Emry Kaiser went to get her face waxed and came out with a bill she didn’t expect. On TikTok, she posted a video showing how a salon employee added a 15% tip to her total without asking. Kaiser said she offered cash in exchange for the service and wanted her change back. She said she should have been given the choice to tip or not.
The video, posted on 18 June, has racked up over 875,000 likes. Kaiser said she recorded it somewhere in South Dakota. The caption argues that tipping culture has gotten out of hand.
How The Video Shows The Incident
Kaiser’s video shows her at the counter of a salon, paying her bill. The employee added the tip automatically. Kaiser said she offered cash in exchange for the service, so she wanted her change back. She also said she should have been given the choice to say if she wanted to leave a tip or not.
The video shows the poster saying she had, in fact, offered cash in exchange for the service, so she wanted her change back. She also said she should have been given the choice to say if she wanted to leave a tip or not.
The Comment Section Explodes
The response was immediate and strong. Most people supported Kaiser, arguing she either couldn’t afford to tip or wasn’t satisfied with the service. One commenter suggested cancelling the transaction and telling the employee to redo it. Another said to refund immediately, no tip, and wouldn’t reboot either.
The top commenter said adding a tip without asking your client is “illegal.” That claim is disputed by Yahoo Creators, which says tipping is legally considered voluntary in the United States, so nobody can force someone to leave a tip the way Kaiser was.
What The Employee Said
The video also shows that the lady charging Kaiser said leaving a 15% tip was the “most popular option.” To that, a commenter said: “Yet it wasn’t an option.”
“Yet it wasn’t an option.”
The Waxer’s Perspective
One commenter said she is a waxer. She said if a client leaves her a tip, she actually gets really emotional and grateful. Adding a tip by herself is “wild,” she said. Instead, she lets customers put in their own card details and add a tip if they want to, by themselves.
If she sees someone has entered a tip, she cries inside because she knows “times are hard.”
The Waitress’s Take
Another commenter said she is a waitress and that nobody is required to tip, especially if they aren’t impressed by the service. “They do not deserve a tip that big,” she concluded.
What We Know, And What We Don’t
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in the video. The details above reflect the account shared on TikTok by @emrykaiser. The salon and employee involved have not been identified.
The video has become a proxy for a much larger debate about tipping culture in the United States. Kaiser’s complaint is simple: she paid cash, offered cash, and got a bill she didn’t agree to. The employee’s response — that 15% is the most popular option — doesn’t address the core problem. A popular option isn’t the same as a fair one.
Kaiser’s video isn’t about a bad service or a rude employee. It’s about a system where a customer’s choice is taken away. The Daily Dot’s inability to verify the events means this is a story told by one person, not a judgment handed down by a court. But the story resonated because it feels familiar to anyone who has ever had a tip added without being asked.
The video has already made its point. The comment section has made its point. The takeaway is simple: when a customer offers cash and asks for change, that should be the end of the conversation. Anything else is just noise.
Source material: “‘Yet It Wasn’t an Option’: TikToker Says Salon Employee Added a 15% Tip to Her Bill Without Asking,” The Daily Dot.
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