This one's been keeping me up at night. I (24f) and my boyfriend (24m), like most people, appreciate a good bubble tea. A week ago, we went out and grabbed lunch & teas at a bubble tea place in our town. The restaurant is not a full-service restaurant, but is one of those places where you order at the front and they yell out your number when it's ready. I always thought the rule was that you tip in sit-down restaurants where you are being served, but not in places where you grab something at the counter (unless you leave a little change for a tip jar). In sit-down restaurants, I'm a stickler for always tipping at least 20%.
So we ordered and the woman behind the register told us the total - about $35 for two meals & drinks (a bit of a special splurge for us student-loanees). I put my credit card into the card reader, and then took my hands off and waited for the usual directions to pop up - again, without touching the screen. They came up, as usual - 15%, 20%, 22%, 25%. But then, before I could click "skip" - or touch the machine at all - the button for 20% lit up orange, and automatically charged me a $7 service tip. The woman at the register immediately printed and handed me the receipt for $42. Flustered and in the heat of the moment, I awkwardly explained that the price was wrong, that I hadn't selected the tip and that the machine had randomly added it on. The woman behind the register looked at me with a blank stare and said, "So do you want to take off the tip?" I said yes please. The woman had to call over a manager, who also gave me a blank stare and confirmed that I wanted a refund for my tip. As they were printing off a special receipt in silence, I wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor. The manager handed me the tip refund receipt without saying anything, and I said an awkward "thanks" before scurrying off to the side to wait for the food.
As we waited, my boyfriend made a joke about hoping the staff didn't spit in my food after what just happened. I asked him if what I'd done was horribly awkward, and he said, "Well... yeah. I wouldn't have asked for the tip back." I told my family about what I did, and my dad disagreed. He said the card reader was clearly broken or rigged, and wondered if the rigging could have been intentional. My mom thinks that's unlikely. My sister said that next time, "you should just pay the $7, it's not worth it." Honestly, I agree with my sister - at this point, I'd absolutely pay the extra $7 just to avoid that incredibly awkward situation. But I have to ask: Reddit, AITA?