Woman sparks debate about 'guilt tipping' in viral TikTok

A woman has sparked a debate surrounding whether or not to digitally tip thanks to a viral TikTok highlighting the pressure to leave one that some have referred to as "guilt tipping."

TikToker Aubrey Grace (@aubreygracep) recreates the scenario many customers are familiar with when the time comes to pay for their order or product (in this case she was acting out a coffee purchase) and are met with the tipping screen.

Playing the role of the barista, she informs her friend who is filming what the drink comes to, as well as informing her about the tipping prompts on the iPad screen that she turns to face her customer.

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“The iced chai will be $6.49. Enter your card and it’ll ask you just a few little prompts here," she said.

On the screen, there are different percentage options to tip at 15%, 20%, 25% or a custom amount - and there's also a "no tip" button too.

"The pressure to tip," the on-screen text reads as the customer's finger lingers over the "no tip" button initially but as the barista watches over her, she then moves her finger to press one of the tip options.

"The awkward moment when they can see what you’re tipping," the TikTok caption read.

Since posting about the awkward scenario, the TikTok has received 1.8m views, 189,000 likes and thousands of comments from people sharing their thoughts on the topic of tipping - and they were certainly mixed.

There were many people who explained how they simply do not tip anymore and no longer feel bad about it, and argued it's the company's role to ensure their workers have a reasonable income.

One person wrote: "I literally don’t feel bad anymore"

"I used to feel so awkward but now I just hit the no tip and walk away," another person said.

Someone else added: "Companies should pay their people enough instead of relying on guilt for a customer."

On the other hand, those who work in the hospitality industry explained how they have to rely on tips from customers in order to earn a fair wage.

One person said: "The sucky thing is, companies should be paying their employees more. Instead baristas have to rely on tips to earn a living wage. So yes, please tip."

"Unfortunately about 60% of my paycheck is from those tips so it does actually affect us a lot," another person wrote.

Someone else replied: "Y’all need to realize that employees don’t make the ipads, or the tipping options. it’s awkward for us too."

"Been on both ends of this situation, it’s awkward either way," one commenter summed up.

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