Across the country, there鈥檚 a silent frustration brewing about an age-old practice that many say is getting out of hand: tipping.

Some fed-up consumers are posting rants on social media complaining about tip requests at drive-thrus, while others say they鈥檙e tired of being asked to leave a gratuity for a muffin or a simple cup of coffee at their neighborhood bakery. What鈥檚 next, they wonder 鈥� are we going to be tipping our mail carriers and dentists, too?

As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are automatically being prompted to leave a gratuity 鈥� many times as high as 30% 鈥� at places they normally wouldn鈥檛. And some say it has become more frustrating as the price of items has skyrocketed due to inflation, which but still remains painfully high.

鈥淪uddenly, these screens are at every establishment we encounter. They鈥檙e popping up online as well for online orders. And I fear that there is no end,鈥� said etiquette expert Thomas Farley, who considers the whole thing somewhat of 鈥渁n invasion.鈥�

Unlike tip jars that shoppers can easily ignore if they don鈥檛 have spare change, experts say the digital requests can produce social pressure and are more difficult to bypass. And your generosity, or lack thereof, can be laid bare for anyone close enough to glance at the screen 鈥� including the workers themselves.

Dylan Schenker is one of them. The 38-year-old earns about $400 a month in tips, which provides a helpful supplement to his $15 hourly wage as a barista at Philadelphia caf茅 located inside a restaurant. Most of those tips come from consumers who order coffee drinks or interact with the caf茅 for other things, such as carryout orders. The gratuity helps cover his monthly rent and eases some of his burdens while he attends graduate school and juggles his job.

Schenker says it鈥檚 hard to sympathize with consumers who are able to afford pricey coffee drinks but complain about tipping. And he often feels demoralized when people don鈥檛 leave behind anything extra 鈥� especially if they鈥檙e regulars.

鈥淭ipping is about making sure the people who are performing that service for you are getting paid what they鈥檙e owed,鈥� said Schenker, who鈥檚 been working in the service industry for roughly 18 years.

Traditionally, consumers have taken pride in being good tippers at places like restaurants, which typically in expectation they鈥檒l make up the difference in tips. But academics who study the topic say many consumers are now feeling irritated by automatic tip requests at coffee shops and other counter service eateries where tipping has not typically been expected, workers make at least the minimum wage and service is usually limited.

鈥淧eople do not like unsolicited advice,鈥� said Ismail Karabas, a marketing professor at Murray State University who studies tipping. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 like to be asked for things, especially at the wrong time.鈥�

Some of the requests can also come from odd places. Clarissa Moore, a 35-year-old who works as a supervisor at a utility company in Pennsylvania, said even her mortgage company has been asking for tips lately. Typically, she鈥檚 happy to leave a gratuity at restaurants, and sometimes at coffee shops and other fast-food places when the service is good. But, Moore said she believes consumers shouldn鈥檛 be asked to tip nearly everywhere they go 鈥� and it shouldn鈥檛 be something that鈥檚 expected of them.

鈥淚t makes you feel bad. You feel like you have to do it because they鈥檙e asking you to do it,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut then you have to think about the position that puts people in. They鈥檙e paying for something that they really don鈥檛 want to pay for, or they鈥檙e tipping when they really don鈥檛 want to tip 鈥� or can鈥檛 afford to tip 鈥� because they don鈥檛 want to feel bad.鈥�

Digital payment methods have been around for a number of years, though experts say the pandemic has accelerated the trend towards more tipping. Michael Lynn, a consumer behavior professor at Cornell University, said consumers were more generous with tips during the early days of the pandemic in an effort to show support for restaurants and other businesses that were hard hit by COVID-19. Many people genuinely wanted to help out and felt sympathetic to workers who held jobs that put them more at risk of catching the virus, Lynn said.

Tips at full-service restaurants grew by 25.3% in the third quarter of 2022, while gratuities at quick or counter service restaurants went up 16.7% compared to the same time in 2021, according to Square, one of the biggest companies operating digital payment methods. Data provided by the company shows continuous growth for the same period since 2019.

As tip requests have become more common, some businesses are advertising it in their job postings to lure in more workers even though the extra money isn鈥檛 always guaranteed.

In December, Starbucks rolled out a new tipping option on credit and debit card transactions at its stores, something a group had called for. Since then, a Starbucks spokesperson said nearly half of credit and debit card transactions have included a gratuity, which - along with tips received through cash and the Starbucks app - are distributed based on the number of hours a barista worked on the days the tips were received.

Karabas, the Murray State professor, says some customers, like those who鈥檝e worked in the service industry in the past, want to tip workers at quick service businesses and wouldn鈥檛 be irritated by the automatic requests. But for others, research shows they might be less likely to come back to a particular business if they are feeling irritated by the requests, he said.

The final tab might also impact how customers react. Karabas said in the research he did with other academics, they manipulated the payment amounts and found that when the check was high, consumers no longer felt as irritated by the tip requests. That suggests the best time for a coffee shop to ask for that 20% tip, for example, might be on four or five orders of coffee, not a small cup that costs $4.

Some consumers might continue to shrug off the tip requests regardless of the amount.

鈥淚f you work for a company, it鈥檚 that company鈥檚 job to pay you for doing work for them,鈥� said Mike Janavey, a footwear and clothing designer who lives in New York City. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not supposed to be juicing consumers that are already spending money there to pay their employees.鈥�

Schenker, the Philadelphia barista, agrees 鈥� to a certain extent.

鈥淭he onus should absolutely be on the owners, but that doesn鈥檛 change overnight,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd this is the best thing we have right now.鈥�

鈥擧aleluya Hadero, The Associated Press