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Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

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Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#881

Post by 34679 »

JimtheCoder wrote: post #160
Insanity wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European living in Canada, the tipping culture took some time to get used to. It's such a stupid/bad system.

Am Canadian, can confirm... I do wish there was a way to tip the drivers who deliver my Amazon Prime stuff, though. I don't want to tip someone who presses a few buttons on a screen to take my food order, that they usually mess up and sometimes add on a free side of bad attitude. I would like an easy way to tip the guy who is trudging through the snow to deliver my 2KG jar of peanut butter at 9:30pm in January. I lik…

A bowl of hand warmers set outside, similar to a bowl of candy on Halloween, would be one way. In the summer, swap for a cooler with waters on ice.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#882

Post by red-iron-pine »

itwontbelik wrote: post #799
tsimionescu wrote: post #684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other tipping cultures outside the USA, you know? Tipping is very common in the Balkans and other countries that were influenced by Ottoman culture, for example. While it is not expected, many coffee shops all around Europe also have tipping jars. It's really not common in much of Europe at least for people to actually discourage tipping (though they may seek to refuse what they perceive as exorbitant tips)…

I have lived in Istanbul for a decade now and while many of us do tip, and tipping is rarely expected. The expectation is higher than foreigners, but if you live here, you end up eating at the same places over and over, and that expectation goes away fairly quickly. When I first moved here I realized I was tipping 3-5x what a local would, because I was tipping American standard. Tipping is mostly expected when there…

> Bakshish

Definitely more of a bribe, and common in a lot of the world, in the countries mentioned but plenty of others, esp. the African ones I worked in; different names but same idea.

A "cost of doing business, and we appreciate the opportunity" gesture. Prove that you're serious, and that you want an actual result.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#885

Post by aareet »

Yizahi wrote: post #744
parallel wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do tip in Australia, it's just not expected. Tipping a genuine act of generosity to reciprocate exceptional service. The correlation between service quality and tipping is an interesting one, why does anyone do a good job in any role without some kind of incremental reward for effort. Do office workers always revert to 'just enough to not get fired' or are they playing a longer game for promotions and bonuses?

What is this "exceptional service" people are talking about? Take the order without forgetting stuff and then bring dishes from the kitchen? Isn't that just a normal baseline for this profession? Or does it mean not spitting in the food (I'm joking)? I sometimes leave tips, but not once have I understood why, because there is no such thing as "exceptional" in the waiting service imho. I only do it due to the social p…

I absolutely think that exceptional service is possible - for example, when I visit a restaurant with my elderly grandparents who have some extremely particular dietary restrictions, and the wait staff patiently discuss our options, help them create a meal that satisfies their preferences and remains interesting, I find that exceptional. I've had wait staff give us genuine recommendations on the menu, with honesty, indicating the dishes they don't like (much more rare) as well as those they do resulting in a good meal - I enjoy that candor and am happy to tip for the recommendation. I've also had staff stay late and keep a restaurant open because we were on the last train into a station with nowhere else to go and eat and didn't speak the local language - I found that exceptional as well.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#886

Post by red-iron-pine »

barbariangrunge wrote: post #241
jacktribe wrote: post #99

I've just opened a coffee shop in Los Angeles last month, and we don't take tips. We only use self-ordering iPads (I've custom coded an iOS app w/ Stripe Terminal for it), and we don't accept cash either. We've had a few customers baffled by the no-tipping policy, and still insisting that they leave a tip. Some even left cash on the counter or on the table. We had to chase a few of them down to return their money. Al…

I wish you would take cash. Every other method of payment gets tracked and is used to profile people

Your cellphone is doing far, far more to profile you than any $5 spend at a local coffee shop would.

All a CC company would know is you like expensive lattes; your cellphone would know how long you stayed there, where you say in the joint, and how many memes you looked at before you left. And might overhear everything you say, including your order.

If you're using any sort of digital payment or points app on your phone it'll probably know your order, too.

Listen, most places should take cash, but this is silly.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#887

Post by npteljes »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #104
godelski wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tipping at best is a form of bribery and at worst a feudal practice of wealth transfer. I tip because it is the social norm (and bribery: don't want my food messed with), but I think we can also acknowledge that this practice is weird and has a shaky history.

> don't want my food messed with If someone has the mentality that they are free to spoil your food because they won't get a (good) tip, then they don't deserve to be paid at all , let alone be tipped well. There's a lot of things the US has that are extremely strange, and the tipping culture is amongst them.

>If someone has the mentality that they are free to spoil your food because they won't get a (good) tip, then they don't deserve to be paid at all, let alone be tipped well.

This is not a good follow-up for the parent's concerns. I tip for the same reason parent tips: for protection. I don't want my things to be messed with. I don't care who's in the right, I don't care what the server thinks, if it's the culture that we tip, then we tip, or potentially face the consequences of being outliers of the culture. It's not my hill to die on.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#888

Post by spadros »

mikhael28 wrote: post #536
q845712 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think tipping at its very best is an opportunity to give a stranger a small gift. I recognize your points -- sometimes it feels like an obligated payment and probably in nearly all cases the capital owning class could and/or should contribute more, but i think you're excluding some optional perspectives. Sometimes I just want to help someone have a nice day by giving them something they didn't expect, like a genero…

Cash is a terrible gift. It shows you don't care. The best Christmas gifts were actual things - not an envelope with $60 in it.

Disagree hard. I’ve been given so many garbage gifts that I immediately threw away or donated. I tell my family members to just do cash or gift cards for me. I’d rather get exactly what I need than some junk I’ll never use.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#889

Post by npteljes »

q845712 wrote: post #139
godelski wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tipping at best is a form of bribery and at worst a feudal practice of wealth transfer. I tip because it is the social norm (and bribery: don't want my food messed with), but I think we can also acknowledge that this practice is weird and has a shaky history.

I think tipping at its very best is an opportunity to give a stranger a small gift. I recognize your points -- sometimes it feels like an obligated payment and probably in nearly all cases the capital owning class could and/or should contribute more, but i think you're excluding some optional perspectives. Sometimes I just want to help someone have a nice day by giving them something they didn't expect, like a genero…

>I think tipping at its very best is an opportunity to give a stranger a small gift.

I think tips work well, if this is the case. When tips are expected, for example because otherwise the server makes much less than minimum wage, then it's not a small gift anymore, and that's problematic. But when I like a service, give a bit more, they like that, give me a bit more of a service, knowing that I'll give a bit more the next time too, then I don't think that's something I should be against.

But the base price must be fair.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#890

Post by spadros »

BirAdam wrote: post #231
godelski wrote: post #30

One thing I've never understood is the argument for tipping. It has always been "because servers are being paid less than minimum wage." Which the issue with that is that that varies state by state. Most west coast states do not have a separate tipped wage[0]. So the question is, why do we tip at all on the west coast[1]? Worse, it seems to be expanding and increasing in size[2] The followup argument is often "well t…

Not saying it’s good or bad, but I used to know some people who made 6 figures a year on tips straight out of high school and stayed in the food business because of it. I never did… I’m not a particularly friendly or warm person. But, those people do actively defend tipping and they expressly do not want salary/wage systems.

Stories like this make me think tipping should be abolished more. I feel bad for the other less charismatic servers. Just get rid of tips and pay them higher across the board.
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