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A woman on TikTok has gone viral for sharing what she calls a foolproof \u201crental car tip\u201d\u2014but not everyone\u2019s impressed.<\/p>\n
Shakira (@eastcobbsnob), a travel and lifestyle creator who splits her time between New York and Atlanta, posted a clip advising viewers to slip cash to a rental agent before getting their keys.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you hand the rental agent your driver\u2019s license, be sure to place a tip with it,\u201d she wrote in the on-screen caption of her video. \u201cI always get a nice upgrade that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clip shows her walking toward a Jeep Wagoneer, with the caption, \u201cIt\u2019s never failed me.\u201d As of this writing, the video has garnered over 213,000 views.<\/p>\n
Tipping a rental car agent isn\u2019t something most travelers are expected to do, and it\u2019s not one of the jobs Business Insider<\/a> lists as tip-reliant. Picking up and dropping off a vehicle is part of the job, and unlike hotel staff or restaurant servers, rental agents typically don\u2019t work for tips.<\/p>\n Still, there are moments when handing over a few dollars makes sense. On the r\/EnterpriseCarRental<\/a> subreddit, some users claimed they\u2019d heard of agents upgrading cars for customers who slipped them cash\u2014the same advice Shakira gave in her viral video. Others, though, called it unethical and warned it could even put those employees at risk of losing their jobs.<\/p>\n According to HuffPost<\/a><\/em>, tipping is more appropriate when an agent goes above and beyond, such as helping with heavy bags, installing a car seat, or offering genuinely helpful local advice. In those cases, a couple of dollars is plenty, and even $5 isn\u2019t out of place if they\u2019ve made your day easier.<\/p>\n Shuttle drivers fall into a different category. Since they\u2019re loading bags and making sure travelers get to and from the rental lot, tipping them is more in line with standard service jobs. Some companies also offer pick-up services, sending drivers directly to homes or hotels. While tipping isn\u2019t mandatory, it\u2019s often treated in the same way as tipping a cab driver\u2014optional but appreciated.<\/p>\n What you don\u2019t need to do is tip for routine service, or worse, feel pressured into it. If an employee hints that a tip is expected just for handing over the keys\u2014or suggests slipping cash is the way to score an upgrade\u2014that\u2019s a red flag.<\/p>\n So, should you tip? Not by default. But if someone makes your travel smoother, tossing a few bucks their way isn\u2019t a bad call.<\/p>\n Many Americans believe that tipping culture has gone too far. A March WalletHub<\/a> survey found that nine in ten people think it\u2019s \u201cout of control,\u201d with many pointing to businesses leaning on tips to cover wages instead of paying workers themselves.<\/p>\n Other polls show the same frustration. A June Bankrate<\/a> survey reported that 41 percent of Americans think tipping culture is out of control. Even in 2023, the Pew Research Center found<\/a> that 72 percent said tipping is expected in far more places than it was just five years prior.<\/p>\n What was once reserved for restaurant servers and specialized service jobs has now extended to takeout counters and, in some cases, even self-checkout kiosks<\/a>. The spread has left customers feeling pressured\u2014turning what\u2019s supposed to be a gesture of thanks into something that feels mandatory.<\/p>\n Even viewers of Shakira\u2019s video said her suggestion to tip rental car drivers was proof that tipping culture had gone too far.<\/p>\n \u201cTip culture in America is getting out of hand,\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cGotta tip for everything, man, [oh] man,\u201d added another.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt what point does a tip become a bribe?\u201d asked a third.<\/p>\n Not everyone agreed, however. Some commenters insisted that tipping does lead to upgrades.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done this in Vegas for hotel rooms, [and it] has worked almost every time,\u201d one viewer wrote.<\/p>\n \u201c[The] same thing goes for hotel front desk agents,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n Others echoed what Redditors argued: Tipping a rental agent crosses an ethical line.<\/p>\n \u201cIn most places, that\u2019s called bribing,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n \u201cI never understood this concept,\u201d wrote another. \u201cOr you could just use that extra 20 and actually upgrade the car yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Motor1<\/em> has reached out to Shakira via a direct message on TikTok. It emailed Hertz and Enterprise.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A woman on TikTok has gone viral for sharing what she calls a foolproof \u201crental car tip\u201d\u2014but not ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-coverage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6050,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6047\/revisions\/6050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Is Tipping Culture Getting Out of Hand?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Viewers React<\/h2>\n
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