Dave & Buster’s just got busted after a woman took out a calculator to investigate its tips

If you’re relying on the payment terminal to do the math for your gratuity, you might want to pull out your phone calculator. A New York City woman recently exposed a massive tip calculation error at a Dave & Buster’s location. The incident was captured in a video that has now racked up millions of views, showing how far off the suggested percentages really were.

TikTok user Opal showed the payment screen for her party’s meal, which totaled $158.92, per Bro Bible. When she looked at the suggested tip options, the 20 percent tip was listed as a whopping $44.38. That immediately struck her as suspicious, and honestly, that’s a huge number.

Opal quickly pulled up her phone to run the numbers herself. “So the bill is $158, and this is 20%,” she stated in the video. When she did a quick Google search for “what’s 20 percent of 158,” the correct answer came back as $31.60. That means the kiosk was trying to charge her table over $12 more than the actual 20 percent tip. That is a substantial difference, and it’s pretty awful for customers who are kind enough to tip.

This is an easy way to get me not to tip

Eventually, Opal and her group opted to tip a flat $20. Even then, the terminal was still lying to them. The screen claimed that $20 represented only 9 percent of the total bill, even though the actual percentage was closer to 12.6 percent. This suggests the system isn’t just overcalculating the dollar amount, but it also can’t accurately display the percentage of a manually entered tip.

So, how is this happening? While the restaurant hasn’t officially confirmed its calculation methods, detailed bill breakdowns posted by other customers online have provided some serious clues. It looks like the system is calculating the default tip options based on the original total before any discounts or removed items are factored in.

For example, in one case on Reddit, customers were recommended a 20 percent tip of $15.16 on a bill that was actually $59.83. The real 20 percent tip should have been just $11.97. The reason for the discrepancy? The restaurant had accidentally added an item and then removed it, which registered as a “discount” in their system. The system then used the higher, pre-discount total to calculate the tip options. This means you could be tipping on food you never even ordered.

This isn’t just a Dave & Buster’s problem, either. Other popular casual dining spots are allegedly doing the same thing. Diners at Chili’s, for instance, have complained that the ordering system asks them to tip on free items or on food purchased using rewards points. Chili’s has actually confirmed that this is their practice, though they haven’t offered a justification for why customers should be tipping on items that were essentially free.

If you’re a conscientious tipper, this is something you need to be aware of. You might think you’re tipping 20 percent, but you’re actually paying 25 or 30 percent if the initial total was inflated by discounts.

However, some people do defend tipping on the full amount, regardless of discounts. One user commenting on Opal’s video pointed out that if you receive a meal for free, the server still provides the same amount of service and food preparation, even if you paid less. However, the argument is that no one made them choose that job, and that anger should be on the establishment for making this an issue and not paying them enough.

For those who are tired of the tipping confusion, you’re not alone. This whole thing has gotten much worse over time. The takeaway here is pretty clear. If you’re paying on a digital terminal, you absolutely must verify the suggested tip amounts before hitting that final button. Don’t just assume the math is correct, because it looks like sometimes, it’s trying to squeeze a few extra bucks out of you.