Pizza hut delivery man gets offered slice of pizza instead of a tip, sparks debate

A TikTok video showing a pizza delivery person being offered a slice of pizza instead of a tip is going viral online. The video is from security footage of a home and shows a pizza delivery person walking up the home with a pizza box. As he places the pizza box down to free his hands so he can ring the bell. He stops because there's a message on the door for him. While the note is not visible in the camera, it was placed as text over the video. The note read: "No money for a tip, please take a slice of pizza." The pizza delivery person is annoyed, and can be heard saying, "You kidding me."

It's certainly not easy when you find out you're not being tipped, especially when you are forced to rely on tips to make ends meet and even more so during a financial crisis as hard as this one. The person then takes a slice of pizza as requested and walks away in disappointment. The video sparked debate in the comments section on the tipping culture, the financial crisis, and the poor wages service workers are paid in America. 

Some TikTok users said people shouldn't be ordering food online if they cannot afford to or are unwilling to pay the tips. Many argued that leaving a slice of pizza as a tip is no tip at all. "He works for a pizza place! Don't order pizza if you can't leave a tip. Go get it yourself," wrote one person. Another added, "A slice of pizza ain't gonna buy groceries." Some pointed out that he already gets pizza at his workplace so the tip was basically useless. Some pointed out that it was the respectful thing to do but it was still a choice. "You should always tip if they are delivering. You don't have to but it's respectful just like tipping at a restaurant," commented one person.

Some argued that a delivery worker, or for that matter, any service industry worker shouldn't have to rely on tips to make up for low wages. They pointed out that businesses were exploiting workers and shifting the onus of the costs of labor onto the customers. "Tips are the company forcing you to pay their employees, but if the company can't afford to pay their employees, then the company should not exist," wrote Jacob Portello. One person argued that the tipping culture was different only in the US. "Don't know how it works in the US, but I'm from the UK. We never expect tips, nor is it common courtesy to give a tip."

In 2019, the House of Representatives had passed a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 from $7.25, but it didn't pass in the Senate. According to CNN, it was also the first time in a decade that a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage has been passed. At the time, there was severe opposition to the bill from the US Chamber of Commerce and the business owners.

The reopening of the economy sparked further debate on minimum wage as businesses struggled to find enough employees to operate. Many companies posted notices calling for employees to apply for work with some even raising wages to get workers to return. It appears workers weighed up the option of being underpaid and risking catching the virus against sitting in the safety of their home and receiving benefit expansions. As we reported, McDonald’s, Sheetz, and Chipotle followed in the footsteps of Amazon, Walmart, and Costco in raising their wages to $15 an hour or even higher to get people to return to work. This has sparked a debate online with many stating that it highlighted that businesses could always afford to raise the wages and offer benefits to workers, but chose not to.