McDonald's to Workers: Don't Forget to Tip Pool Boy

Bad move, McDonald's? As fast food workers walked off the job in 100 cities this week amid demands for higher pay, the fast food giant thought it was a good idea to dish out some holiday tip suggestions to its employees—like how much to tip your massage therapist or pool cleaner. Posted on its employee resource website, the now-deleted suggestions, including one week's pay for your au pair, add up to hundreds of dollars or more—pretty steep for employees who largely earn just above minimum wage, CNBC News reports, though it notes the guide also said to tip based on "your budget."

"This is content provided by a third-party partner and quotes from one of the best-known etiquette gurus, Emily Post," a McDonald's rep explained. "We continue to review the resource and will ask the vendor to make changes as needed." Meanwhile, some fast food workers who walked off the job didn't lose a day's pay thanks to union-backed groups like Fast Food Forward, CNN reports. "I have bills to pay and we don't get enough money," said a single mom and Checkers employee, who didn't show up for work but was paid what she'd make in a day—about $50—so she could rally outside a Brooklyn Wendy's. "If they weren't paying me, I couldn't afford to be here." (Click for more helpful budget tips from McDonald's, including its suggestions that McDonald's employees get a second job and sell their stuff to raise extra cash.)