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We need to rethink our tipping habits
Commentator David Sax.
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TEXT OF COMMENTARY
David Sax: When my parents were younger, they took a trip to New York City and Katz's delicatessen.
TESS VIGELAND: If we wanted more letters from you, we couldn't think of a better topic than tipping. Here's commentator David Sax.
Sax: As they placed their orders along the counter, my mother saw a sign right next to a cup overflowing with dollar bills that said "Do Not Tip the Countermen." When she got to the table, she noticed her pastrami sandwich was half the size of my father's. "Why is your sandwich so much bigger?" she asked him. "Because I tipped."
Tipping is an awkward, opaque, gray area of our economy, and it's time to rethink it. Though we couch it in the notion that we are leaving a monetary symbol of heartfelt thanks, we are simply paying someone's salary because their employer will not or cannot. Somehow, it's become our responsibility to directly pay the disparity between their income and their financial needs.
Then there's the constant social pressure to tip more, more, more -- disconnected from the quality of the service. Used to be, a 15 percent tip on top of the pre-tax total of a meal was standard for competent service. This has been my baseline for nearly a decade. But I've lately been told that 20 percent is the new baseline, that 15 percent is for cheapskates and that I should really give 25 percent if I'm happy with the service. That's one quarter of the price of my meal... Oh, and now it's expected to be on top of tax.
How soon until 30 percent is the new benchmark, and for truly great service, I should really cough up half the cost of my meal? If these escalating tips translated into better service, maybe I wouldn't be so alarmed. Every meal, haircut and taxi ride ought to be better than the last.
But they're not. Even when the waiter forgets our order, the barber butchers our bangs and the cab driver hits several cats, we still tip at least the minimum. Withholding a tip is unacceptable, and only the worst penny pinchers do so. Tipping either has to be mandatory or it isn't, but don't pretend as though we have a choice, when we really don't.
Perhaps it's time that America took example from Japan, Europe and most other nations where gratuity and service are built into the price of the bill. We already do it for parties of six or more, so why not apply it to everyone? If 20 percent is the accepted standard for meals, then add 20 percent to my bill and let's put it out in the open. Why not a penalty system? We'll start off with 20 percent and if the waiter spills wine on you, take off 2 percent, if he spills hot oil, 10 percent. And if the service is truly exceptional, I'll still leave a little something extra to say thanks.
Vigeland: David Sax is a writer living in New York. His new book is titled "Save the Deli." OK bring it on, light our inbox on fire.
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As a consumer and as a business owner, I find tipping way and beyond what is expected of the consumer. I do not like tipping plus ,do not like being strong armed into helping the business directly pay his or her employees. My employees do not get tipped but I try to pay them what is reasonable wage.
As the price of eating out goes up, my eating out goes down as my tip now is 20% of the billand has been for a while. I like to eat at nice restaurants, normally small local ones and know they need tips to survive, I've been there years ago. But I would really prefer the French way where everything is included and you tip a couple of extra $ if the service was above average.
One problem with the tipping system is that it is an ineffective way of Insuring Proper Service. The lousy waiter will likely think that I am a cheapskate because I left little or no tip (which I rarely do); he will not learn how to improve his service, or maybe even care.
In my opinion, workers should receive a fair salary to begin with and tips should be an extra recognition for good service. If my tip is compensating for the server's pitiful wages, then logically the tip should be based on the time I occupy the table and require the server's attention rather than some notion of service quality. Lest anyone think that I am a skinflint, let me say that I generally adhere to the 15%-20% standard, with a bias in favor of those servers in restaurants where the meal is less costly.
I eat 100's of meals out a year as a truck driver. I have ALWAYS tipped on service/food quality. If I ask for crispy bacon and the waiter/waitress brings me limp undercooked bacon, it means they didn't relay the info to the cook/or the cook didn't read the ticket.
I have left nothing as a tip, a few cents, and I have tipped $20 on a $6 meal.
Tip jars for fast food workers, are not likely to get much from me just because they really didn't provide me with service. Especially at Subway where the hammer you with the "Would you like extra: meat/cheese/bacon etc... on your sandwich. NO I DON'T.
Service is key!!!
I agree that tipping isn't logical when one pays a much larger tip based on the expensive meal for the same labor that was given at the local cafe. My husband and I frequently share a meal, but tip more because the waitstaff did just as much work as if we'd ordered two meals. When my friends and I take up a table talking for more than what would be considered normal we always tip more because the waitstaff might have earned more if the table had been turned. Whatever the bill we rarely leave less than $2 per person. Having said all this: I will forgo a tip entirely if the service is bad, the waitstaff unbearable, or if we're forgotten. I also make an attempt to speak to the manager.
I still don't understand tipping in the United States. Restaurants have become easy because the "suggested gratuity" is often printed right on the cash register ticket. But how much is correct for the service of a store clerk? When I tipped $5 after buying a pair of Levi's, I got a very funny look! And I was so sure the tip was rather generous!
agreed! i wrote something similar a while back:
<a href="http://snarfed.org/space/tipping">http://snarfed.org/space/tipping</a>
As a former server/bar tender at a lower-middle priced establishment, after tips I averaged well over $20 per hour. This was way more than I could have made at any other job. The current tipping system is insulting to every ordinary Joe out there that is working in construction, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.
What skills did I have that my minimum wage customers did not that would justify my making double their wage?
I would feel terrible getting a dollar tip for reaching down, grabbing a beer, and opening it for a guy that needed to work 10 minutes shoveling rock to earn that dollar.
Tipping needs to be based on time invested. If a waiter is constantly helping me, and he/she spends half an hour serving my table, a $4 tip seems fair, regardless of the size of the bill.
I don't mind the extra cost of tipping. It's being aware of the guidelines that drives me crazy, especially with holiday tipping. I'm never sure if I'm tipping too little or too much, or if I'm one of the few in the midwest who tips during the holidays. Any decent guidelines out there?
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