A woman built her own frozen yogurt, paid with Apple Pay, and the next screen asked her to tip someone she never met

TikToker Nyra DelRey recently shared her disbelief after a self-serve frozen yogurt shop prompted her for a tip following a contactless Apple Pay transaction. As detailed by BroBible, she noted she was not greeted when she walked in, which she considered normal for that type of establishment. The real shock came after the payment went through and the screen asked how much she wanted to tip. “Who would I tip?” she said in the video.

DelRey’s clip has racked up over 126,000 views and tapped into a frustration many Americans recognize. She pointed out that in a self-serve setup, the customer handles every step, from choosing flavors to adding toppings, with no staff involvement in the transaction itself. She even suggested the prompt should instead ask how much the customer would like to be tipped.

The moment resonated beyond her own followers. Other frozen yogurt customers have reported identical tip screens, sparking debate on the r/tipping subreddit. One commenter wrote, “Imagine expecting to get tipped 5 bucks for watching you get yogurt.” Another acknowledged that staff do wipe drips and refill machines but said the service level still does not warrant a tip prompt.

Tip screen frustration is feeding a broader national backlash

Viewers of DelRey’s video shared their own encounters with unexpected tip requests. One person described being prompted for a tip after buying a $10 bottle of water from an unmanned airport kiosk. Another recalled paying a $1,750 invoice online for a garage door installation and still seeing a tip option at checkout. Amid growing public debate over tipping norms, an Iowa restaurant charged a habitual non-tipper a fee equal to 10 percent of his bill, which sparked its own heated conversation online.

These accounts reflect trends identified in a June 2025 Bankrate survey, which found that 63 percent of Americans hold at least one negative view about tipping, up from 59 percent the year before. Bankrate Senior Industry Analyst Ted Rossman noted that while tipping remains a fixture of American life, people are grumbling about it more than they were a year ago.

The survey identified the most common complaints. Forty-one percent of respondents believe businesses should pay employees better rather than relying on tips, up from 37 percent the prior year. Another 41 percent said tipping culture has gotten out of control, an increase from 35 percent. And 38 percent said they are annoyed by pre-entered tip screens like the one DelRey encountered, up from 34 percent.

The data also shows those screens are backfiring in practice. Twenty-seven percent of people say they now tip less or not at all when a pre-entered screen appears, compared to 25 percent the previous year. Only 11 percent say the screens lead them to tip more, down from 14 percent. Sixteen percent of Americans said they would pay higher prices outright if it meant eliminating tipping altogether, and 14 percent said they are simply confused about who and how much to tip.

Workers in self-serve frozen yogurt shops have weighed in on the debate as well. One former employee wrote, “When I worked at yogurtland I never expected a tip.” Another currently working at a similar shop said the tip prompts are controlled by a third-party payment system and that staff have no say in whether the screen appears. The tipping debate has also drawn attention on the server side of the industry, including a case where a server accused of stealing a tip had actually attempted to return the overpayment to customers who had left too much by mistake.

Generational differences also show up in the data. Only 43 percent of Gen Zers and 61 percent of millennials say they always tip at sit-down restaurants, compared to 83 percent of Gen Xers and 84 percent of boomers. The share of diners typically tipping at least 20 percent at sit-down restaurants has also dropped slightly, from 37 percent to 35 percent. BroBible has reached out to DelRey for comment.