On this episode of The Damaged Ones Podcast, Mike Garcia and Sarah Altland dive into one of the most quietly frustrating parts of modern dining: forced tipping.

Let’s be clear — we’re not anti-tipping. If someone gives great service, we’re more than happy to show appreciation. But when a tip is automatically added, suggested at ridiculous percentages, or quietly slipped onto the receipt, it stops feeling like gratitude and starts feeling like coercion. Mike and Sarah unpack the growing trend of restaurants and delivery apps pushing the responsibility of paying workers’ salaries onto customers — and why that approach might actually be turning people away instead of helping workers.

Then the conversation takes a wild turn into what Sarah calls the