The Unacceptable Dunkin' Customer Behavior That Shocked Reddit

An unfortunate reality of working in fast food is that customers can be rude. Whether it's a customer yelling at an employee about an incorrect order, shaming them for their job, or complaining about prices, it's really no wonder that there's a long list of things fast food employees hate about customers. Oh, and those are just the verbal affronts.

Some customers take it to the next level with rude behavior that, at the extreme, involves getting physical with employees. More frequently, disgruntled customers choose to take out their rage on workers by leaving a mess or, you know, not tipping on a $650 order. Disappointingly, customers continually find new ways to disrespect fast food staff. One Dunkin' employee recently witnessed yet another act of casual customer cruelty, this time involving a tip jar, and posted about it on Reddit. To their relief, countless others shared in their frustration and offered solutions for preventing further incidents. 

Tip jars are for giving, not for taking

Most fast food establishments have a tip jar by the cash registers in hopes that customers will drop in their change or even a couple dollars if they feel so inclined. However, tips are sometimes at the very center of employee/customer conflicts and factor into why some people think tipping should be abolished altogether.

While stories of employers withholding tips are all too familiar, customers are apparently guilty of stealing from food workers, too. According to one Dunkin' employee's Reddit post, customers occasionally try to use change from the tip jar to pay for their food. The employee wrote, "It seems so disrespectful to use money from our tips, no matter the amount," later adding, "It was the action rather than the amount." Shockingly, another thread details the same thing happening at Starbucks.

Several Redditors in the food industry compared taking money from a tip jar to taking money from someone's wallet, calling it "not acceptable behavior" and "so uncultured." As far as solutions, fellow workers suggested lidded jars with just a small slit as an opening. Others recommended that the tip jar be emptied each time money is added so nothing can be taken by customers. Even if it's just one penny, it's still theft, argued one commenter.