A payment terminal in Germany became the unlikely stage for a standoff over tipping etiquette after a diner said a waitress refused to accept her decision not to leave a gratuity—not once, but twice.

The diner, posting on Reddit as user DontMindMePlsx, said she and her boyfriend were eating at a “cozy little restaurant” when they reached the end of their meal, with the bill coming to around €47, including roughly €3 for tap water.

The couple had reportedly been served by three different servers, and the original poster (OP) said they had to ask questions about a discrepancy involving the price of a beer that had been entered incorrectly.

So, when the payment screen appeared, she selected “no tip.”

That should have been the end of it.

“She looked at the screen, looked at me, told me, ‘This one says no tip,’” the OP recalled. “[She] went back to the tipping options and held it in front of me again.

I told her, ‘I know’ and pressed it again. On our way out, we heard her gossiping with her coworkers and looking at us…

“Friendly.”

Reddit Reacts

Commenters were quick to share their thoughts, with one Reddit user who said they live near the German border noting that they had never encountered “tipping culture that aggressively in Germany.”

They added that tipping there is “normally appreciated but far from requested, let alone almost forced.”

Another recalled a 2015 trip to Germany where a server “quickly announced that tip is not included” after being told otherwise, lamenting how “U.S. tipping culture has spread.”

‘Put it on a review’

Other Reddit users urged the OP toward public accountability.

“Put it on a review immediately,” one wrote, arguing the restaurant “doesn’t sound like it was a particularly touristy place” and would likely respond fast.

Another asked directly, “You left that on a review with a 1/5 star, right?”

Tipping in Germany

Tipping in Germany traditionally operates very differently from the American model.

The German National Tourist Board says restaurant bills include VAT and service charges, with a tip of around 10 percent described as common.

In other words, gratuity can be given for good service, but it is not generally built into the wage structure in the same way it is in many parts of the United States.

That distinction has become increasingly relevant as digital payment terminals make tipping prompts more common around the world.

Tipping Fatigue

In the U.S., the issue is particularly contentious. Pew Research Center found that 72 percent of Americans believe tipping is expected in more places than it was five years earlier.

The same research found that 40 percent oppose businesses suggesting tip amounts on bills or checkout screens, compared with just 24 percent who favor the practice.

At sit-down restaurants, however, tipping remains deeply entrenched in America: 92 percent of U.S. adults who dine at such restaurants say they always or often leave a tip.