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Robo-tipping is the latest airport rip-off.
The tipping saga continues as more grocery stores, airports and fast food chains are begging their customers for tips. While the average person has no problem forking over a cool 20% tip after a nice meal — a wave of new tipping scandals have been in the spotlight.
Michael Knowles, an American conservative political commentator, hit up a self-service station in the airport while traveling to prove just how out of hand this phenomenon has become. Recording on his phone, Knowles steps into the shop and heads right for the bottled drinks.
He grabs a sparkling water bottle, scans the beverage and turns the camera around to show his audience that there is no employee insight. The reel then showed the commentator checking out his water for $4.29.
“Would I like to leave a tip? I have not seen a single employee, I have scanned my own Perrier and now the robot wants me to tip it,” Knowles said on his Facebook reel.
The video — aptly titled “They expect me to tip a robot?” — garnered a trove of angry comments on his behalf. One user wrote, “I tip only humans,” while another jokingly noted, “I’d ask for a discount for doing its job.”
On the flip side, folks in the comments section said you’re not actually tipping the bots — the cash may go to people behind the scenes.
“I understand but think about this — someone stocked the shelves [and] kept everything clean. Would the tip be for the people behind the scene??”
Another Facebook user came to the store’s defense, telling the political critic that most systems are likely using the same program which has the tipping prompt already built in.
“These systems are universally programmed to ask the question. Just say no and be on your way. Even if there was an employee you can say no,” the user wrote.
This particular gratuity gouging is just the latest outrage, leaving customers feeling forced into tipping for unnecessary services.
Just weeks ago, a separate TikTok exposed a different airport store for prompting customers to select an 18% tip at a self-checkout kiosk. Dr. Clay Moss, a longevity specialist, posted the TikTok where a self-service payment terminal automatically nudged him to tip.
The doctor was stunned when he also tried to purchase a bottle of water — which was already overpriced — and saw that he was automatically encouraged to tip — 18%. The seemingly preset function — was prompting customers to leave a 10%, 15% or 18% gratuity using an automatic tipping feature.
Similar to Knowles’ story, Dr. Moss’ airport store was completely self-service, with not a single employee near. Dr. Moss asked his followers two simple questions — has tipping culture gotten out of hand and who is the money going to?
While it’s not fully clear where the green is going, one thing is clearly upsetting customers — having to tip for a service they are doing themselves.
