A Starbucks barista called out the newly implemented tip option screen appearing on POS systems at a number of the coffee chain’s locations.
TikToker Tori (@kniifes) wrote in a text overlay, “Starbucks adding tip option to the card reader is top 10 worse disasters to ever happen to human kind.” She explained her reasoning in the video’s caption: “So embarrassing when customers go ‘its not going through!!!!’ bae theres an extra step now.”
@kniifes so embarrasing when customers go “its not going through!!!!” bae theres an extra step now 😭😭😭 #starbucks #starbies #starbucksbarista #baristalife #baristatok #starbucksdrinks ♬ EHHHHHHH EH EH EH – sk.Ninga
Tori’s criticism of the feature garnered over 160,000 views and culminated in a variety of different responses from viewers. Some couldn’t understand why she would have an issue with receiving more money while on the clock; others said they were glad the retailer prompts customers to leave a gratuity.
There were several other users on the platform who thought that Tori was complaining about receiving gratuities, and she took the time to respond to one remark, in particular, stating folks were misinterpreting what her gripe was with tip option on the Starbucks POS systems is.
Judging from her response, it seems her real issue is that the new tip option ultimately causes transactions to take more time than they should as some customers are either confused by the screen and don’t know what else they need to do in order to pay for their order. She said that the POS system will sometimes glitch once it arrives to the tip screen, creating even more problems, which forces employees to restart that computer and take the customer’s order on another machine while they attempt to pay for their items.
@kniifes Replying to @everythingischrome silly silly people #starbucks #baristalife #baristatok ♬ original sound – tori （╹◡╹）♡
“OK a lot of you guys seem to misinterpret this video completely, you know. That’s what happens when you don’t have comprehension skills. It’s OK. Yeah, so basically Starbucks added the tip option to the card reader. So you know how you go to coffee shops, and they usually turn the iPad around, and be like, … ‘You want to tip?’ Yeah it’s basically what Starbucks added to us. But they launched it in a way … I was not aware, first of all. So I started noticing … customers taking like a minute too long, longer to pay, and I’m like what’s going on? And then, um, a guy was like, ‘Why isn’t this working,’ and I’m like, ’I’m sorry,’ and I look over, and it’s like a tip screen, and I was like, ‘What?’ Yeah, so basically, the tip screen freezes. It’s been happening to a lot of other stores; it’s happened five times in my store … during peak, and basically we have to shut down the whole register and use another register because it just freezes and doesn’t budge.”
Tori continues, “And it freezes on the tip screen, and, like, a person is trying to fix it, but obviously it’s not gonna fix it if you’re aggressively tapping it. And especially it’s very confusing ‘cause you can’t … go ahead and click no for them, like they have to do it themselves, and it’s very difficult to explain it to old people, which is understandable because old people are old people. But, you know, regulars who’ve been coming for like 10, 20 years … they’re kinda, like, confused. … And I kind of just have to talk and guide them out, which takes longer, especially during peak.”
This isn’t the first time that coffee shops and cafes were called out for tip prompts on social media. There are several other posts from TikTokers who said that these options “pressure” customers to tip in scenarios they otherwise would not.
The Daily Dot reached out to Tori via TikTok comment and Starbucks via email for further information.
