Former Houston Texans’ Player Ignites Heated Online Debate With ‘Genuine Question’
A tablet screen swivels toward you at the counter. You ordered your own food, found your own table, filled your own drink. Now a prompt asks if you’d like to tip 20%, 25%, or 30%. The 20% option is already preselected.
What do you do?
That scenario hit a nerve with nearly four million people after retired NFL player JJ Watt took to X on March 11 to describe it.
“Genuine question on a restaurant situation,” the 36-year-old former Houston Texans defensive end began.
He went on to say that he was at a self-serve restaurant where he ordered the food, found a table, seated himself, filled up his own drink and picked up the food after being handed a buzzer that notified him that the food was ready.
“The iPad has a ‘20%, 25%, 30%, Other’ tip option, with 20% already preselected,” he continued. “What’s your move?”
The post garnered nearly four million views in 24 hours. The responses split sharply — and the divide says a lot about where American tipping culture is headed.
JJ Watt Heard Opinions From Both Sides
“I tip simply because I know that servers live in poverty,” one user wrote on X. “With your vast wealth you should do so also.”
Watt replied: “I tipped. Obviously. But there are no servers in this situation, which is why I asked the question. It was fully self-service.”
That distinction — between tipping for table service and tipping at a counter where you do the work yourself — is the center of the debate.
Sports columnist Jason Whitlock, who used to write for the Kansas City Star, urged Watt to tip because he’s “been incredibly blessed.”
“This is a great question with no perfect answer. Here’s why you should tip,” Whitlock wrote. “A mindset of gratitude is why you should tip. It’s an opportunity to say thank you to God by sharing a tiny bit of your good fortune. I think a 15 percent tip is appropriate. If it’s a place you go regularly, leave 20 percent.”
Another user argued that people should tip “if you can afford it” because “generosity shouldn’t require exemplary service.”
Others took a harder line in the opposite direction.
“Friend told me ‘if you stand to order, do not tip.’ Followed that mantra ever since,” one user wrote.
“The tipping is for ‘servers’ who make $2.19/hr. Not a counter clerk making ~$12/hr period. Stop the guilt,” another user added.
“If you seat yourself and serve yourself, you should get a 20% discount,” a third user quipped.
The Data Behind Today’s Tipping Etiquette
Watt’s post didn’t happen in a vacuum. The tension it captured is measurable.
A September 2025 survey by Popmenu found that two-thirds (65%) of consumers are fed up with tipping, up from 60% in 2024 and 53% in 2023. That’s a 12-percentage-point jump in two years.
Around 72% of U.S. adults say tipping is expected in more places today than it was five years ago, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey.
The expected amounts are climbing too. According to AARP, an 18-20% tip is customary at full-service restaurants, up from 15% a few years ago.
Norms are expanding in two directions at once: tips are expected in more places, and the percentage expected at each place is higher. That combination explains why a simple counter-service meal can generate a debate seen by millions.
How Much to Tip at Restaurant
Strip away the celebrity element, and Watt’s question isolates something specific: the gap between what a business asks you to tip and what service you actually received.
At a full-service restaurant, the exchange is clear. A server takes your order, brings your food, refills your drinks, handles problems. The tip compensates that labor directly.
At the self-serve counter Watt described, the customer does nearly all of that work. The iPad prompt remains the same.
Some respondents framed it as a moral question, arguing generosity should be the default regardless of service level.
Others treated it as transactional, arguing that tipping should match the labor performed.
Some even pointed to the wage structure itself, noting that counter workers typically earn a higher hourly base than tipped servers.
Each position has internal logic. There’s no shared rulebook anymore.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
