Shadowing Practice: To Tip or Skip? Consumers Say They’ve Had Enough - Learn English Speaking with Video
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While Americans love to reward good service, many are having second thoughts about the barrage of tip requests on practically everything.
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It seems that tipping screen pops up in just about every sale.
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Are we tipping every single time that we go to a coffee shop?
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I have become so good at pressing that no tip button.
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I'm paying 50 bucks for two drinks at a Phillies game.
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I'm not tipping you.
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Shoppers are being nudged to tip when ordering a sandwich, a single cup of coffee, even for things like tires.
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I went to go get new tires on my truck
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and they literally had the screen turn around and had the audacity to say, would you like to tip?
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I said no. So it's tipping out of control.
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A little bit.
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Yeah.
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Although it's a custom that isn't going anywhere, people are pulling back on where, when and how much to tip.
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Restaurant technology platform PopMenu says 40% of consumers are tipping less this year than last year because of tipping fatigue,
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tighter budgets and rising prices with 3.4% inflation over the past year.
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If you go to an establishment and every other month the price for
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that same item or service goes up and you start to get fatigued there and you have to make up for that.
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You can't just eat that all yourself.
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There is also the anxious, somewhat guilty feeling as you stare at the large tip screen that appears before the required customer signature.
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Do you feel like you're seeing like the tip screen more than you used to?
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Yeah, definitely within the last two years, I'm seeing a lot more like iPad.
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Would you like to tip?
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As people cut back on tips, some consider the cost of the item.
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When do you say no?
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When it's about like less than $20.
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For others, it's about the service.
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If it's somebody working in like a sandwich shop and they make me a nice sandwich, then I might lay them a tip.
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But if I'm just buying something like from a corner store, absolutely not.
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It's not always comfortable to hit no tip, especially when an employee is watching and waiting for the sale to be completed.
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Does it make you feel guilty not to give the tip?
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Sometimes, yeah.
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Pop menu says more than 56% of people don't typically tip at fast food spots and 44% don't tip for fast casual.
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But most are tipping at sit down restaurants, carry out counters and coffee shops.
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I think about the people that rely on tips as the primary source of income
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but also the more personalized I get for example your hair stylist or people
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that you see on a more frequent basis you start to develop a more personal relationship to me
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that is where I put the extra dollar.
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All right so
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if you do decide to tip is like 20% still the standard 15 to 20% you just heard
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that guy talk about
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if it's somebody you're going to see again somebody you have
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a relationship with you need to tip you want to tip for good service especially
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if it's something that's part of their pay
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and their salary a candy bar at the corner store i'm hitting no tip
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and i don't feel badly about it
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and we talked to a lot of men on the street
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and also a lot of experts who told us you don't have to feel guilty
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if you skip the tip if it's just a kiosk
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or just the screen the ipad screen in many cases it's
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just built into their payment software it's not maybe even necessarily
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that the company's asking you to tip it's just how that's
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been presented just hit note i wish i was curated a
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little bit better like business to business you know like
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so it's not in front of me you know that's not
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to be embarrassed you know i mean there's still our tip jars out there too
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and sometimes i feel like i'll put a few dollars in a tip jar
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because i feel like hey
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that person making my sandwich they're they're splitting it i can see who's going to get uh get
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that money but you can really tell from those pop menu numbers
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that people are they have inflation fatigue they have you know their budgets are stretched
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and they feel like they're being asked to tip for things
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they weren't asked to tip on a few years ago tires for example
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or just a pre-made sandwich you know behind the counter yeah why are you tipping for
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that they're already resentful they're paying eight dollars for coffee exactly
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like those airport stores you go get a bottle of water
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sporting events like you get a beer it's like 15 bucks yeah
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but to be clear and roker makes this point a lot like
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if you can afford to tip you should be tipping
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and what we don't want to see is depending on like
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swing back you remember during the pandemic we were all tipping for just about everything absolutely
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but i will say for restaurants and for hairstylists and things like
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that people are tipping people are still generous that has not changed pop man you said that most people are tipping,
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they're tipping well at a restaurant where they see your server and they see your server hustling.
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And that's important.
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All right.
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Christy, that was great.
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It was great.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 78 sentences and 916 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:33. The speaker talks fast, about 201 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| sandwich noun | /ˈsæn(d).wɪd͡ʒ/ | A dish or foodstuff where at least one piece, but typically two or more pieces, of bread serves as the wrapper or container of some other food. |
| tire verb | /ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/ | To become sleepy or weary. |
| fatigue noun | /fəˈtiːɡ/ | A weariness caused by exertion; exhaustion. |
| server noun | /ˈsɝvɚ/ | A program that provides services to other programs or devices, either in the same computer or over a computer network. |
| menu noun | /ˈmɛn.juː/ | The details of the food to be served at a banquet; a bill of fare. |
| inflation noun | /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/ | An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas or liquid. |
| buck noun | /ˈbʌk/ | A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad, skunk and kangaroo. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| badly adverb | /ˈbæd.li/ | In a bad manner. |
| custom noun | /ˈkʌstəm/ | Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving. |
| establishment noun | /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ.mənt/ | The act or process of establishing; a ratifying or ordaining; settlement; confirmation. |
| salary noun | /ˈsæləɹi/ | A fixed amount of money paid to a worker, usually calculated on a monthly or annual basis, not hourly, as wages. Implies a degree of professionalism and/or… |
| stretch verb | /stɹɛt͡ʃ/ | To lengthen by pulling. |
| swing verb | /ˈswɪŋ/ | To rotate about an off-centre fixed point. |
| reward noun | /ɹɪˈwɔɹd/ | Something of value given in return for an act. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| carry out verb | /ˈkæ.ɹi aʊt/ | To hold while moving it out. |
| go up verb | To move upwards. | |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. | |
| turn around verb | To physically rotate (usually around a vertical axis) for a half turn (180 degrees), a whole turn (360 degrees), or an indefinite amount. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 22 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: inflation /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/, establishment /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ.mənt/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/, anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, barrage /bəˈɹɑʒ/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, establishment /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ.mənt/, practically /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.k(ə.)li/, audacity /ɔˈdæ.sɪ.ti/, personalize /ˈpɜː.sə.nə.laɪz/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like sandwich, tire, fatigue.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being nudged · be completed · been presented |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have become · has not changed |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.