A woman has vented her frustration online after attending a prepaid paint-and-sip class only to find multiple signs urging guests to tip the instructor.
In a post on Reddit, the original poster (OP), user Impressive_Mess_, shared photos of brightly colored canvases displayed at the event, with one reading “Be kind, tip your artist” and the other “Please tip your artist.”
The OP explained that the class cost more than $400 for a two-hour session and had been paid in advance, pointing out, “No one was expecting to spend money at the event.
“$200/hour split between supplies and wages for one person has to be enough, right?? Tipping for a class is crazy talk.”
Reddit users flocked to the comments to weigh in, with one fuming, “Just charge the amount you wanna get paid. People will either pay it or they won’t. But charging one amount and then asking for more is passive-aggressive.”
Another agreed, adding, “When car salesmen bait and switch prices, they are bad guys, and you should avoid them at all costs,
“When everyone else does it, then you’re a bad person for not complying and criticizing.”
“It always baffles me the way people ask for tips while having no regard or care for the customer’s financial situation,” one commenter remarked. “As if tipping is free and all it takes is kindness.”
Tipping Fatigue
The debate arrives as tipping practices in the United States continue to shift. According to a Newsweek report citing a Pew Research survey, “72 percent of Americans said they were being asked to tip service workers more frequently than in the past.”
Michael Ryan, a finance expert, told the outlet, “There’s also growing pushback against ‘tip creep’—the expansion of tipping prompts into more and more places.”
That expansion has extended beyond restaurants into retail counters, coffee shops and now, it seems, experiential services like paint-and-sip classes.
Guidance on when tipping is appropriate remains inconsistent. In an article from the Berkeley Beacon, social sciences professor Kara McCabe said, “I feel like a bad person if I don’t [tip]…” adding that “if the tip wasn’t there on the screen, I wouldn’t [tip].”
The same piece notes that digital payment systems often create a sense of obligation even when tipping may not traditionally apply.
Throughout the Reddit thread, commenters debated whether instructors in creative classes should be treated similarly to service workers who rely on tips.
While some argued that artists deserve additional compensation, others maintained that transparent pricing would be preferable.
Ryan told Newsweek, “Businesses may need to reevaluate their pricing and compensation models. Workers need to be fairly paid without relying so heavily on discretionary tips.”
Newsweek has reached out to Impressive_Mess_ for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.