"I Bought One Macaroon" — Employee Scoffs at Customer for Small Order

It might surprise you to know that the concept of leaving a tip varies across different countries and cultures. For the most part in the U.S., folks are encouraged to tip other workers (usually food industry workers and servers) as a gesture to ensure that they can receive more than whatever minimal commission they may or may not get as part of their typical wages. It's more or less common practice here, but it's not necessarily as prevalent in other territories.

That's what got one customer so tight when they didn't leave a tip for one food service employee. According to TikTok user Unwed Vampire (@UnwedVampire), they had only purchased "one singular macaroon" from a store and chose not to leave a tip. This wasn't received well by the employee working the register at the time, who even went so far as to scoff at the customer.

"Tipping culture is insane," OP claims in their short video. They also reportedly don't believe that dinosaurs existed, but that's not what we're here to talk about today.

Unwed Vampire explains it all in their 36-second video. Although the location is set to New York, the transaction took place in the U.K.

OP visited a store and bought one macaroon for ₤1.70 ($2.14). An employee was there to manage the register and hand over the macaroon. As they went to tap the card in order to pay, they were given options to tip the cashier — either ₤1, ₤2, or ₤5.

"I looked at him [and] I was like 'you can't be serious, I'm not tipping you mate,'" they recalled after the incident. "All you did was hand it over to me, I didn't ask you a question or anything."

OP went for the "No, thank you" button, to which the employee responded by rolling his eyes and scoffing at the customer.

Unwed Vampire took to TikTok to complain about the exchange.

"We're in the U.K. first of all, you didn't do anything second of all, and like yeah, I think we should just calm down," they declare, implying that tipping isn't common in the country.

Interestingly enough, TripMasters advises travelers to tip in all trades in the U.K.

Despite the custom, however, Unwed Vampire felt as if they shouldn't have to have tipped anyone.

"I know we're in a cost-of-living crisis, but I am also in that crisis with you," they boldly declare.

For the most part, people in the comments actually agree with Unwed Vampire, blaming "tipping culture" for employees who they feel act entitled to a tip.

However, most of them come from a place of wanting workers to be paid fairly by their places of work without the need for tips to cover extra wages.

"You need to pay servers normal wages they could live on," one person claimed.

"It should be the establishment's responsibility to pay their employees a livable wage, not the customer's," another person replied.

This TikTok has opened up an interesting conversation on tips, with people surprisingly divided on when and how they should tip, if they do so at all.