They’re trying to scam us all now.
Across the nation, a chorus of voices grumbles about ‘tipflation.’ This nefarious phenomenon suggests that tipping norms have become bloated, twisting the cultural arm into giving more, more often, and in increasingly absurd situations. One might even encounter a request for a tip while shopping online! But while tipping erupts in odd new places, it remains a sinister staple in the gritty battleground of restaurants.
Americans, bless their trusting hearts, traditionally drop tips ranging from 15% to 20% on a meal’s bill. Servers depend on this since their hourly wages often crawl shamefully below the general minimum wage, with many scraping by on a paltry $2.13 per hour. To ‘simplify’ tipping, restaurants introduced payment devices pre-programmed with helpful tipping percentages. How thoughtful. But one TikTok user recently unearthed a cunning plot behind these so-called conveniences.
When a 20% tip isn’t really 20%
In a video that’s garnered over 16,000 views, TikTok user Kristiahna Clark (@kristiahnaclark) recounts her bewildering experience at Olive Garden. After a presumably delightful meal, Clark was ready to tip her server, but her eyes bulged at the numbers staring back at her from the Ziosk machine. Let’s do the math, folks. On a bill of $33.30 (tantalizingly specific for narrative spice), Clark noticed that a ‘20%’ tip was suggested to be $8.95. Cue dramatic gasp.
‘20% of $33.30 is not $8.95,’ Clark points out with the precision of a disgruntled math teacher. ‘Off the top of my head, it should be…$6.66, right?’ She’s on to something. Why the extra couple of bucks, Olive Garden? Clark muses aloud whether Olive Garden had embarked on an unscrupulous quest to ensnare well-meaning tippers. She doesn’t mind tipping more, she says, but let’s call a scam a scam, shall we?
Clark’s video struck a nerve, resonating with others who’ve spotted similar shenanigans at various dining establishments. ‘Are they trying to scam us all now?’ she wonders. ‘I don’t like it.’
Why did the machine suggest $8.95?
The Ziosk machine, with its devil-may-care attitude, calculated $8.95 for a 20% tip on $33.30. But why? In the realm of conspiracies, theories abounded.
Some speculated the machine calculated the tip before applying any discounts or coupons, though Clark insisted she hadn’t used any such reductions. Others hypothesized that the machine was cheekily adding the tip first and then calculating the 20% based on the new, inflated total. Devious, but incorrect: this formula would still yield only $8.45. One pragmatic soul proposed that a hidden service fee for credit cards might account for the discrepancy. If true, this crafty fee was nowhere mentioned on the bill, flouting all known tipping conventions and good taste.
Commenters share their shock
The comment section ignited with shared outrage. ‘That’s a 26% tip based on the after-tax total, so really closer to 30%,’ one user noted. ‘They’re out of control.’
Another lamented the rise of ancillary service fees impacting tips. ‘The worst part is, I’m good with that type of math and love doing that for sales, etc. and tips otherwise,’ another commented wryly. ‘I’m gonna stop being lazy.’
It appears ‘tipflation’ has yet another dark facet to consider: the unfathomable depths of tip calculator deception. Who knew a pleasant evening at Olive Garden could end with a brush-up on murky arithmetic and existential musings on the transparency of tipping culture?
As for Clark, she’s provided diners a valuable public service: always double-check those automatic calculations! In an age where even a tip calculator can’t be trusted, vigilance remains the diner’s best companion. And to the unseen hands behind the Ziosk machine’s programming, a message from all of us: we’re onto you.
