Hundreds weigh in on awkward tipping experiences in a viral thread

What are your thoughts on tipping culture? Well, after one Canadian restaurant covered the no-tip option on its machine, a local Facebook group in BC created a thread for members to share some of their awkward tipping moments.

Anne McDonald posted in “The White Rock/South Surrey Community Group” on Facebook and asked people to share their “most awkward tipping experience.”

Many in the group left comments on the post sharing some of their awkward tipping stories.

“My worst tipping experience was when a waiter in a bar spilt my beer on my lap, was annoyed when I asked for napkins to dry myself off, tried not to replace the beer he had spilled and when challenged on that, brought me less than half a glass back — much less than he had spilled on me — and ended the encounter by whining to himself that he doesn’t even get 10% anymore. And no, he did NOT get a tip from us,” shared one user.

“I went to buy a can of beer at a local liquor store and the guy was super friendly; when I announced ‘no tip’ as I paid, he turned cold as ice. Who tips to buy a beer? All you did was ring up the sale??” shared another group member.

“I bought a bottle of water from a fast-food restaurant. I even took it out of the cooler, all the person behind the counter did was ring it up. Then the tip option came out but there was no button for ‘no tip.’ It started at 18% and went up from there. I told them I’m not paying a tip for a bottle of water. They took the option off and I paid for my water. I felt embarrassed and pressured,” said a third.

However, many people shared their hot takes and frustrations on tipping culture in general.

“I have a rule I follow… If I’m standing up while paying, I DON’T tip!” said one person.

“As a great man once said: why tip someone for a job I’m capable of doing myself? I can deliver food, I can drive a taxi, I can and do cut my own hair. I did, however, tip my urologist. Because I am unable to pulverize my own kidney stones,” said another.

But for all those upset by tipping, many were in favour of it.

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“If you can afford to eat out, you can afford to tip! Plain and simple,” stated one group member.

“These comments are terrible to read. If you don’t tip, the server pays out of their own pocket to tip the kitchen host and whoever else. If you can’t afford to go out and eat and tip, then don’t go. The servers are paying to serve you if you don’t tip. Y’all are trash if you don’t tip. I mean, I get it if the server sucks but expecting over-the-top service [from] a unicorn in order to tip from all the servers out there, FU, it’s disgusting,” said another person.

“I personally feel that if you’re working in customer service, it’s because you need the money. It’s not fun. Customer service is hard, hard work. Waiting tables is brutal. I feel like the extra few bucks isn’t a huge loss for me but the extra few bucks per customer is a huge deal for the server,” concluded a third.

What do you think of tipping culture in Canada? Let us know in the comments.