Frozen yogurt, also called froyo, can get expensive. The tubs are sometimes so big that you lose track of how much yogurt you’re actually putting in. Then there are the toppings and of course the price is calculated by weight. Tipping can increase the price even further. But should tipping even be allowed, considering that froyo is often self-served?
After finishing her cup of frozen yogurt at a self-service store, Leilani (@leilanii_02) tries to pay at the cash register but encounters a problem.
Problem with payment
“I take out my wallet, pull out my card, type it in and it doesn’t work,” said the
The TikToker explains: “The employee comes up to me and says, ‘This won’t go through because I’m being asked for a tip.'”
Leilani says she was surprised by his words. She says the employee then had to explain to her how to bypass the tip screen by tapping “the bottom right corner.”
“He said, ‘Yeah, we’re not getting that tip anyway. The owner keeps it,'” Leilani recalls the employee saying. Leilani can’t believe that “self-service” places require tips, and is even more shocked that the owners supposedly keep them.
The video had been viewed over 848,000 times and had more than 600 comments as of Saturday.
@leilanii_02 who do I tip again??! 👀😭 #fy #tip #selfservice ♬ Original sound – Leilani
Is tipping customary for self-service restaurants?
Leilani is not alone in her confusion – other news outlets such as CBS have reported on this peculiarity of tipping at self-checkouts. This confusion and frustration stems from a supposed “tip fatigue” reported by the Daily Dot. Additionally, similar to what the employee told Leilani, CBS’s reporting mentions that tipping at self-checkouts is difficult because there is no way to prove whether the money actually goes to the employees.
“Machines don’t have the same protections as human employees when it comes to tips. Although the law requires that so-called ‘tips’ go to employees, you can’t be quite as sure when you tip a machine,” a Wall Street Journal reporter says in the CBS article.
What do the viewers say?
Food industry workers admit that they often never received the money, and others agree that tipping at self-service kiosks is an egregious rudeness.
“I supposedly got a $1,000 tip while working at a frozen yogurt shop,” wrote one user. “I NEVER saw any of the money.”
“It’s true that many companies do this. That’s why many employees don’t care whether you tip on the screens or not,” wrote another.
“I bought a cheese plate at Starbucks. No coffee, nothing. And the cashier looked at me funny because I didn’t tip,” said another. “I literally picked it up myself and took it to the cash register.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Leilani for comment via email and TikTok message.
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