Alert – Internet is divided over tipping culture in popular fried chicken restaurant – what would YOU do?

A triggered TikTok user claimed a Bojangles drive-thru employee asked her for a tip after she purchased food from the fried chicken fast-food joint.

The woman, named Arie, asked if social media users agreed with her in not tipping employees for drive-thru and to-go orders in a video she posted earlier this month.

She also stated that customers should not tip fast food workers who only take the orders.

‘I just want to make sure we all are on one accord. I feel bad sometimes, but it just doesn’t make sense to tip them,’ Arie wrote in the video description.

TikTok users created several videos over the past year after a high percentage of Americans believed tipping culture has gone too far

Tipping culture has been a growing topic, especially in the food industry.

Around 48 percent of restaurant chains that include Starbucks, McDonald’s, and KFC have begun giving customers an option to tip drive-thru and to-go order employees, according to 2023 data compiled by Toast.

It has also spawned a number of videos from social media users who are upset by what tipping culture has become.

‘We know that tipping has been a hot topic,’ Van Darden, head of media relations at Talker Research, told USA TODAY.

‘It’s trended on TikTok, there’s all kinds of online conversation about it, it’s been in the news as people transitioned out of the high peaks of COVID and delivery services.’

Tipping culture has also angered thousands of fast food chain customers on Reddit on a post made by someone who thought it was ‘getting out of hand.’ 

Around 48 percent of restaurant chains that include McDonald’s and KFC have begun giving customers an option to tip drive-thru and to-go order employees

‘This idea that the consumer should be on the hook for supplementing the earnings of every low-wage worker they might encounter daily is insane,’ a Reddit user wrote last year. 

‘It’s too much. And where does it end? You can’t possibly tip all of the low-wage workers into prosperity. And how do you justify tipping certain low-wage workers and not others.’

This year, Americans have not changed their mind, out of over 1,199 Americans who participated in a CouponBirds survey, over 76 percent believed tipping culture has become too much for them to handle.

It’s continued to get so bad that customers have begun to stop giving tips to anyone, including restaurant servers.

‘Asking your customers to pay your employees directly is obnoxious and not very cool,’ Sandberg told Business Insider this month.

‘If I have to stand up to order my food or to buy my product, you’re not getting a tip.’ 

TikTok and Reddit users have debated the topic of tipping culture, and when they believe it’s okay to tip food service employees

TikTok users who watched Arie’s video revealed their opinions on the matter. 

‘I tipped my sonic person $10 during a hurricane. The way they were sprinting through that storm to deliver people’s food… I felt horrible for them having to do all that,’ wrote a TikTok user.

One person admitted that they tip on to-go orders, but mainly because the money will go to the restaurant servers.

‘I tip to-go. I do to-go orders, and I make nice tips. We do the most, especially when they’re huge orders,’ a commenter wrote.

Arie responded to what that commenter wrote and admitted that she would only give a tip if it was brought to her car or if it was a ‘big order’ or ‘busy day.’

Other commenters had the same opinions as Sandberg, and opt to not tip employees when ordering food without sitting down.

‘Someone at work told me the other day they don’t tip anywhere they order standing up. I felt like that was a good line to draw,’ wrote a TikToker.