Would You Tip at a Restaurant Where You Seat and Serve Yourself? JJ Watt Wants to Know
If you’ve ordered your own food at a counter, found your own table, filled your own drink, and then watched a tablet screen swivel toward you asking for 20%, 25%, or 30% — you already know the feeling.
That uneasy mix of guilt and frustration. A growing majority of Americans share it, and fresh survey data shows the backlash is accelerating year over year.
JJ Watt Asked a Question Millions Were Thinking
On March 11, retired Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt took to X to describe a dining experience that will sound familiar to anyone who has grabbed food at a fast-casual or self-serve restaurant.
“Genuine question on a restaurant situation,” the 36-year-old began, before walking through the details.
He ordered the food himself, found a table, seated himself, filled up his own drink, and picked up the food after being handed a buzzer that eventually went off.
“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.
How People Feel About Tipping Etiquette Today
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 steady, year-over-year climb — not a blip.
For anyone tracking every dollar spent eating out, those numbers reflect a real tension between wanting to do the right thing and feeling like tipping expectations have outpaced the service being provided.
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.
Anyone who frequents coffee shops, takeout counters, or self-serve eateries has likely noticed the same thing: the tip screen is now everywhere, even in settings where customers are doing most of the work themselves.
Not only that, but the baseline expectation at traditional full-service restaurants has crept upward, too. According to AARP, an 18-20% tip is customary at full-service restaurants, up from 15% a few years ago.
A meal that once called for a $9 tip on a $60 check now carries an expected tip of $10.80 to $12. Over weeks and months of eating out, those dollars add up.
The Internet Responds to JJ Watt’s Question
Watt’s question drew a clear dividing line between traditional full-service dining — where a server takes your order, delivers your food, refills your drinks, and checks on your table — and self-serve or counter-service setups where most of that labor falls on the customer.
Several users offered practical frameworks for navigating this distinction.
“Friend told me ‘if you stand to order, do not tip.’ Followed that mantra ever since,” one user wrote. That rule of thumb resonated with many in the thread. It offers a clean, simple way to evaluate each situation without agonizing over every tablet prompt.
Another user drew attention to the wage structure behind traditional tipping: “The tipping is for ‘servers’ who make $2.19/hr. Not a counter clerk making ~$12/hr period. Stop the guilt,” another user added.
A third user quipped: “If you seat yourself and serve yourself, you should get a 20% discount.”
Some Make a Case for Tipping No Matter What
Not everyone saw it as a budget question. Some respondents urged generosity regardless of the service model.
“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.”
Sports columnist Jason Whitlock, who used to write for the Kansas City Star, also 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,” he added.
Another user argued that people should tip “if you can afford it” because “generosity shouldn’t require exemplary service.”
Others alluded to the experience, arguing that people should tip what is recommended “if you like the restaurant and the people you are interacting with are helpful and pleasant.”
For anyone watching their spending, the question Watt posed isn’t about being cheap. It’s about clarity.
What are you actually tipping for, and when does a tip reflect gratitude for service versus a guilt-driven response to a pre-selected button on a screen?
There may be no single right answer. But if the response to one retired football player’s “genuine question” is any indication, you’re far from the only one asking.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
