To tip or not to tip is a question of culture. In some Asian countries, people would get offended if you offered them a tip as they would take it as charity. In some European countries, they will gladly take your tip but won’t expect it. But in the US, while tipping is not mandatory, service workers will expect it, will expect a certain amount and will even ask for it.
A doorbell camera captured an interaction between a Domino’s delivery driver and a customer that sparked a discussion online. In the video, you can hear the delivery driver asking for a tip while handing the pizza to the customer and the woman just says goodbye and closes the door. The customer considered the request a sign of entitlement and some people agreed, but there were also commenters who believed the customer was being cheap.
More info: TikTok
Delivery driver is upset after not getting a tip she asked for while handing the customer the pizza
Image credits: user626366461
The viral video which now has 5.9 million views was posted by an anonymous person on TikTok who named themselves X on the app. It shows a short clip from a doorbell camera and it starts right at the moment when the delivery driver asks if she will get a tip. The woman asks for it while handing the pizza to the customer and her question or request, or demand, depending on how you look at it, is “Tip?”
The customer simply thanks her for the food and is closing the door when the delivery driver explains that she drove this pizza to the customer and brought it to her doorstep, so she should thank the driver with a tip because she has a car and could have picked it up herself.
A clip from a doorbell camera shows a delivery driver handing the pizza to a customer and asking for a tip at the same time
Image credits: user626366461
The customer, on the other hand, feels that she already paid for the convenience of getting the food delivered to her home when she paid for the order. It seems that she tried to stay polite and wished the delivery driver a nice day before closing the door.
The delivery driver was seemingly frustrated at not being tipped and told the customer to come and get the food herself next time, but left it there and even though the clip ended here, it was clear she was leaving.
The delivery driver points out that the customer has a car so she could've picked up the order herself but got it delivered to her door instead
This situation made people divide into two camps in the comments. Part of them were judging the customer or not tipping, because they got their food and the driver had to deliver it in the snow.
Some of them also guessed that maybe this wasn’t the first encounter between the two of them. There were other fellow delivery drivers who had sympathy for the one in the video, speculating that maybe several customers before this didn’t tip either, and she just got frustrated and let it out.
The customer, however, is convinced that she already paid for the convenience to get it delivered when paying for the order
Image credits: The Bag N Box Man LTD (not the actual photo)
The other camp, which seems to be the bigger one, was pretty appalled by the way the delivery driver acted. They were thrown off by how she didn’t even properly give the pizza to the customer and was already asking for a tip.
Many of them said that even if they were planning on tipping and then were asked like the delivery driver in the video did, they would change their minds and would slam the door in front of the delivery driver’s face.
The woman wished the delivery driver a good day and closed the door, but not before the Domino's worker suggested getting the pizza herself next time
However, the ones that pointed out that maybe the delivery driver had a few customers not give her a tip might be onto something. Online resource for finance questions Credit Card conducted a survey on tipping in the post-pandemic period and it seems that Americans are not rushing to come back to 2019 levels.
If we look specifically at tipping for food delivery drivers, 63 percent of respondents said that they would always tip in 2019, but in 2022, that number dropped to 57 percent.
Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Credit Cards, explained the reasons behind it: “Inflation is cutting into consumers’ purchasing power and a tight labor market has left many service industry businesses understaffed and struggling to provide top-notch customer experiences.”
People in the comments were quite divided as tipping is a norm in American society
Not only are fewer people tipping, but those who do tip are leaving smaller amounts. A different survey by Popmenu revealed that in 2022, “43% of consumers typically tip servers 20% or more, down from 56% of consumers last year.”
Popmenu chief executive and co-founder Brendan Sweeney commented on the data, saying that the drop could also be attributed to people tipping more generously during the pandemic as they wanted to help struggling businesses if they could but now “People are not feeling like they’re in savior mode all the time.”
While others were taken aback by how rude the delivery driver was by asking for a tip before handing the pizza to the customer
Tipping in the US is a social norm that has deep roots in society and customers feel the pressure as they consider it a duty more than an expression of gratitude. This sentiment is evident in the Play USA survey data as “60% want to follow the steps of other countries and get rid of tipping entirely.”
And the pressure to tip is felt in the video we discussed today, as the woman got judged for not leaving a tip by some viewers as if she didn’t have a choice to decide not to tip.
Do you think it’s possible for Americans to get rid of tipping? How do you think that would look? Do you think that until then, customers should tip no matter what? Let us know your opinions in the comments!