To tip or not to tip?
aeon.co
To tip or not to tip?
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Re: To tip or not to tip?
#2I'm from Australia (no tipping) and have been living in North America for 9 years (always tipping) so this issue is close to my heart.
I've come to see tipping as a form of slavery, the only twist being it's paid - albeit very lowly.
It's a way for people with money to say "Hey peasant: If you do what I want, and if I'm happy about it, and if I feel like it, I might give you a little of my money. Or not".
Sort of like a work contract where the employer has ultimate power and absolutely no rules to govern if they even have to pay their employees at all. Of course, there are labor laws against that sort of thing in developed countries, so tipping is just a way to circumvent those labor laws.
It would be much better if those people were simply paid what they should be paid by their employer in the first place, and the terms of that were bound by labor laws.
I personally feel dirty every time I tip - it almost feels like being at a strip bar or something similar.
(To be clear, I always tip, because the people in those jobs rely on it. It's not their fault I don't like the system.)
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#3I'm from Australia (no tipping) and have been living in North America for 9 years (always tipping) so this issue is close to my heart. I've come to see tipping as a form of slavery, the only twist being it's paid - albeit very lowly. It's a way for people with money to say "Hey peasant: If you do what I want, and if I'm happy about it, and if I feel like it, I might give you a little of my money. Or not". Sort of lik…
Do you actually talk to service staff about this? Do they tell you they feel enslaved and demeaned by large tips? I have had this conversation repeatedly, and not one server has ever told me they felt bad about tips.
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#4I'm from Australia (no tipping) and have been living in North America for 9 years (always tipping) so this issue is close to my heart. I've come to see tipping as a form of slavery, the only twist being it's paid - albeit very lowly. It's a way for people with money to say "Hey peasant: If you do what I want, and if I'm happy about it, and if I feel like it, I might give you a little of my money. Or not". Sort of lik…
Do you actually talk to service staff about this? Do they tell you they feel enslaved and demeaned by large tips? I have had this conversation repeatedly, and not one server has ever told me they felt bad about tips.
That's not fair. The service staff do not have an option to work in a place whether the salary is good enough that they don't have to rely on tips. Given the choice of working for 20 dollars per hour versus 10 per hour + average 15 per hour tip, I would go for the first option.
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#5I'm from Australia (no tipping) and have been living in North America for 9 years (always tipping) so this issue is close to my heart. I've come to see tipping as a form of slavery, the only twist being it's paid - albeit very lowly. It's a way for people with money to say "Hey peasant: If you do what I want, and if I'm happy about it, and if I feel like it, I might give you a little of my money. Or not". Sort of lik…
Do you actually talk to service staff about this? Do they tell you they feel enslaved and demeaned by large tips? I have had this conversation repeatedly, and not one server has ever told me they felt bad about tips.
My experience is old, but I once spent five years working in restaurant kitchens. My friends included plenty of servers, bartenders and other tipped staff. A couple of the places were pretty popular, and the staff was happy to be raking in good tips on high-priced food. One of the places wasn't so popular or expensive, and people were pinching pennies to get by. Opinions about tipping varied by place.
I suspect, given your taste and profession, that you might be talking to more servers at the kinds of places where they'd be happy to collect tips that exceeded, say, minimum wage.
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#6I'm from Australia (no tipping) and have been living in North America for 9 years (always tipping) so this issue is close to my heart. I've come to see tipping as a form of slavery, the only twist being it's paid - albeit very lowly. It's a way for people with money to say "Hey peasant: If you do what I want, and if I'm happy about it, and if I feel like it, I might give you a little of my money. Or not". Sort of lik…
Do you actually talk to service staff about this? Do they tell you they feel enslaved and demeaned by large tips? I have had this conversation repeatedly, and not one server has ever told me they felt bad about tips.
Where is this? Stockholm?
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#7I waited tables for a while at a range of restaurants from very nice steakhouses to exceptionally-high-profile clubs. I'm open to questions about my experiences with tipping, horror stories, weird guests, and my genuine thoughts on the matter.
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#8I'm from Australia (no tipping) and have been living in North America for 9 years (always tipping) so this issue is close to my heart. I've come to see tipping as a form of slavery, the only twist being it's paid - albeit very lowly. It's a way for people with money to say "Hey peasant: If you do what I want, and if I'm happy about it, and if I feel like it, I might give you a little of my money. Or not". Sort of lik…
Do you actually talk to service staff about this? Do they tell you they feel enslaved and demeaned by large tips? I have had this conversation repeatedly, and not one server has ever told me they felt bad about tips.
I don't think the parent poster mentioned anything about large tips. I myself read complaints about poor tips constantly in my Facebook feed, usually from the same disgruntled couple of service industry friends of mine. But then again, I don't think I have that many more friends in the service industry.
As far as I can see, tipping is not adds frustrating unpredictability to their income, but it also exposes them to discrimination.
As a customer, I find it annoying because it makes paying for my meal a math problem, particularly when dining in a group.
I see nothing wrong with a true gratuity for stellar service, but when it's just an unwritten (or written) extra cost, it's absurd. Just charge me what it costs to pay your service people.
Re: To tip or not to tip?
#9Re: To tip or not to tip?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you actually talk to service staff about this? Do they tell you they feel enslaved and demeaned by large tips? I have had this conversation repeatedly, and not one server has ever told me they felt bad about tips.
I don't think the parent poster mentioned anything about large tips. I myself read complaints about poor tips constantly in my Facebook feed, usually from the same disgruntled couple of service industry friends of mine. But then again, I don't think I have that many more friends in the service industry. As far as I can see, tipping is not adds frustrating unpredictability to their income, but it also exposes them to…
Yes, dine in a group, split your bill, then work out how much tax needs to be split (since for some crazy reason it's not included in the price) then work out a tip.