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Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

passingtime.substack.com

31–40 of 46 posts

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#32

I simply do not return to a restaurant where the server holds the POS screen in front of you at the table for all to see. Usually the tip is pre-selected for something like 25%. Clicking "custom" and choosing a different amount is intended to make you feel embarrassed. Another place is counter service. They want a tip right after you order and are paying. Haven't even tried the food. No idea how the service is going…

An easier solution is just to not care about the opinion of random people you'll never meet again in a shop. I still pay 10-15% in traditional tipping settings, and nothing elsewhere. It doesn't bother me at all if anyone thinks that is too low.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#33
Brit here. I view tipping as dishonest. It's a trick to make something seem cheaper than it is.

They're your employees, you pay them. Don't expect me to be a charity. Give me the cost up-front. If I decide it's too much, then I should take my business elsewhere. "That's the price, cough up or piss off."

Be honest and straight-forward in your dealings.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#34
The Starbucks near me recently switched from taking your card at the drive thru to holding a card reader out the window which asks for a tip. It seems kind of absurd to ask someone to fill out the tip amount with one hand from their car.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#35
post #9

I was happy to tip, even for counter service, during the pandemic. I think it sucks that people were out literally risking their lives to give me a cup of coffee and a sandwich. "Essential" personnel have long been underpaid. The pandemic made that more obvious. I would rather that they get a decent salary, and set prices accordingly, but I can at least show my gratitude for the genuine risk they're taking. Now that…

If the average person starts tipping less or nothing, the workers will all go to the businesses with higher base prices and wages. It won’t matter if the other store has lower printed prices because they won’t have anyone working the business.

I'm not going to say "I'm tipping you nothing for your own good."

I would prefer to not shop at places where they pay their employees badly and try to make it up in tips. If I had places that promised good wages, I'd prefer to shop there. That's easiest at small stores where I know the employees personally -- they're not telling me their salaries but I know if they're happy working there.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#36

I simply do not return to a restaurant where the server holds the POS screen in front of you at the table for all to see. Usually the tip is pre-selected for something like 25%. Clicking "custom" and choosing a different amount is intended to make you feel embarrassed. Another place is counter service. They want a tip right after you order and are paying. Haven't even tried the food. No idea how the service is going…

I had this reaction too, but then I heard a NPR segment where the interviewee mentioned that often times counter tip money doesn't go to the workers. So it's basically just the business asking you for more money than the posted price.

After hearing that it became easier to not leave a tip at the cash register. I think that's better for all involved than avoiding these businesses.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#37
I went to buy some specific keyboard switches last night. Ended up using one of the myriad small random vendors that the industry is full of, clearly on a Shopify cart. The checkout process had a tip button. For physical goods that will arrive in my mailbox in several weeks. Skippable and 1 to 3 percent, but still, this completely undemines any model of how a purchase transaction works to me.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#38
post #36

I simply do not return to a restaurant where the server holds the POS screen in front of you at the table for all to see. Usually the tip is pre-selected for something like 25%. Clicking "custom" and choosing a different amount is intended to make you feel embarrassed. Another place is counter service. They want a tip right after you order and are paying. Haven't even tried the food. No idea how the service is going…

I had this reaction too, but then I heard a NPR segment where the interviewee mentioned that often times counter tip money doesn't go to the workers. So it's basically just the business asking you for more money than the posted price. After hearing that it became easier to not leave a tip at the cash register. I think that's better for all involved than avoiding these businesses.

I don't think that is legal in many US states. It is clearly not allowed in my state:

https://www.lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/wages/tips-and-service...

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#39

Note: in California, tipped staff receive minimum wage (or higher) before accounting for tips, so any tips they receive is in addition to their normal pay. This is not the case in most of the U.S., where tips relieve the business of part of their obligation to pay wages.

This was true in WA before it was true in CA. All west coast states (including Alaska) do not allow tips to go towards minimum wage. Throw in Minnesota, Montana, Nevada as the other states that do this.

Re: Tipping Is Spreading and It Sucks

#40
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this reaction too, but then I heard a NPR segment where the interviewee mentioned that often times counter tip money doesn't go to the workers. So it's basically just the business asking you for more money than the posted price. After hearing that it became easier to not leave a tip at the cash register. I think that's better for all involved than avoiding these businesses.

I don't think that is legal in many US states. It is clearly not allowed in my state: https://www.lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/wages/tips-and-service...

Interesting, are you seeing an explosion of counter tip prompts there?
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