When bride-to-be Ina Josipović set off to find her perfect wedding dress, she was graced with the rare experience of finding The One at the first store she visited. Upon checkout, she was also faced with a request to tip, an option that prompted her to bring her experience online to navigate the tipping culture debate.
Tipping came over to America from Europe in the mid-1800s. There have been general rules for who you tip for what services, like hairdressers, servers, food deliverers, and so on. The amount varies but 15-20% is the most popular rule of thumb. However, a proliferation of tipping expectations for even more goods and services in the U.S. has sparked a debate about when this is or is not appropriate, and Ina’s personal experience has added a whole new layer to the discussion. Here’s her story.
Bride-to-be Ina Josipović was given the option to tip after buying her wedding dress
Accompanied by one of her close friends, not only did 30-year-old Ina find her dream dress at her first stop, but it was also on sale. Encouraged, she went to go pay for her dress with a credit card. The sale went through, but after all the numbers were crunched, Ina then saw something she did not expect: a request to tip.
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The otherwise smooth shopping trip just took on a more complicated air. Was this normal? It didn’t feel like it to Ina, who told Fox, “When I paid and then I saw the tipping option, I froze and was taken aback by the fact that I needed to tip at a retail store.” Because it was such unfamiliar territory, she had no idea how to proceed – and if she did tip, how much?
The great tipping debate has broken new ground
Some additional context: besides Ina and her friend, those at the store that day included some employees and in individual Ina believed to be the owner. Reflecting on the guidance she got from the stylist, Ina insisted the stylist did a “great” job helping her find just the right dress.
However, at checkout, a very confused Ina asked her friend, who had shopped at that same bridal store before, if tipping was normal for such a service. Her friend said it was not. But by this point, Ina was starting to feel stressed and flustered.
“I guess if you can afford a $10,000 dress, maybe a tip isn’t that big of a problem,” she said in her TikTok video, “But most people really can’t.” Still, when she did some quick arithmetic and found that a 20% or even 10% tip would cost a couple of hundred, Ina settled with $50, or around 1.5%. She felt guilty submitting an amount so much lower than the usual 15-20% and took the debate online.
“If you guys think your stylist deserves a tip, why don’t you just give her commission,” she proposed in her TikTok.
Usually, registers that have a tipping option also allow customers to pick “No Tip,” a choice one TikTok responder said they “have no shame just pressing.” Another agreed, “I am on the no-tip plan for most things nowadays other than waitstaff, salons and misc helpful people. Tipping is out of control. I’m ok saying no.” Most of Ina’s followers shared this view. Do you agree with what Ina did, or a different option?
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