Most diners expect a tip prompt after tapping their credit card on the table-side payment tablets at restaurants. However, a Chili’s customer noticed a different kind of request and quickly refused in front of the server.
In a video with over 115,000 views, TikToker Saavirus (@saavirus) holds up a small tablet across from another guest. The tablet shows a blue screen with the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital logo. It asks the Chili’s guests if they want to donate to the charity, which provides free medical treatment to children with rare diseases and cancers.
The TikToker makes a face and quickly hits the skip button. The camera pans over to the server, who stands at the end of the table waiting for them to finish the transaction.
On-screen text reads, “With the waiter there and everything.” A woman sitting next to the TikToker covers her face in reaction to his dramatic refusal to donate.
Does Chili’s Partner With St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital?
The option to donate to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital after a meal at Chili’s isn’t new. In fact, the restaurant chain has partnered with the charity since 2002 and has raised more than $114 million in donations for the cause.
Chili’s even has a St. Jude’s facility named after it: The Chili’s Care Center medical building.
According to Chili’s website, it prompts all dine-in and online order customers with a donation screen for St. Jude’s. Chili’s workers on Reddit say that the chain also provides St. Jude’s t-shirts for the staff to wear during the month of September to promote the donation campaign.
What Do Customers Think Of Donation Screens?
On the r/Chilis subreddit, some customers lamented that the donation screen adds to the already lengthy checkout process at the chain.
One diner posted pictures of the three prompts they received after tapping their card: a tip screen, a donation screen, and a survey screen. They wrote, “Now I have to play 20 questions and be prompted to donate to charity…I just wanted a burger and a beer.”
Commenters agreed that the long tablet checkout detracts from their dining experience at Chili’s.
“They only take payment with that tablet thingy. Very wack. Won’t be back,” one wrote.
“I also don’t like being asked for a charitable donation as I like to support my own chosen charities. Not that they aren’t good ones but I only have so much money to go around,’ another said.
“I agree charities are in poor taste,” a third remarked.
Does Chili’s Get A Tax Break From Donations?
Commenters on the viral TikTok debated whether it’s best to donate to charities through a restaurant or individually.
“To be fair they already donated they just want you to pay them back,” one suggested. A second replied, “They use these donation as a tax write off. The best way is to DIRECTLY donate to these organizations.”
However, some point out the common misconception that companies get a tax write off from customer donations, which has been debunked.
One said, “Omg donations made by the customer can’t be written off. the money never goes to the company and the customer can actually write it off.”
“Only you get the tax write off they don’t, that would be illegal, that’s why the put the donation on YOUR receipt,” another viewer wrote.
@saavirus Welcome to chilis #chilis #chilistripledipper