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Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

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Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#31

Post by throwway120385 »

electrondood wrote: post #13

Tips are for table service. That's it. When you go to Starbucks, ask for a product, then make payment for that product, and the little POS machine basically says "hey, can we have extra money?" it's systematized panhandling.

Traditionally you would tip baristas because making a really nice latte or cappuchino is an art form that requires a lot of skill. Given that Starbucks lattes are almost always mediocre and range from bland to bland with burned coffee the only thing that's really left to tip on there is how nice people are and whether or not they do extra things to go above and beyond.

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#32

Post by Broken_Hippo »

_ZeD_ wrote: post #14
theamk wrote: post #3

I think the whole "tipping at checkout" thing makes no sense at all. The tip amount depends on quality of service -- a terrible coffee and burnt pastries will means no tip, while delicious food, good service and clean tables means big tip. But how can you tell what the experience is going to be if you just entered the store and only ordering? You can't. That's why you should never tip at the self-order kiosk, but you…

>>> a terrible coffee and burnt pastries will means no tip, while delicious food, good service and clean tables means big tip. what? NO a terrible coffee and burnt pastries means REFUND. delicious food, good service and clean tables means WHAT I JUST PAID FOR. did you really pay the normal price of a good (let's say a chair) if it's broken? why do you pay for a substandard service then?

In the US, we know that most wait staff are paid far less than minimum wage. The expectation is that tips will make up for the difference. You simply didn't pay for it all.

It has been like this for literal decades.

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#33

Post by hnbear »

electrondood wrote: post #13

Tips are for table service. That's it. When you go to Starbucks, ask for a product, then make payment for that product, and the little POS machine basically says "hey, can we have extra money?" it's systematized panhandling.

This is where my own internal rubric for tipping starts to break down.

The delineation between "sat at a table and got service", and "payed at a counter to be handed something prepared" has a middle grey area for things that are made on-demand for me, by someone behind the counter, to my specification.

- In your Starbucks example if they grab a pre-bottle something is that service? - Pulling a latte from a latte machine? - Making espresso on a complicated espresso machine I can't understand, using the beans I specified? - Doing the whole foam art thing, with more complex instructions on how I like the coffee?

(To be clear, I'm not a coffee person, but I'm aware there's a complexity to the production of an espresso).

A good barista can put in more effort, skill, knowledge into the coffee than a poured cup of coffee from a Mr. Coffee at the diner. Similarly, I've eaten in plenty of diners where you order at the counter and food is delivered. Is that service? What if I carry my food to the table but they bring drinks? Or I forgot something and they deliver it

My point here isn't that I disagree about it being systematized panhandling. I think it's awful.

But, I often find it hard to identify where to draw the line.

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#34

Post by corey_moncure »

I took my wife out to a fancy steakhouse over the weekend and remembered what "service" is supposed to be. Our waiter poured my wine, cut up our steak table side and served us, cracked pepper over our salad, went above and beyond in every way to ensure that we were comfortable and satisfied. I gladly tipped him 20% on $300 and would do so again.

On the other hand, I left $10 on top of a $50 takeout order at a local Italian place and the bored, empty-handed young waitress just sat there watching me while I struggled out the door with pizza boxes and a couple bags. I resented her for her smugness and entitlement. Plus the order was wrong, as I found out later.

Why on Earth am I expected to hand money over to people who are doing literally nothing but processing my credit card for payment? I've worked in food service, where I learned how hard it is and to never disparage employees at the point of service, but I cannot wrap my head around this selfish mindset of sit there and do nothing and expect people to hand over cash.

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#35

Post by dmbche »

Somewhat off topic, but did you know tipping is though to have been born out of white americans wanting to pay racialised workers less - since only whites were getting tipped. Just never moved away from it. https://time.com/5404475/history-tipping-american-restaurant...

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#37

Post by AnimalMuppet »

SeanAnderson wrote: post #24
electrondood wrote: post #13

Tips are for table service. That's it. When you go to Starbucks, ask for a product, then make payment for that product, and the little POS machine basically says "hey, can we have extra money?" it's systematized panhandling.

What about delivery - GrubHub / Amazon Fresh?

That's table service (more or less).

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#38

Post by Ekaros »

So if I ever go to USA, which I will never do.

How much I have to tip the border agents? What about if I interact with the police? Or end up in jail and being prosecuted? Does the prosecutor need to be tipped what about judge? They are all providing personalised services to me so I understand it is always expected to be tipped in those cases?

What about security guards? Should I hand out money to them if I see them while visiting some place like a mall?

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#39

Post by ghostpepper »

lastofthemojito wrote: post #28

Tipping has officially gotten out of control. Just saw the other day that some Apple Store employees want to start asking for tips: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/05/04/apple-store-mar...

So on a $3500 laptop purchase a 10% tip would be $350 for the genius who radio'd to the back to have someone else bring the product out, and then punched it in correctly on the pin pad? If we generously assume 5 minutes of work, that works out to an hourly rate of $4200/hour.

Re: Tipping at self-checkout has customers crying ‘emotional blackmail’

#40

Post by hosh »

yamtaddle wrote: post #10

I've started favoring cash when buying take-out, if paying in person, for that reason. Damn "tip" field showing up all kinds of places tips were never expected before. What the inappropriate tip screens could do to be a whole lot more like how the world operated just a few years ago, is to add a "round up to next dollar as tip" option and make that the most prominent. However, are employers using the expanded presenc…

There was this one time, my Australian friend told me he finally gets tipping. Tipping is not the custom in Austrailia, yet having visited the US and travelled around the world for years, tipping mystified him.

He told me he finally got it when he used tipping to establish better service for future interactions. Unpacking it, it’s really about the relationship.

What makes those tip fields feel like an imposition and a violation of social customs is because it shifts this from developing a personal connection with a service provider into something transactional.

I’d say that, if you feel it is like emotional blackmail, it probably is — the business is exploiting both worker and customer. If you feel that personal connection and sense of community, then tipping is a way of helping support the well-being of someone in the community.

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