A longtime Dunkin’ customer refuses to pay for drive-thru orders with cash anymore. Marissa (@risotizz) shared what prompted this decision in a TikTok that got over 56,000. And there are throngs of viewers who agree with her assessment, sharing cash horror stories of their own.
No cash at Dunkin’
Marissa’s root issue, it seems, has to do with worker entitlement. “I’m gonna be honest. I stopped paying cash at certain businesses for one simple reason. And that is because I was tired of employees trying to be like, ‘Do you want your change?’” she says.
The TikToker continues, “Girl, my change is $1.86.” She holds out her hand, palm facing upward, and presses it repeatedly with her finger. “Put it right … here,” she says.
Marrisa says there was one establishment where she experienced this more than others.
“It happened all the time at Dunkin’. And there would be times when they wouldn’t even give me my change,” she says.
“I would give them like $5. And my total at the time, this was like a while ago ’cause I stopped [expletive] with them. I started doing mobile orders. I would be paying like $2.12. OK, so, 88 cents would be the change. Plus the bills. I wouldn’t get the change. I would just get the actual cash,” she recalls one instance.
Tip expectations
She says the employees would act shocked that she wanted her $2 back.
“I wouldn’t say anything. But what made me mad was that the girl who would constantly do this—she was always so rude. She had an attitude. I would be saying, ‘Hi. Hello. Thank you.’ Never said a word to me,” she recalls.
“So after that happened a couple times—her constantly putting my change in her little tip jar. I’m like, ‘No, y’all not getting no more money,’” she says.
Additionally, Marissa speculated the worker’s constant expectation of a tip would impact subsequent Dunkin’ visits. “Say I go to Dunkin’, right? And you know, I would have had that 88 cents that she put in her tip jar last time. But I don’t have it today. Do you think that that girl’s gonna give me my coffee? No,” she says.
@risortizz idc what my change amount is i want my money lmfao #story #cheap #dunkin #storytime #fyp #steal ♬ original sound – Marissa
Commenters agree
Numerous viewers resonated with Marissa’s feelings and weighed in on tipping expectations. “Then they make you feel cheap for asking for your change back,” one shared.
“One time I got asked if I needed change for 100 when my tab was 40. I was so flabbergasted and irritated,” another said.
Service industry workers also weighed in.
“I’m a cashier at a retail job and I always give ppl their change even if it’s a penny. It should always be like that,” one said.
“I work as server. Never ask if they want change back. I just give it to them back bc idk I feel weird to be like do you want change? Especially bc a tip isn’t a requirement,” another said.
Keep the change?
Marissa isn’t alone in her outrage over employees expecting change, either. The Daily Dot previously covered one restaurant diner who was shocked at a server embracing this same entitlement. In their post, they wrote that the server never brought them back their change on a $21 bill.
What they found especially alarming was that they gave the food service worker $40. That means the worker assumed they could unquestioningly give themselves a 100% gratuity on a meal.
And then there was another instance at a gelato shop where a customer handed a worker $10 for their sweet treat. The employee immediately assumed the cash was for the tip jar and tossed it in there. That’s because the store was “cashless,” meaning that while shoppers could give their cash to workers, they couldn’t pay for products with cash.
The gratuity debate
Marissa joins a slew of other social media posters who’ve aired their grievances with coffee shop tipping.
Oftentimes the comments sections of these posts feature similar argument themes. Detractors of the practice often state that quick grab-and-go items shouldn’t implicate shoppers in subsidizing workers’ paychecks. Furthermore, many coffee shop employees work for a set, hourly wage. That differentiates them from other food service workers who earn a below-minimum-wage base salary. This is because they are employed in a position that factors in gratuity-based earnings.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Marissa via TikTok comment and Dunkin’ via email for further information.
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