A recent video posted on CNBC's Twitter page has sparked anger in the comment section.
The video is entitled "This simple tipping trick could save you over $400 a year." In it, a young man in a restaurant explains that you can save money by taking the standard 10-20% tip from your total before tax was added. He also suggests doubling the tax, which apparently saves you more money than moving the decimal point on the total.
This simple tipping trick could save you over $400 a year: https://t.co/MhES06lRHl via @CNBCMakeIt pic.twitter.com/SRp8L6FFYb
— CNBC (@CNBC) April 8, 2019
Even though the video addresses that this will give the waiter less money and tells the audience that how much they tip is up to them, not many people are happy with the video.
this is gross. it's not a "simple tipping trick" @CNBC - it is choosing to pay less money to someone who relies on those tips for their income. that's your personal choice, but own it. https://t.co/8K8gnMnQIQ
— Justin Gray (@grayjustin) April 8, 2019
I assume this was made for hate clicks, but it doesn't make it less bad
— Dave Jorgenson's Online Personality (@davejorgenson) April 8, 2019
Your social media team has never done service work. Cool.
— Sarah Rose (@thesarahrose) April 8, 2019
— Patrick Gondek (@chimcfly49) April 9, 2019
Though the video was released Sunday, CNBC has not issued a statement about the video. However, the man in the video, Zack Guzman -- at the time a multimedia reporter for the network -- responded to critics on Twitter.
Calling out a hard working person for tipping less than 20% is just as unfair as a server "getting screwed over" for the services he or she provided.
— Zack Guzman (@zGuz) April 8, 2019
Denigrating how much someone tips is an easy, privileged take. It also misses the point I make in this video's article [2/7]
As I lead with in the article, the better question to ask would be why are working class people being asked to subsidize a company paying its servers below minimum wage? Why does federal law allow restaurants to pay servers as little as $2.13 an hour? https://t.co/jc3wf6rXZL 3/7
— Zack Guzman (@zGuz) April 8, 2019
"At no point do I argue not tipping a server," Guzman said. "At no point do I argue hot to tip. At no point do I say tip less than 15 percent. Quite frankly, I was just interested in the fact that some people double the tax to arrive at a tip while others move the decimal to calculate 20 percent like me."
Guzman has moved from CNBC to reporting for Yahoo Finance.