Apparently, English coffeehouses in the 18th century set out urns labeled “To Insure Promptitude.” Shortened, it spelled, “TIP.” Kind of makes sense when you think about it. Pay more if you want your coffee faster.

Today, I went to hamburger restaurant with old friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Like so many restaurants in the post-COVID era, this establishment operates with a self-serving system where you order using a touchscreen, clicking through the menu to get what you want. But there is always a lingering fear that you did something wrong and will end up getting something that you didn’t want or scolded by your son for messing up the order. I miss humans.

But that fear doesn’t compare to the mix of anxiety, guilt, resentment, and double guessing that occurs when I encounter the tip screen with the options that lay out from 18 percent to 25 percent in innocuous looking text, followed by “NO TIP” in capital letters framed in a bold box. No matter how often you encounter these automated tip prompts, you end up going through a very complicated set of questions and answers about not only whether to tip but how much to tip.

Some of the anxiety is attributed to the natural change management process of adapting to the new reality. This involves transitioning away from........

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