Woman voices her outrage after being asked to tip while buying a $1.99 bottle of water at a SELF-CHECKOUT
- Alexa Merico visited a CIBO Express Gourmet Market in an airport terminal
- While using the self-checkout kiosk, she was asked to leave a tip on the item
- The 23-second clip has gone viral, racking up more than 333,000 likes in a week
A woman has been left stunned after she was asked to leave a tip for a $1.99 bottle of water purchase at an airport self-checkout kiosk.
The now viral video she shared of the scandalous encounter has sparked outrage on social media.
Alexa Merico, a Miami photographer, captured the moment she tried to buy a single bottle of water at an unattended CIBO Express Gourmet Market in an airport terminal.
Her 23-second video captured the moment Alexa scanned the item itself before being prompted to leave a tip, with the default selection appearing to be 18 percent, or $0.36.
Alexa Merico, a Miami photographer, captured the moment she tried to buy a single bottle of water at an unattended CIBO Express Gourmet Market in an airport terminal
To her surprise, she was then asked to leave a tip at the self-checkout, with the default value being 18 percent.
She chose not to leave a tip for the $1.99 purchase (see above)
“I need a 20% discount for my service,” she joked in the caption, adding the hashtag “tipping culture.”
“Only in America… Are you asked to leave a tip at a self-serve snack kiosk,” Alexa said in text overlay, adding an eye-roll emoji.
Unsurprisingly, she ultimately opted for ‘no tip’ before completing the purchase.
Since Alexa’s post went live on November 7, it has racked up nearly 12 million views and 320,000 likes.
At the same time, thousands of viewers flooded the comments with over 5,000 responses to a self-service cashier’s inappropriate request for a tip from a customer who had not been served by on-site employees.
“I always tip the employee, but this is actually a tip to a CEO who is probably at home in his pajamas,” one person speculated.
“Bro the tip is that I respected the (honor) system and paid and don’t just walk out with my water lol,” a second commented, while a third echoed: “Shouldn’t they tip you because you already did the work? ‘
A fourth agreed: ‘It should be an option to get a negative tip and get a discount.’
Numerous users took to the comments to echo Alexa’s irritation at the prompt
Others offered a less than nefarious explanation for the “Would you like to leave a tip?” prompt at the self-service checkout
“I would have walked out with that bottle straight away and not paid for it afterwards,” one rebel chimed in.
“I went to pay for a doctor visit and they had a TIP BUTTON!! I was shocked!!’ someone else outraged over a related anecdote.
“Self-service tip hahaha,” another wrote succinctly about the ridiculousness of the premise.
Still, others offered less than nefarious explanations for the automated “Want to leave a tip?” fast.
“It’s because all these self-monitors now use the same software and user interface,” one user explained – to which Alexa replied, “And it’s ridiculous.”
Someone else echoed: ‘We use that for our stand. The program that uses it has that as the default setting. You can’t change it unless you buy a customer setting.’
DailyMail.com has contacted CIBO’s business owner OTG for comment.