A Chili’s customer has gone viral for issuing a warning about the restaurant chain’s tipping system.
The customer, @thatdumbdiver, issued the warning on TikTok. He said: “To anyone working at Chili’s, just know [the restaurant] limits what people are allowed to tip you.” The post has amassed over 677,000 views and sparked a discussion about tipping in cash. You can watch the full video here.
In his video, @thatdumbdiver punches in a $12 credit card tip when paying his bill via the restaurant’s pay-at-table tablet. But when he tries to complete the transaction, a pop-up message appears on the screen.
“Amount entered is over the maximum allowed limit,” the message read. “Please enter a lower amount.”
In the post’s caption, @thatdumbdiver called the tip limit a “scam.”
“Not sure if this is [happens] at every Chili’s, but it should be looked into!” he wrote. “[The tip limit] cost my server some money today since I didn’t have cash.”
Why the Tip Limit?
A spokesperson for Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s, told Newsweek that the company put tip limits in place to protect customers.
“At Chili’s, we offer guests multiple ways to pay their checks and tip our team members. One way is by using our secure pay-at-table tablets—or Prestos,” the spokesperson said.
“In the past, guests have inadvertently hit an extra number when leaving a tip on our Presto tablets—for example, entering an extra zero and accidentally leaving $100 instead of $10. We put a safeguard in place with a maximum tip percentage on Presto to protect them,” the spokesperson continued. “However, if a guest would like to tip more than the Presto limit, they can leave cash, or we can run their credit card through our point-of-sale, which would give them a paper receipt to write in their tip.”
Viewers React
Many viewers said the safeguard represented one of several reasons why they “always” tip in cash.
“This is why I try to always bring cash for a tip,” Sam D. said.
“This is why you tip cash—also because then they don’t get taxed on it,” Stella Marie wrote.
Lees added: “I never tip [servers] on my credit card. I always write 0.00 and then give them [the] tip in cash [because] businesses are greedy.”
In response, @thatdumbdiver told commenters that he usually tips in cash but didn’t have any on him when he recorded the video.
Newsweek reached out to @thatdumbdiver for comment.
More Viral Posts
A restaurant server sparked a viral debate after vocalizing her frustration at receiving a tip of just over $2 on a $120 bill.
Online commenters were left divided after an Atlanta restaurant-goer shared a restaurant’s tip policy which states that customers should stay home if they cannot afford to tip.
And Redditors slammed a hotel restaurant for automatically adding an “optional” tip to customers’ bills.
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