine. Nobody touched my order. Nobody helped me. But apparently, I was supposed to tip the robot.
And you can already predict whatās going to happen next. Itās only a matter of time before grocery stores start asking for tips at self-checkout. Youāll scan your own items, bag them yourself, and then the screen will say, āWould you like to leave a tip for the associate?ā What associate? The one that didnāt help?
People are starting to snap over this, and rightfully so. Itās not that weāre stingy. Itās that weāre exhausted from being guilt-tripped at every single register. Everything is expensive already. Rent is insane, gas is high, groceries are triple the price, and now every single business wants to squeeze more out of the same customers that keep them alive.
Tipping was supposed to be about gratitude. It was supposed to be optional. It was never meant to be expected every single time you breathe in a public place. Somewhere along the way, it stopped being a thank you and started being a trap. And the worst part is they make it look like youāre the problem for not playing along.
Watch how many people in the comments will defend this and say āYou should always tip.ā No. You should tip when someone actually provides a service worth tipping for. Thereās a difference between a restaurant server working for tips and a cashier tapping an iPad. And pretending those two things are the same is why this problem keeps growing.
Iām just saying, itās getting out of control. Weāre living in a world where saying no to a tip makes you look like a villain. And the irony is, the people defending this are usually the same ones complaining about how expensive everything is.
At this point, they should just add a āBreathing Fee.ā Maybe a āStanding in line tax.ā Or a āThank you for existing donation.ā Because thatās where itās heading.
The craziest part is how numb everyoneās become. People just go along with it now. Nobody questions it anymore. They tap 20 percent, grab their food, and leave like itās normal. But itās not normal. Itās manipulation disguised as manners.
Iām not tipping a touchscreen. Iām not tipping for pressing buttons. Iām not tipping for something I did myself. If that makes me the bad guy, then so be it. Because at this point, Iām convinced these machines have more audacity than most humans.
