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People no longer know how much to tip

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Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#31
post #17
post #7

Yesterday I had lunch at a Shake Shack. Humans don't take orders there any more; you place your order at a self-serve touchscreen kiosk. As I finished placing my order, I was prompted to leave a tip; 10% was the default and you had to press a button to change it. Who am I tipping, exactly? The kiosk? Myself? No one had even made eye contact with me up to this point. I have ordered fast food from a computer. When I ha…

Don't worry, you will stop feeling bad about it after it happens a few more times. You haven't done anything wrong.

but the fear of them spitting in the food will always still be there

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#32

I always tip cash even if I pay with a credit card. Taxation is theft!

I only tip in restaurants with servers and at the barber, nowhere else. But I always make sure to tip with card. If it's not possible then tough luck.

I pay my taxes, I don't see why the restaurant industry should not. If the tips aren't distributed to the staff that's not my problem, I'm not responsible for their compensation.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#33

One of the things about going to Japan, was the service there is phenomenal . Like way above-average. They won't accept tips. In fact, if you leave money on the table, they will chase after you, to give it back. If they did accept tips, I'd make it 50%. I'm pretty sure the reason is that the employees are paid a living wage. A nice side-effect, is that your table doesn't have an "assigned waitstaff." You can ask anyo…

> I'm pretty sure the reason is that the employees are paid a living wage.

The reason is cultural. They take pride in their work, regardless of any additional donations. I would even say it is insulting to be left a tip since the assumption, then, is that the worker would not have done the job to the best of their ability without the prospect of a donation.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#34
I tip wait staff, hotel staff, uber drivers, barbers, and that's it.

We seem to have entered this era of everyone asking for tips, in addition to the online buy-me-a-coffee micro donations culture but sorry, I can't tip everybody.

Throw away the tip jars and demand higher wages from your bosses.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#35

It can sound controversial, but can we please stop with tipping altogether? Leaving aside for a second the fact that now tipping is basically asked everywhere (even at automated machines) - as an European I consider it an extremely stupid trend. If you're "forced" to tip, then it's not a tip anymore. The concept of tipping, at least in Switzerland, has always been to show gratitude for an *exceptional* service. I tot…

In New Zealand pre-covid the restaurant industry were subtly trying to introduce tipping especially in places American tourists visited.

I remember seeing an 85+ year old kiwi shaken down by a very pushy waiter.

When tourism ended during covid it seemed to be rolled back. But once again cruise ships are rolling into our ports I expect to see it pushed again.

Kiwis are quite resistant to the idea. When staff are friendly, and they usually are even at somewhere like McDonalds, they are being genuine and have nothing to gain.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#36
I worked at a full service gas station in high school and community college. In 4 years of pumping gas, checking oil, checking tires, washing windows, I had exactly one customer that would tip. People did not tip at full service because they were paying extra for the service. We did not expect tips, pay was slightly better than minimum wage.

I'd rather pay more than tip. People need to be paid reasonable and calculable wages.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#37

It can sound controversial, but can we please stop with tipping altogether? Leaving aside for a second the fact that now tipping is basically asked everywhere (even at automated machines) - as an European I consider it an extremely stupid trend. If you're "forced" to tip, then it's not a tip anymore. The concept of tipping, at least in Switzerland, has always been to show gratitude for an *exceptional* service. I tot…

I genuinely enjoy tipping at places that provide a service over an extended period of time. I've had a golf lesson where the guy stayed 15 minutes over to show me some pointers, I've gotten haircuts where the dude takes his time to do it right and is a pleasure to hang out with. Tipping in those scenarios feels like I'm rewarding awesome services.

95% of tipping scenarios aren't that, and it's gotten out of control.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#38

Their "history of tipping" doesn't make a ton of sense. They say it starts with black americans willing to work as waiters for lower wages, since they could expect to be paid with tips. If they took those jobs expecting to be tipped, tipping was already a common practice.

I'm guessing they mean that's how it went from optional to obligatory.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#39

It can sound controversial, but can we please stop with tipping altogether? Leaving aside for a second the fact that now tipping is basically asked everywhere (even at automated machines) - as an European I consider it an extremely stupid trend. If you're "forced" to tip, then it's not a tip anymore. The concept of tipping, at least in Switzerland, has always been to show gratitude for an *exceptional* service. I tot…

I’ve seen more and more places just include an obligatory 20% service charge. Should that just be priced in? Yes. But I think it’s a baby step in the right direction.

Yea, just price it in to the goddamn food or service. There is no difference between a $10 burger plus $2 obligatory tip and a $12 burger with no tipping. EDIT: It's not the customer's job to pay a company's payroll.

Re: People no longer know how much to tip

#40
The first time I saw a tablet asking for a tip, I automatically gave one. Afterwards I thought about it and realized that was stupid. I've always declined the tips ever since. Nobody has batted an eye at my declining to tip and half the time the person at the register just says, "It's going to ask you for a tip, just decline it." Even they know it is stupid. But, it had the side effect of making me mad about tipping. I had increased my tips to 20% over the years, but now I've gone back to the old 15%.
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