Do you feel like you’ve been asked to tip more often lately?
If you do, you’re not alone. “Tipflation” is a common complaint across the internet. This is the idea that people are getting asked to tip more often and in higher amounts than ever before.
There’s some evidence to support this. From anecdotes about people being asked to tip at water fountains to surveys suggesting a majority of adults believe they’re being asked to tip more often than they were five years ago, it seems that American tipping culture has reached a recent peak.
Now, a TikTok user’s experience tipping on a recent Pizza Hut order has the internet declaring that tipping culture has officially gone too far.
What Happened During This Man’s Pizza Hut Order?
In a video with over 72,000 views, TikTok user Jordan Wesolek (@jordyworld2.0) explains why he believes, after trying to use the Pizza Hut app, that “this tipping thing has got out of hand.”
According to Wesolek, he decided to order a pizza from Pizza Hut using the chain’s app.
“At first, I was feeling kind of lazy, and so I decided to do delivery,” he explains. “So, I go in, and I put my address in, and then I see the delivery charge, and then I do the tip on top of the delivery charge, and once I look at it, it was like $30—and the pizza was only supposed to be $15.”
Not wanting to pay the hefty additional fees, Wesolek decided to simply pick up the pizza. However, after going through the entire ordering process again, he saw something strange at checkout. According to Wesolek, under his $15.99 subtotal, a section called “Team Member Tip” was automatically filled out. The automatic tip was nearly $5.
“It’s takeout!” he exclaims. “That’s, like, a 30% tip. It’s takeout. I’m coming to pick it up. All you’re doing is literally just making the pizza and putting it in my hands.”
To make matters worse, the section underneath asks for what Wesolek believes to be an additional tip.
While Wesolek says that he “was in the service industry,” that he is a good tipper, and that he “believe[s] that you should tip your servers,” he says that an automatic gratuity of around 30% was “insane for takeout.”
Is This Normal?
Attempts to recreate Wesolek’s problem on both the website and app did not produce similar results.
Usually, if one is ordering for pickup via the app, the “Team Member Tip” section remains blank until they select a tip option. If there is already a dollar amount in the Team Member Tip section, choosing another dollar amount or tip percentage will change it. This means that the request for a Team Member Tip is not usually an additional tip, as speculated by Wesolek, but the entire tip itself.
Still, that doesn’t mean that people don’t have complaints about the tipping options on Pizza Hut’s pickup orders. While some have an issue with the idea of tipping on pickup orders at all, others have cited comparable “double tipping” issues to what was alleged by Wesolek.
A few internet users claim that, after ordering via the app (and even paying a tip), they have been prompted to tip again once they actually got to the restaurant. In some cases, this appears to be because their receipt printer automatically generates a section for a tip.
Furthermore, a handful of internet users have complained that, after selecting “no tip” and picking up their order, they were questioned by employees as to why they did not tip.
@jordyworld2.0 I still got it though #greenscreen #tipping #fyp
Should You Tip On Takeout?
In the comments section, many users shared their views on tipping for takeout food.
“Auto-grat on takeout?? Nope. I would have closed the app EXPEDITIOUSLY,” wrote a user.
“A tip for doing your job, oh no. People need to stop buying at these places. I am only tipping if I’m waited or delivery,” said another.
“Tipping culture is out of hand,” declared a third. “I have zero issue with tipping at a restaurant where a waitress or waiter is serving me. But if I’m standing up, probably placing my order at some kiosk instead of with a person or picking my own food up… absolutely not. It’s insane.”
Tipping guides largely agree that one should tip on takeout. For example, Food & Wine argues that one should always tip on to-go orders. Real Simple agrees, saying that an adequate tip for takeout ranges between 5% and 10%.
Their reasoning is that takeout orders require extra assembly, which is typically performed by servers. In the United States, servers usually make a lower, tipped minimum wage, with the expectation that customers will make up the difference.
However, it should be noted that, unlike service charges, tipping is always technically optional. This means that, if you’re not comfortable tipping on a pickup order, no one will force you to do so.
BroBible reached out to Pizza Hut via media contact form and Wesolek via TikTok and Instagram direct message.