Tipping has gotten out of control

[Cru Jones]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Back to the … “what is a living wage” question.

I agree with you FWIW.

It’s not complicated. Add 20% to the items on the menu. Tell people gratuity is included. Servers get a salary just like everyone else, with an occasional (not mandatory) small tip.

I don’t tip the person helping me pick clothing at a store. Why should a food server be different?

[Moondoggy]

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

It’s not complicated. Add 20% to the items on the menu. Tell people gratuity is included. Servers get a salary just like everyone else, with an occasional (not mandatory) small tip.

I don’t tip the person helping me pick clothing at a store. Why should a food server be different?

You don’t even have to add 20% there is already enough fat in it, for the business owner to pay the wait staff a decent wage.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

It’s not complicated. Add 20% to the items on the menu. Tell people gratuity is included. Servers get a salary just like everyone else, with an occasional (not mandatory) small tip.

I don’t tip the person helping me pick clothing at a store. Why should a food server be different?

Originally Posted by Moondoggy

You don’t even have to add 20% there is already enough fat in it.

And there you have it … the wait staff are already overpaid

[Moondoggy]

Originally Posted by brandrea

And there you have it … the wait staff are already overpaid

I think you misunderstood me, ie enough fat in the owner of the business already. Anyway I’m outta here too many cross wires.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Moondoggy

I think you misunderstood me.

Perhaps I did Again, I agree there are two different types of tipping being discussed here IMHO.

Tips that are extraneous… like the automatic tipping on debit / credits card transactions where no “service” is involved, and those that are paid to say a server in a restaurant.

I’m talking about the latter. If folks here are feeling like they shouldn’t pay their server a tip for whatever reason, then don’t. It’s pretty simple really

Using @cru jones example if the business wants to add 20% to the price no tip required, hopefully (fingers crossed) some of that money goes back into the hands of the wait staff, kitchen staff etc., to at least pay a meager living wage.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

I don’t tip the person helping me pick clothing at a store. Why should a food server be different?

This is the point of this thread. The person at the clothing store now demands a tip.

The bakery where I buy special made cakes and pies is family owned. Husband, wife, and daughter do everything. They have no other employees. They have automatic tips applied to the sale that I have to opt out of on a tablet. The owners expect me to tip them.

It’s become “acceptable” for people who are well paid in their industry to expect to be tipped. The reality is this new post pandemic tipping scheme is an opportunistic cash grab, nothing more. There is nothing altruistic about it.

[austinp]

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

It’s not complicated. Add 20% to the items on the menu. Tell people gratuity is included. Servers get a salary just like everyone else, with an occasional (not mandatory) small tip.

I don’t tip the person helping me pick clothing at a store. Why should a food server be different?

What do waiters make in France? I waited tables for a few years in college back in the 90s and easily made over 25$ an hour. Just curious.


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[Justinmg]

That’s why I like to pay cash, no tip question when I buy a coffee or get pizza Togo

[Kinnakeet]

The dog and cat groomer came over the other day and had the tip option set in the machine. I felt pressure with the young lady standing there looking at me while I was making the transaction. She left with a $30USD tip. I know i wasn’t forced but it was hard. It won’t happen again. Next time I’ll have a $5 bill handy. Even that’s too much.

[daveathall]

I give tips when I go to a restaurant, when I get my hair cut, when I get my car hand washed and if I get a taxi.

If I stay in a hotel I leave money for the maids etc.

I give, The milkman, window cleaner, postman and bin men (those that empty my trash) a Christmas Box of 10 quid (£10) and as far as I can remember, that's it.

If the service charge is added, I pay that and no more. On this occasion I would have paid a lot more but just paid what was suggested. Even though it was the most expensive Pie and chips I have ever had, it was the experience of the oldest restaurant in London and was worth it for that. I have never had a snarky remark at anywhere I have paid just the service charge and nothing else when added to the bill.

[Tricolore66]

The tipping in advance feels more like extortion than a gratuity, as in who knows what’s going to happen to your food if you don’t tip. The whole system has honestly made me resent people working in these jobs, not the person I like myself to be.

Originally Posted by 77T

Since the topic is tipping, I’ll stay out of the US’s safety net Discussion. True, in 13 states, a family can receive annualized support worth more than the local median household income - but there are so many valid needs that I won’t judge.

Tipping has always been a tough choice when poor fulfillment of expectations occurs. We tend to blame the messenger (i.e., waitstaff).

A $100 steak delivered “medium” when the order was “rare” is hard to pin down the root cause.

Advance tipping has now become the norm even at McD’s using ApplePay. Before the transaction can complete, the patron must choose a tip amount in many franchises.

Just saying that the technology of payment systems is also moving the needle.


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[HAPConst]

Tipping has gotten crazy. I took the family into Manhattan last week for a long weekend. I couldn’t even poop at my hotel without tipping the bathroom guy…..he had the dam toilet paper! This was the lobby bathroom, there was no guy in my room bathroom.

[sgarrity]

The kennel where I board my dogs has a tip jar on the counter. It is completely out of control.

[pickettt]

Originally Posted by sgarrity

The kennel where I board my dogs has a tip jar on the counter. It is completely out of control.

As a social experiment, I should put a tip jar in the reception area of my veterinary hospitals. “Thank you for footing the bill for the $10,000 surgery. Now, can you please, pay my staff?”

[crew]

Originally Posted by daveathall

I give tips when I go to a restaurant, when I get my hair cut, when I get my car hand washed and if I get a taxi.

If I stay in a hotel I leave money for the maids etc.

I give, The milkman, window cleaner, postman and bin men (those that empty my trash) a Christmas Box of 10 quid (£10) and as far as I can remember, that's it.

If the service charge is added, I pay that and no more. On this occasion I would have paid a lot more but just paid what was suggested. Even though it was the most expensive Pie and chips I have ever had, it was the experience of the oldest restaurant in London and was worth it for that. I have never had a snarky remark at anywhere I have paid just the service charge and nothing else when added to the bill.

Same with me, I tip everyone. However, when a service charge is added I don’t tip on top of it. If that’s what they think their service is worth who am I to disagree. IMO, it rarely works out in their favor.

[RustE]

Originally Posted by Justinmg

That’s why I like to pay cash, no tip question when I buy a coffee or get pizza Togo

There’s a really good pizza place by me that’s pick-up only. They give two prices over the phone, cash or credit. Usually I take cash in the amount of the credit price and leave the difference as a tip. The staff at the front counter are always friendly and double-check your order in front of you before handing it over.

[AzPaul]

Glad I'm such a good cook.

[RichardBartlett]

I'm in Japan ATM. Tipping is considered disrespectful here

[INC]

You know all what came in my mind after I read your opinions and experiences?

Maybe I'm wrong in it, but this kind of behaviour you all mentioned seems like to hide the inflation, and the incredible huge raising of the prices. Without the tipping the economy could look like there was nothing changed, but in the end you have to pay 15-20% more then you had to pay formerly. Maybe that's what you can feel as an UNFAIR method as this way the tipping became a hidden but huge price increasing.

And probably that's what is against to the fair trade policies or at least the mentality of the citizens in the US.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by INC

You know all what came in my mind after I read your opinions and experiences?

Maybe I'm wrong in it, but this kind of behaviour you all mentioned seems like to hide the inflation, and the incredible huge raising of the prices. Without the tipping the economy could look like there was nothing changed, but in the end you have to pay 15-20% more then you had to pay formerly. Maybe that's what you can feel as an UNFAIR method as this way the tipping became a hidden but huge price increasing.

And probably that's what is against to the fair trade policies or at least the mentality of the citizens in the US.

Camouflaging their pricing as tips may be strategy for some. But, they are raising prices at least as much as inflation, plus the new mandatory tips.

[Blansky]

I think a lot of the corporate shenanigans is simply the times.

At one time businesses considered their employees as an asset.

Now as the world corporatized, employees are on the ledger as a liability.

At one time business owners knew their employees and cared about them, as the world corporatized, employees are considered merely a number on a balance sheet in the quest to maximize profits.

Simply, the less we pay them, the more money we make. Or let someone else pay them.

[joli160]

Originally Posted by Blansky

I think a lot of the corporate shenanigans is simply the times.

At one time businesses considered their employees as an asset.

Now as the world corporatized, employees are on the ledger as a liability.

At one time business owners knew their employees and cared about them, as the world corporatized, employees are considered merely a number on a balance sheet in the quest to maximize profits.

Yes, very sad and that attitude does not create a good society

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by Blansky

I think a lot of the corporate shenanigans is simply the times.

At one time businesses considered their employees as an asset.

Now as the world corporatized, employees are on the ledger as a liability.

At one time business owners knew their employees and cared about them, as the world corporatized, employees are considered merely a number on a balance sheet in the quest to maximize profits.

Simply, the less we pay them, the more money we make. Or let someone else pay them.

I’m not seeing many tip demands at Corporate offices. Mostly, it’s small businesses.

Companies in my area are paying well post pandemic. We had an employee shortage in this region and many companies significantly raised wages to attract new employees. I was given some very tempting offers to unretire.

While the corporate greed mantra is ever popular, the companies I was exposed to treated their employees quite well. It was usually the small family owned businesses that skimped on salary and benefits.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Maleg

I’m not seeing many tip demands at Corporate offices. Mostly, it’s small businesses.

Companies in my area are paying well post pandemic. We had an employee shortage in this region and many companies significantly raised wages to attract new employees. I was given some very tempting offers to unretire.

While the corporate greed mantra is ever popular, the companies I was exposed to treated their employees quite well. It was usually the small family owned businesses that skimped on salary and benefits.

Probably the majority of the “tipping” issue is tied into the food services industries and hospitality industries.

The majority of the lobbying money against xxxx as the minimum wage comes from food/restaurant giants and hotel chains and is directly at politicians to keep minimum wages low.

Your corporate experiences may not reflect this. And any “ employee shortage” will usually generate wage increases, while that shortage exists.

[330ci]

Originally Posted by daveathall

I give tips when I go to a restaurant, when I get my hair cut, when I get my car hand washed and if I get a taxi.

If I stay in a hotel I leave money for the maids etc.

I give, The milkman, window cleaner, postman and bin men (those that empty my trash) a Christmas Box of 10 quid (£10) and as far as I can remember, that's it.

If the service charge is added, I pay that and no more. On this occasion I would have paid a lot more but just paid what was suggested. Even though it was the most expensive Pie and chips I have ever had, it was the experience of the oldest restaurant in London and was worth it for that. I have never had a snarky remark at anywhere I have paid just the service charge and nothing else when added to the bill.

So it says "discretionary service charge" and at the bottom it says you're not obligated to pay it?

I feel like that would've pissed me off and I would have requested it be removed just based on principle.

Either have a mandatory 12.5% gratuity, increase employees pay 12.5% and prices across the board and leave the gratuity out of the equation, or leave a tip line with a recommended tip tier.

The addition of an optional charge just seems ludicrous. Having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept over here.

[daveathall]

Originally Posted by 330ci

So it says "discretionary service charge" and at the bottom it says you're not obligated to pay it?

I feel like that would've pissed me off and I would have requested it be removed just based on principle.

Either have a mandatory 12.5% gratuity, increase employees pay 12.5% and prices across the board and leave the gratuity out of the equation, or leave a tip line with a recommended tip tier.

The addition of an optional charge just seems ludicrous. Having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept over here.

Are you saying that you would have asked for it to be removed and then give no tip at all?

Edit to add: I don't like the cheek of adding a service charge either, I would rather leave what I want, which would normally be more than what they add. But, I wouldn't leave nothing.

[JTL31]

The locksmith I used this week had various tips to choose for him when I paid my bill. I thought that was overkill. Thankfully the electricians & plumber didn’t do the same thing.

[330ci]

Originally Posted by daveathall

Are you saying that you would have asked for it to be removed and then give no tip at all?

Edit to add: I don't like the cheek of adding a service charge either, I would rather leave what I want, which would normally be more than what they add. But, I wouldn't leave nothing.

I've never not left a tip in my life, but if I lived in a society that didn't deem tipping a requirement, and they added a discretionary tip to the bill; regardless of what I would've tipped. I would request it be removed. and until my tip was left up to my discretion. They would be removing discretionary tips every time.

Just seems like a dirty practice. If that's what the owners and waitstaff feel is best for their establishment, I would not have a problem taking my money back.

A mandatory tip for a party is understandable, a discretionary tip for a couple just seems abhorrent in principle. Its either a tip or not. I might make a concession and pay it if the manager would agree to admitting they slap it onto every ticket because they choose not to pay their staff enough money in the first place. But I won't be in the UK anytime soon, I'll continue paying my 40-150% tips on my meals here in the US or throw my buck in the jar when I get carryout.

Why hasn't the tipping scene from reservoir dogs made it into this thread yet. ��

[Andy0331]

Mr. Pink is rolling over in his grave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWW4ZJYNahY

Joking aside, I'm disappointed in the "expansion" of tipping. Yes, during the pandemic, I made a point to overtip; often matching or exceeding the bill amount. But that's because I was not negatively affected financially & actually had even more income than before. I did it to help an show appreciation when they were "down".

Now, service is worse across the board & everyone & their brother expects a tip.

[RichardBartlett]

My dad would often give tips
"Look both ways before you crossed the road" was his favourite