In a now-viral video, a customer buying car parts online declared that “tipping culture is out of control” after he was prompted to tip for his purchase.
The video comes from TikToker L.G. Benito (@lgbenitoauthor) and has generated nearly 55,000 views in just a day on the platform. In the short clip, Benito shows a tip prompt on his computer screen. After proclaiming that tipping culture has gotten out of hand, he declares, “It’s asking me to tip on freaking car parts, dude.”
@lgbenitoauthor Just pay your employees what they deserve. 🫥 #tippingculture ♬ original sound – L.G. Benito 📚
The accompanying caption reads, “Just pay your employees what they deserve.”
In the comments section, viewers largely agreed with the creator’s sentiments.
“I’m going back to bare basics on tipping,” one commenter observed. “Only for traditional services that originally got tips.”
That led Benito to agree, “Yes!” before cautioning, “But it’s hard to at take out places because I worry they’ll mess w/ the food if I don’t tip.”
Another observed, “Only tip food delivery and in-restaurant dining. Everyone else has lost their mind.”
Yet another claimed, “Sam’s Club is now asking for tips for delivery orders on their own website. I left a negative tip.”
“I read it’s the credit card processing companies that are adding these tip screens,” someone else offered. “They get a percentage of the sale INCLUDING the tip.”
Another theorized, “It’s for the boomers that are use to tippin’ since the pandemic pushed everything online.”
One viewer was outraged simply because of the current state of paying for car parts—even without tips included. That person remarked, “Dude, and parts are already priced at like 150% markup—if not higher.”
But it was really tipping culture that won the day, with one commenter sharing the extremes to which it’s gone.
“I got my dog’s teeth cleaned at the vet and they turned their iPad around and asked if I wanted to tip,” the commenter said. “Bruh, what?”
The Daily Dot contacted Benito via TikTok comment for further information.
Update 2:42pm CT, Apr. 29, 2023: In an interview with the Daily Dot, Benito said he was surprised that many people agreed with his video.
“…Tipping has always been a sensitive topic for most, but [I’m] also annoyed because now I’m going to get a lot of notifications for the next few weeks and I always try to reply to every comment,” he says.
He confirmed that he did not end up tipping the merchant.
