Chili's sneaky 'glitch' which saw customers pay enormous tips

A Reddit user was shocked to see his intended 20 percent tip at a Chili’s in the U.S. jump to 73 percent with the press of a button.

The 25-year-old diner shared a photo of the payment tablet he used - showing his $19 bill had unexpectedly risen to $32.80.

He said he 'thought it was a weird glitch' while paying for his burger, fries and drink at a Chili's in Virginia, according to Newsweek.

'I appreciate the work servers do, but this is a bit much for a table of one,' he wrote on his Reddit post under the name Wonderful_Wade.

While he is still waiting to hear from Chili's on what happened, the reason for the huge difference might be linked to how the restaurant chain's Ziosk payment tablets - and how they calculate tips.

'I'm currently waiting for the restaurant to find the receipt so they can send it to me, and I can figure out what exactly happened on my bill, or if it was just a glitch at the Kiosk,' he told Newsweek.

'Assuming all is good, I would usually tip 25 percent. But it depends on how much the meal was, and how good the service is.

'Only if the service was outstanding and I felt like it deserved that high percentage of a tip would I pay this much.'

The Reddit user responded to a few commenters, with some users questioning his bill and others commenting on tipping culture.

He said he had gotten the Chili's '3 for Me' discount - a meal including a beverage, starter, and main courses from a select menu.

The problem could be linked to how the payments machine -  from a company called Ziosk - calculates tips at Chili's. The display reads: 'Tip is calculated after tax and before discounts.'

While the 3 for Me deal costs around $10.99, the items on their own add up to much more than than that before the discount is applied.  

But even then, Wonderful_Wade says the math still isn't correct.

'Even on their own, the total would only be $30ish, but this implies that the total is $69 if my math is right,' he said on the October 19 Reddit post.

'The response has been very split. Half the people claim that I'm lying, and I used a gift card or something to reduce the bill, and the others have been ranting about tip culture,' u/Wonderful_Wade told Newsweek.

'Sorry, but discounts don't matter. I tip on what my check is before tax. This is predatory,' a Reddit user wrote.

At least two commenters suggested what the Chili's customer should do next time, including tip calculations before and after discounts.

'The best way to do this is to just take your final total and calculate the percentage of it for the tip you want and use the custom option. Never have to worry about this then,' a Reddit user wrote.

This isn't the only Ziosk tipping issue reported this year.

TikTok user @baldbackup highlighted a similar problem in a June 17 video . Another Ziosk error inflated a 20 percent tip on an $18.98 bill to $15.19, which actually calculated as 80 percent. 

The TikTok did a little bit of math and said the 20 percent tip was only supposed to be $3.79.

'Where are they getting $15.19 from? What is that?,' the TikToker shouted.

Tipping culture has become a strongly debatable topic over the years.

It's known as the practice of customers giving extra money to service workers in various kinds of businesses, including restaurants.

TikTokers also began creating videos based on tipping culture and shared their experiences and advice on what to do about it.

'We know that tipping has been a hot topic,' Van Darden, head of media relations at Talker Research, told USA TODAY earlier this year.

'It's trended on TikTok, there's all kinds of online conversation about it, it's been in the news as people transitioned out of the high peaks of COVID and delivery services.'

This came just one year after the Pew Research Center said a standard tip most Americans pay at sit-down restaurants is 15 percent or less. 

It also indicated that 37 percent of adults in the US would leave a 15 percent gratuity, while 22 percent preferred to leave a 20 percent tip.

Despite the Ziosk issues, Chile's restaurants have seemingly done well in sales this year.

Its same-store sales rose by 14.8 percent, and the company's total sales were nearly $1.2 million in the 2024 fiscal fourth quarter.

'Our marketing team has done a great job of getting back into what we call the zeitgeist or being relevant again,' Kevin Hochman, CEO of Chili's parent company Brinker International told CNBC.

Some of the factors that helped with this growth include the restaurant chain's social media presence and its focus on value-oriented advertising.

Daily Mail has reached out to Brinker International for comment.