Tipping Ought to be Abolished: Let's Just Pay People More Like the Europeans Do
There was an article in the LA Times today about how the economy has affected tipping. Some people are tipping less and some people are ordering cheaper dishes, which in turn affects the tip the waiter receives.
While I'm well aware that many people in service industries work for low hourly rates and thus need tips to earn a decent wage, the true question should be why the hell have we evolved into a tip-earning economy?
First of all, I believe that tipping has gotten out of hand. When I grew up it was common to tip 15% in a restaurant with a bump to 17-20% for extra great service, but somehow in large metropolitan areas the expected "norm" has grown to 20% with a bump to 25% and sometimes even 30%.
It's getting ridiculous, in particular because a lot of service people don't get tips nor do they expect them. We tip cab drivers -- even those who own their own taxis -- but we don't tip our friendly bus driver, whom we might see every day. We tip a deliveryman, usually a member of the Teamster's Union -- even when we've paid $50 for the delivery charge -- but not the postman. We tip a hair stylist, who washes and sets our hair but not the dental hygienist who cleans our teeth. Nor do we tip the person who helps us choose our clothing at a boutique or advises women about cosmetics. And remember not all department store sales clerks are on commission, and in the lower ranks do they receive 20-30%?
And it even extends to the fast food industry, where the tip cup has become ubiquitous. Why should we give someone a buck who hands us a slice of pizza and a bottled soda or simply pours a cup of coffee? Yet we don't tip the butcher who slices our meat at the grocer, the supermarket checkers who bag our groceries or the Panda Express service people at the same supermarket who ask us what Chinese delicacies we savor. Nor for that matter do we tip cafeteria workers who fill our plates with food as we stroll down the line.
And what about the mechanics who fix our cars? We don't tip our cleaning ladies but are expected to tip hotel maids, most of whom just change the towels and straighten the bed sheets. We even tip the blackjack dealer, but does he or she return the favor when we leave the table broke?
The list goes on but rather than perpetuate a group of people who invariably feel stiffed -- even when someone gives them a 15% tip -- wouldn't it simply be better to just pay the workers a commensurate salary and do away with tipping entirely? This is the case in many European countries, where the service is "compris." In other words built into the price. Some Americans still don't get the hang out of it and insist on leaving a full-fledged tip as if they'd be burned in hell for neglecting to do so, even as the locals dining next to them either leave nothing or just small change as a tiny reward.
In some Asian countries it is considered a no-no to tip. When I was in Japan, a bellman returned my tip with an appreciative nod indicating his thanks for the gesture. It was actually illegal to do so in China. But what galls me is that the percentage expected in this country has climbed over the years. Frankly, until we bring service workers salaries up to their colleagues in first world countries, 15% is quite enough. That's almost one sixth extra on top of the cost, and barring poor service that is all that ought to be paid. However, one caveat I will add is that a tip should be based upon the full price of the food or service rendered irrespective of a discount coupon that might otherwise lower the bill.
Another grievance I'll put forth is when you go out with someone who always wants to divide the bill evenly. No matter what you consumed. No matter that he or she had lobster and glass after glass of wine while you ordered chicken and had a refillable glass of coke. I don't think it's necessary to go over each bill with a fine tooth comb and a calculator, but if it's clear that there is a sizable imbalance it should be the consumer of less who magnanimously offers to go halfsies on the fare and not the one who, by the way, also ordered the most expensive dessert while you shook your head to the waiter and inconsiderately suggests that you subsidize his/her meal shrugging, "Oh let's just split the check."
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
When I go out to eat, I tip 20% because it's easy to figure the tip by taking 10% of the total bill and doubling it. I don't eat in expensive places (and most of my restaurant meals are at lunch) so the tip is usually five bucks or so, an amount that won't break my bank and one that I already took into consideration before I decided I could spare the dough to have a meal out. If I'm feeling short, I do as others suggest and grab fast food or eat at home.
My gripe is that I have no idea how far my five buck tip has to stretch--a host/hostess seats us, then one person takes the order while another serves the meal and sometimes yet another comes along and refills the beverages or takes empty plates. Do all four have to fight over the tip? In not fancy places back in the stone ages, one person took your order, brought it to the table, and took the empty plates "out of your way" when you finished eating. It made it easy to know that whatever you left went to this one person.
I AM A WORKING WOMAN SO MONEY IS TIGHT AS A NUN'S GIRDLE RIGHT NOW WHICH IS WHY I ONLY TIP FOR GOOD SERVICE , AND BY GOOD I MEAN ABOVE AND BEYOND SERVICE. TOO MANY WAITERS ASSUME THEY'RE GETTING A TIP FOR '' COLD FOOD AND LUKEWARM TREATMENT '' BUT NOT FROM ME.
What's even worse: the fact that the wait staff gets tipped is justification for a lower-than-minimum wage. When I bussed tables in a Holiday Inn restaurant in the '80s, I got $3.65 and hour, thirty cents more than minimum wage. The waitresses ( they were all women) got $2.10. That's not the worst of it, though; on top of that, they were required to give me ten percent of their tips each shift.
Now I know that that wasn't exactly high-scale dining, but some of those women were using the job to support a family. Instead of saying tough sh*t, get a better job/education, we should be making it possible for people to make a better career out of whatever they end up doing.
If servers know they're getting paid decently whether they serve you properly or not, you're probably not going to get very good service from many of them. I waited tables for five years, and believe me, it is an awful job that I only did because it paid more than any other "college kid" job i could find. Also, i was always perfectly happy if i got a 15% tip and so were most of my colleagues. Anymore is only necessary in a really exceptional/unusual situation.
See Michael Russnow's Profile
HuffPost's Pick
Thanks, True, and also for your reasonable response.
But please help me understand something, because I think those of you who disagree with me are bypassing the obvious point of my piece.
If good service is dependent on something extra, i.e. without tips even when you're paid using True's word "decently" you will be treated at best in mediocre fashion, then how do you explain people in other service industries who do good work out of sheer pride and professional responsibility?
We don't tip mechanics at Pep Boys, etc., we don't tip the postman and we don't tip the dental hygienist who cleans our teeth. We don't tip the bus driver and we are not expected to tip repairmen or cleaning people who come to our homes. Don't we expect good service from them? Why is it that a certain segment of our society (even those much better paid than waiters, such as hair stylists) expect tips but not the aforementioned?
My basic point is if everyone were paid a wage commensurate with their skills (more money for waiters at fancy restaurants than McDonald's) that should suffice. However, because tipping is so ingrained in our culture for certain jobs and not for others that are no less service oriented it is hard to break the habit.
BTW, I've not advocated doing away with tipping at restaurants until waiters' salaries increase to a level of their worth in spite of the responders who imply that I've done so.
I understand your perspective, and i feel it's valid. And I think theres much truth to what you say, that good service should be motivated by personal pride and salary instead of tips.
But taking many of your examples, i'm sure all of us can reference many anecdotes about the bad service they've gotten from non-tipped service professionals. For example, I used to live in a Midwestern city where city bus drivers were unionized and paid EXTREMELY well and i can think of 20 times when i was riding a bus and the driver acted rudely or dangerously.
Car mechanics would be another great example. The fact they're getting paid the same amount, no matter what, may contribute to the shoddy repair jobs and/or outright deception that some car mechanics provide.
I don't think i have an easy answer to the questions. I also feel we are looking at a nationwide decrease in quality customer service, from service businesses to retailers to corporations. At least if the waiter treats you poorly, you have an immediate recourse.
When Bush the first started taxing tips based on the price of the tab Tip based workers were screwed.
If a wait staff worker has a table with a $300 tab but the table leaves no tip the waiter still gets taxed as if they got a tip .
This is insane and another reason for rejecting Republicans. I hope that people who make less than $100,000 a year realize that if they have voted republican from 1980 on they have screwed themselves and their children.
Pay people???? So they can live? What a ridiculous concept!
That's why I got out of the business 20 years ago. Especially when Raygun started taxing tips by making us claim 8% of the bill.
I was tired of depending on peoples 'niceness'.
I had a table of German men one night (it was my only table) and the bill was around $500 (Maxwells Plum in Ghiradelli Square, San Francisco nice and expensive) and they left me $5.00. So I politely explained that it was customary to tip 15 - 20 % since we made minimum wage (I was a Captain so I made a few bucks an hour more). He said to me well I don't tip!. So I said my wife and children thank you and then had the bus boy remove everything off their table including the table cloth and I left. We also had this couple that came in all the time her in a fur and him dressed to the nines. They were very polite and never engaging and the reason was because he always left a 10% tip. So I devised a plan and told the hostess about it. They were always seated with him in a chair in a busy area of the restaurant. We would kick his chair throughout the night and it would get to where he would flinch every time a waiter walked by. Man what fun that was. And the ones that were rude got extra ingredients in their dishes, more fun.
I've heard this same argument all my life. I think of it as Mr. Pink's POV, since it was expressed so eloquently by Steve Buscemi's character in "Reservoir Dogs". It is unrealistic to think that you can change the system into something else simply because you're offended by how it works.
The fact of the matter is that even if you raise the price of meals, it will not be passed on to employees. Even if it were, there is no incentive for someone to do a really great job.
There are those who excel at service jobs, for whom being a waiter is an art, not just something to do while waiting for a Hollywood career to blossom. These people deserve to be rewarded for their efforts. Some of the BS they have to put up with from over-demanding or outright rude customers deserves extra remuneration.
I spend a lot of money in restaurants, both for enjoyment and for business. I do not object to paying for good service and would rather be overly generous than a schnorer. Good service is something which I value and which should be rewarded IMHO.
See Michael Russnow's Profile
HuffPost's Pick
If you raise the price of the meals, it will definitely be reflected in the salaries, because if the salaries do not rise above minimum wage then competent waiters will not take the job.
Your way of thinking and in the process setting yourself up as generous as opposed to the "schnorers" you mock is quite unreasonable. And just as objectionable as former waiter Drumz whose post was written just after yours.
Why shouldn't a waiter do a decent job without tips and why shouldn't he/she be paid for his/her experience, i.e. the more demand for experienced help such as at a fancier restaurant the better the service requirements necessitating the higher salary.
Why do you feel you must "bribe" someone to give you good service or risk the abuses Drumz perpetrated in his tale of how he harassed hated customers.
And why isn't it similarly an "art" or display of ingenuity and experience to repair your car well or to clean your teeth as I suggested in my piece? Services for which we would never think to tip. And conversely what "art" do you generally see displayed by the fast food server who also thinks his/her services deserve a tip?
"... if the salaries do not rise above minimum wage then competent waiters will not take the job."
No competent waiter is going to work for salary; why would they take a cut in pay?
If a restaurant paid a competent waiter a wage for which they would work eating out would be out of most folks reach.
I worked very hard in that business for a long time by choice. Tipping is a very meaningful form of compensation. I worked hard, I was good at the art and the science of it, I did well. And I didn't have to do deal, as I did in wage jobs, with this bit of delusion: "pay someone a decent wage so that he/she will be motivated to do a decent job." That motivates exactly an amazing amount of people to do as little to nothing as they can get away with between paychecks leaving a surprising few to pick up their slack.
Aaaaanyway. Let me ease some of your resentment, and that's what this is about; that's what all these perennial concern for the working server screeds are always ever about: Just. Don't. Tip. Don't sweat it. Don't feel guilty. Don't feel the pressure. You are not alone; you are Legion. Fortunately, the folks who appreciate a good thing more than make up for it. Bless 'em, for their rewards are not just in the next world (and only they know what that means).
See Michael Russnow's Profile
HuffPost's Pick
That you have been mesmerized by the system is exactly why the system is wrong. Whether it will soon be changed depends upon how "creative" our society gets and how we properly pay someone a decent wage so that he/she will be motivated to do a decent job just like so many of us in the majority of society who work for a salary or fee and expect nothing more.
I think that tip cup at a big corporate entity like Starbucks is the worst. Starbucks recently lost a class action over those -- seems the management was taking a share.
Amen - great post. The whole social grace of tipping is now gone and has been replaced with this guilt-based coercion. I even had a very rude bartender once make sure to make a big show of handing me back my tip that evidently he thought was insufficient in size - which got a complaint from me to the manager. I've had waitresses stand by the table with this pained, embarrassed (embarrassed for me, not themselves) look on their faces when I didn't leave enough tip to them, and they are waiting for me to add more because of their signaling to me about it by standing there for no apparent other reason. When at an expensive restaurant, the bill for two people can easily top $100, and I'm suppose to tip the waitperson $20 when they did no more work than the waitress at IHOP this morning who served us the same quantity of food? If I don't tip the 20%, I get an explanation of how "the govt taxes us on the percentage of our total sales in expectation that we will get tips on that sales volume whether we actually receive those tips or not, so if you don't tip, basically, I have to finish paying your bill." Finish paying my bill? Are you serious? I agree with your post - scrap the whole concept of tipping and build into the prices the cost of service - the rest of the World probably thinks we're chumps.
The rest of the world thinks we're chumps because we are chumps.
Hey Sumocat! Check out Henry's post. It's not a tip, it's a health care stimulus package! I'm a Keynesian that way.
"Tipping Ought to be Abolished: Let's Just Pay People More Like the Europeans Do" -- But then how will I demonstrate what a generous customer I am? Compliments and brown-nosing? I prefer to let my money do the talking and be able to choose who deserves more money than others. I'm a capitalist that way.
And about that check splitting thing. It's usually the person who initiates the dining out that does so.
There is a simple remedy for that - separate checks please.
Tired of tipping? Stick to the Drive-Thru.
Better yet, buy a restaurant so you know what you're talking about instead of living in some writer's utopia....
i agree! If you don't wan to tip, don't go to a restaurant/
How about these waiters in America, are they provided health care by their employers? (no small issue in the realm of remuneration and "economic" necessity for tipping vis-a-vis the European counterparts)
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
