If you’ve reached your limit with tipping culture, you might want to reconsider: One woman was denied a bag at Subway recently because employees didn’t see her tip.
In a recent viral video, now at over 15,000 views, TikTok user Laura Silletti (@purseladylaura) describes how a staff member at Subway refused to give her a bag because she didn’t tip digitally.
“I was just picking up sandwiches at Subway,” Silletti begins. “And I go to pay and it says, ‘Would you like to add gratuity?’ And I go ‘No,’ because I always do gratuity in cash. You know, they have the little cup on the counter.”
Silletti pauses in her story to note that Subway is one of the few restaurants she always tips at. “And Subway is one place where I do tip them,” she clarifies. “They work really hard, they get a lot of abuse.”
Where did it go wrong?
“So, um, as I’m putting away my card, I’m going to get cash out, and my items were pushed towards me. Now, it was quite a few items,” she says.
“And I said, ‘Oh could I have a bag, please?’” Silletti recalls. She leans towards the camera for emphasis as she continues. “‘And she says to me: ‘Bags are for people who tip.’”
Silletti smacks her lips in a shocked manner, giving the camera a disbelieving look and shaking her head.
“‘As I’m pulling the cash out,’” Silletti continues, miming the action with her hand. “She says, ‘Oh I’m sorry,’ and I said, ‘Apology not accepted.’” Silletti explains that she then tucked the money back into her purse and left the Subway.
“She was so quick to say that,” Silletti concludes. “Without even giving me a chance to put the money in the cup.”
Commenters discuss the bare minimum
“Fast food workers have never been tipped before, why now?” one commenter asked rhetorically. “They get paid minimum wage hourly.”
Many commenters echoed a similar sentiment about the purpose of tipping in relation to minimum wage.
“I’m old enough to remember when working in fast food, your wage was your pay,” another commenter stated. “Now tips are expected or you don’t get a bag?”
“I used to work there years ago before tipping on card was a big thing,” said one self-proclaimed ex-sandwich artist. “I appreciate the few dollars but it’s not a bulk of your pay. Don’t know what it is now but then it was 7.25/hour.”
Silletti responded to this Subway veteran with a video, commending them for working at the sandwich chain. “That’s a tough job, ‘cause it’s always busy there,” she notes.
She then explains that in Florida, where she lives, minimum wage is currently $13 an hour. While it’s slated to go up to $15 by September of 2026, she still doesn’t view it as a livable wage.
“We tend to forget that minimum wage jobs were intended for high school kids. Um, a supplemental income, not a living wage. Which is what most people are paying here—a minimum wage as a livable wage,” Silletti elaborates.
“Five dollars, sometimes, is everything to somebody,” she emphasizes.
Takes on tipping technology
“I would have asked for the manager,” a user declared. “Demand a refund and tell them why.”
Silletti responded to this comment too, in text form. “I figured she learned a lesson and the rest is up to her and she decides to behave going forward,” she stated.
“If I’m standing up or in my car when I order, no tip,” a commenter shared their personal code. “Food prep is not tipped on, that’s part of normal fast food!”
While Silletti agreed with this statement, she added context to her situation in particular. “I agree but I had a large order and you could see they were short staffed,” she explained.
@purseladylaura #tipping #tippingculture #rude ♬ original sound – PurseLadyLaura
What does Subway actually pay their workers?
Subway salaries range based on the franchise and the minimum wage laws of the state it’s in. According to Glassdoor’s estimates, based on over 8,000 employee submissions, a Subway sandwich artist likely makes between $11 to $15 an hour.
But is that range of wages livable?
Florida’s minimum wage, currently $12, a dollar less than Silletti’s estimate, is just barely above the tail-end of the estimated range. And according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, it’s not enough.
“The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual in a household must earn to support themselves and/or their family, working full-time, or 2080 hours per year,” reads the introduction to MIT’s wage calculation tool.
Below the introductory text are several tables showing cost of living estimates based on Poverty Guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services. There are also estimates of what you need to make hourly based on the amount of people in your household, including dependents.
MIT estimates that an adult Floridian with no children in 2024 needs to make $46,645 before taxes in order to remain afloat. That’s $22 hourly, $10 more than the current minimum wage in Florida.
The Daily Dot reached out to Silletti via TikTok and Instagram direct message.
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The post ‘As I’m pulling out the cash’: Subway customer tries to tip in cash. Then the worker says this when she asks for a bag appeared first on The Daily Dot.