There are a lot of things in life I can tolerate…But bad phone etiquette is not one of them.

Somewhere along the way, tipping culture stopped being a gesture of appreciation and turned into an expectation — and in many cases, a pressure tactic. I’ve been wanting to speak on this for a while, not as a critic of hard-working people who rely on tips, but as someone who believes common sense and respect have been pushed aside.

Let’s be honest:
We’re being asked to tip for things we never tipped for before.
Not services — moments.
Not effort — existence.

Screens swivel around with suggested tips before we even receive the product. Automatic prompts appear for transactions that take zero effort. And the worst part? People feel guilty for saying no.

💡 Tipping Used to Mean Something — Now It’s Automatic

I grew up in an environment where tipping was tied to service, effort, quality, and care. If someone went above and beyond, you showed appreciation. It was simple. Fair. Human.

Today?

You order a coffee at the counter — tip prompt.
You pick up a bag to-go — tip prompt.
You grab a water bottle at a kiosk — tip prompt.
You check out on an app — tip prompt.

It’s become less about service and more about social pressure. And many people are afraid of looking “cheap” or “rude” if they decline.

This isn’t generosity.
This is guilt.

💬 The Real Issue: We're Tipping Because We Feel Watched

Let’s call it what it is:
A pressure moment.

You’re standing there with a line behind you, the employee is staring at the screen, and the lowest suggested tip is 20%. The system is designed to force your hand.

It’s not about gratitude anymore — it’s about optics.

And that’s the part that needs fixing.

🤝 I Respect Hard Workers. Always. But Let’s Be Fair.

This rant isn’t against the people who work in service — I respect them fully. I’ve worked in hospitality. I’ve lived the grind. I’ve seen true service, dedication, and hustle.

This rant is about:

broken systems
confusing expectations
businesses outsourcing wages to customers
tip prompts for non-service interactions
mental guilt loops
and people feeling uncomfortable over basic transactions

Tipping should be earned, not programmed.

📉 We’re Getting Less Service… and More Prompts

Service levels have gone down across many places — slow lines, lack of attention, minimal interaction — while suggested tip amounts have gone up.

It feels backwards.

If you give me great service, I’ll tip generously. Happily. Gladly.
But don’t make me tip for tapping a screen or grabbing something off a shelf myself. That’s not service — that’s a checkout process.

📌 My Simple Rule: Real Service = Real Tip

Did someone make the experience better? → Tip
Did someone put in real effort? → Tip
Did someone take care of you? → Tip
Was there actual service involved? → Tip

But if the system is prompting me to tip for:

❌ counter pickup
❌ no interaction
❌ zero service
❌ automated processes
❌ self-service

Then the answer is simple: No tip. No guilt.

🌍 We Need Balance Again

This isn’t about being cheap.
It’s about being normal.

Tipping culture has drifted into a space where everyone feels on edge — customers feel pressured, and employees feel underpaid unless tips fill the gap.

Businesses need to:

✔ pay proper wages
✔ train proper service
✔ remove guilt prompts
✔ stop outsourcing employee pay to customers

Let tipping return to what it always was — a thank you, not an obligation.

🔥 Final Thought

We all want to appreciate great service.
We all want to reward effort.
But we should never feel bullied by a screen into tipping for something that wasn’t service in the first place.

Let’s bring back fairness, respect, real gratitude — and leave the guilt at the door.