Tipping has always been tricky, especially now that more places ask for it even when the service is quick and minimal. Most people try to be fair, but the line between what deserves a tip and what doesn’t can feel blurry.
But then there are moments that test a person’s patience, especially when the request is simple and the service feels needlessly difficult. That’s what one woman says happened during a quick dinner stop at Little Caesars after a 10-hour Instacart shift.
Was She Wrong to Not Tip?
TikTok creator Emily (@cart2castle) shared a storytime describing what she calls the only time in her adult life she didn’t tip. Her video got more than 84,000 views.
“So last night, for the first time in my adult life, I didn’t tip somebody,” she says at the start of the clip. After a long day shopping for Instacart, she decided to pick up a quick dinner for her family.
When she arrived, only a few people stood ahead of her. She waited for her turn, walked up to the counter, and a teenage employee greeted her.
“I’d like a hot and ready pizza with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of it,” Emily recalls saying.
The girl behind the counter told her it would take about twenty minutes. That stopped Emily for a moment. “Don’t you have hot and ready’s?” she asked. The employee explained that they did, but because of the Parmesan request, they would have to make a separate pizza from scratch.
Emily tried again. “Maybe she’s not understanding,” she says in the video. “I just want a hot and ready that’s ready and some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of it.”
Then she watched customer after customer walk in, grab a hot-and-ready pizza, and walk right back out. Each time she says she thought the same thing: why couldn’t they take one of those pizzas, walk it to the back, sprinkle the cheese, and hand it to her?
Finally, another worker stepped in. “Ma’am, is there something you’re waiting on?” he asks. Emily repeated the same request: “A hot and ready pizza with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on it.”
He brought a pizza to the counter. “That’s gonna be $6.36.” Emily checked the box and pointed out that it had no Parmesan. The teen employee tried to hand it to her anyway. Then she took it to the back and sprinkled the cheese herself, the exact task Emily had been waiting for nearly half an hour.
“I am just livid at this point,” Emily says. “She could have done this thirty minutes ago.”
By the time she paid, she didn’t tip. “Was I wrong to not tip?” she asks viewers.
Commenters Share Their Take
In the comments, a lot of people didn’t think tipping for takeout made sense at all.
“Why are you tipping for a takeout pizza,” one person wrote.
“Tipping culture is getting out of control,” another added. “If she delivered it to the house, tip. If you sat down and she came back and forth, tip. But tipping for someone who just takes your order? Nope.”
Others wondered why Emily didn’t just add her own cheese. “You could’ve gotten your hot and ready, took it home, put your own Parmesan cheese on it,” one user said. “You’re a little drama queen right now.”
Emily responded. “How do you know I have Parmesan cheese at home?” she asked. “My daughter ate all of that with her noodles.”
@cart2castle All I wanted was a Hot & Ready with Parmesan. Was I wrong for not tipping? #HotAndReady #LittleCaesars #FunnyTikTok #Relatable #ICantMakeThisUp ♬ original sound – cart2castle
Is Tipping Expected for Takeout?
Takeout tipping has become one of the grayest areas in modern dining. Before the pandemic, most people didn’t tip for carryout orders. Pew Research Center found that tipping is now expected in more places than ever, especially since restaurants increasingly rely on tips to supplement wages.
Experts agree that the main question is effort. If someone goes out of their way to fulfill special instructions or assembles a large or complex order, tipping can be a considerate gesture. But if the employee doesn’t do much beyond taking payment, many customers feel no obligation.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Little Caesars via email and to Emily via TikTok messages.
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