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You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

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Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#301

Post by make3 »

gmjoe wrote: post #294

I think a lot of the frustration isn't from tipping... it's from tip creep . To many people, tipping feels like an unfair relic of the past that can be associated with negatives like racism (servers of color receiving less), pay disparity (why do underpaid servers get to benefit from tips but not underpaid line cooks), etc. At least here in NYC there's been a growing movement of "tip included" restaurants and coffee…

tip included.. that should mean no tip, tip included in the price of the thing, aka salary

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#302

Post by PurpleBoxDragon »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #211
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ouch, having worked in cafes and restaurants as an undergrad I pretty much always tip 20%. Is it absurd? Of course, but given how badly most waitstaff are paid, the idea that you will somehow eliminate the practice by stiffing a few barristas seems both sadistic and highly unlikely to change the world. Until robots hand me muffins, I accept it as a tax on eating out.

> I accept it as a tax on eating out. I'm highlighting this part because it's one of the main contributing factors to dining out less and less, for me, and that includes coffee shops. I always tip well when going out; ergo, I don't go out as often. Going off of the "I'm not very unique" rule of thumb, businesses are losing some amount of money because of tipping culture.

>I don't go out as often.

At what point do we begin to consider that choice stiffing the waiters you would've tipped if you did go out?

P.S. I also avoid going to coffee shops where tipping is expected.

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#303

Post by wetpaws »

pc86 wrote: post #30
X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit extreme. I hope you don't eat at sit down restaurants often.

Or the same one more than once. Stiffing waiters in the same establishment more than one is a risky proposition at best.

That's not stiffing, the price is written on a check, so what you probably mean is "economic transaction". Paying waiters low on the other hand is stiffing.

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#304

Post by tptacek »

colanderman wrote: post #284
tptacek wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to feel real great? Here's a question: do you always tip your hotel housekeeping? It's gotten harder over the last 10 years since we're carrying so much less cash, and there's no tip line on the hotel bill. But you are hella expected to tip housekeeping: that is a rough job, and a very poorly treated workforce.

I'm terrible at tipping and this is the one thing I do know. But – It's next to impossible to get enough small bills to cover all the tipping you need to do on a vacation, between hotels and taxis, and other incidentals. ATMs typically spit out the local equivalent of USD$20s if you're lucky; US$100s if you're not. Who's going to make change for that? At home this is less of a problem because (a) I don't have as many…

I know! It's a giant pain in the ass.

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#305

Post by influx »

scroot wrote: post #245
mikestew wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

stiffing a few barristas I'm old enough to remember a time that giving extra money to someone for handing you a cup of coffee would be thought absurd. Sit down eatery? No problem, there's prior art before I was born, disagree though I might. But this recent bullshit of "tip, because my employer doesn't pay me enough", whether its Starbucks, McDonalds, or your fave local coffee shop: yeah, fuck that. McDonalds doesn't…

> McDonalds doesn't need my subsidy. No, but the person to makes and hands over your coffee does. > I'm old enough to remember a time that giving extra money to someone for handing you a cup of coffee would be thought absurd. Then you're probably also old enough to remember when wage increases tracked with productivity increases, or when minimum wage kept up with inflation and the cost of living.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but what is the line of which workers to tip? Gas station employees do a similar job, and I have never seen anyone tip them. I have very rarely seen anyone tip a Subway sandwich worker even though they typically do more customization and work than a Starbucks employee.

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#306

Post by tedunangst »

miketery wrote: post #235
tptacek wrote: post #209

Hacker News threads about tipping are always rough. US tipping is not complicated. You are being asked to share with a service worker's employer some of the burden of compensating them. The notion that you're rewarding exceptional service is a polite fiction. Depending on where you are, the tip is either expected or it isn't. Unfortunately for the mindset of a typical software developer, there won't be much clarity o…

I've been struggling with this for a while and you put it really well. However it frustrates me to no end, that customers are expected to do compensation sharing with the employer. The nefarious thing about this is that the employer has put the negotiating for fair wages between the customer and employees instead of between the employees and the employer. End of the day its manageable as you say, just price in the ti…

It's division of labor. The owner pays for the employee to show up and make the store look open. You pay for the service actually rendered.

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#307

Post by princekolt »

colanderman wrote: post #284
tptacek wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to feel real great? Here's a question: do you always tip your hotel housekeeping? It's gotten harder over the last 10 years since we're carrying so much less cash, and there's no tip line on the hotel bill. But you are hella expected to tip housekeeping: that is a rough job, and a very poorly treated workforce.

I'm terrible at tipping and this is the one thing I do know. But – It's next to impossible to get enough small bills to cover all the tipping you need to do on a vacation, between hotels and taxis, and other incidentals. ATMs typically spit out the local equivalent of USD$20s if you're lucky; US$100s if you're not. Who's going to make change for that? At home this is less of a problem because (a) I don't have as many…

For your benefit, tipping is not as big a thing in other countries as it is in the US. For example, in Brazil it is regulated by consumer protection laws and you can either tip 10% or nothing, and this tip can only be added in places with table service (so not on fast-food restaurants, coffee shops, etc).

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#308

Post by blacksmith_tb »

PunchTornado wrote: post #100
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ouch, having worked in cafes and restaurants as an undergrad I pretty much always tip 20%. Is it absurd? Of course, but given how badly most waitstaff are paid, the idea that you will somehow eliminate the practice by stiffing a few barristas seems both sadistic and highly unlikely to change the world. Until robots hand me muffins, I accept it as a tax on eating out.

I didn't even know tipping at cafes was a thing. Don't they earn above minimum wage? I know waitresses get 2$/h, but baristas, they must get above 8$/h. Do you also tip at McDonalds?

I don't eat at McD's, but you general see that cafes have a tip jar at the register (not Starbucks, but your local coffee shop, that is), while chains of all sorts don't. Oddly this isn't because they pay their staff a fortune... (though as was pointed out earlier, perversely many states have laws which allow for paying below minimum wage for jobs with tips, so ultimately no one in food service can really win).

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#309

Post by mactrey »

i88y6 wrote: post #218
acheron wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because it would make it harder for them to continue committing tax fraud.

And it would dismantle the sexist construct that allows attractive women to claim disproportionately higher wages than men.

It's not really a sexist construct since an attractive man easily makes more in tips than an unattractive woman... It's more the societal construct that attractive = good, which is pernicious but quite deeply ingrained in human society.

Re: You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

#310

Post by wetpaws »

anigbrowl wrote: post #139
Humdeee wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shelving product labour is part of the original price and markup, same as buying an article of clothing off a rack.

And that's why you don't tip in the supermarket. Fresh food service is a bit different from that.

How is it different?
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