A self-checkout cash register that allows customers to leave a tip has sparked outrage across the internet. The moment went viral after American commentator Michael Knowles filmed the device’s screen and wondered who he should actually be leaving money with as he scans and pays for his purchases himself.
The situation reached Reddit, where the post garnered thousands of comments. Many users poked fun at the idea of tipping a vending machine, while others criticized the increasingly widespread practice in the United States of asking for tips even in situations where the customer is not directly served by an employee.
“Who the hell leaves a tip at a self-checkout?”, one user asked.
Someone else went even further: “Who leaves a tip at any cash register? Do you ever tip cashiers at regular stores?”
“If I do the cashier job, I should get a discount”
Some of the comments turned the situation into a joke about who should actually get the tip.
“That’s awesome. I never even thought to try that. If I’m doing the cashier job, I should get a discount, right?” one user wrote.
“You leave yourself a tip, obviously,” someone else joked.
One user recounted trying to “trick” such an automated teller by entering a minus tip in the hope that the amount would be subtracted from the total. According to him, the trick worked once.
The question was immediately put to him: “Did it really lower your bill by doing that?”
Another netizen’s response took the joke even further: “Lower my grade? By the time I finished adding zeros, they owed me $9 billion.”
Others directly proposed the “-100%” variant when the machine allows choosing a personalized amount.
“When robots completely take over the industry, you’ll still be tipping”
Beyond the jokes, the discussion quickly turned into a debate about tipping culture in the United States.
One user noted that at least the machine in the video has the no-tipping option selected by default. Others pointed out that there are systems where the customer has to go through several steps just to get to the option to leave nothing.
“It’s there for continuity so that when robots completely take over the service industry, you can still tip”an internet user quipped.
A former teller said that during his time in the business, employees were prohibited from accepting extra money from customers and could even lose their jobs if they broke the rule. Now, he noted wryly, after the human has been taken out of the equation, companies seem much more willing to accept tips.
Another comment sums up the confusion that sparked the whole discussion: “Asking for a tip when no one is working is absurd.”
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