Tipping: A lost art, science and freedom
On Facebook today, I saw a link to this article. It talks about signs that you aren't going to get tipped. It made me think. Let me start by saying that, yes, most people of my generation do not know how to tip. Tipping is the polite thing to do. However, I am going to go out on a limb here and say something else: You don't tip because waitstaff are paid low wages. You tip because they earned the tip. Waitstaff are not entitled to a tip. Just like I am not entitled to a bonus or a raise each year. If I don't do my job to a minimum level of satisfaction, I don't get a raise. If I do my job particularly well, I get a bigger raise. If wait staff doesn't do their job to a minimum level of satisfaction, they do not deserve a tip. If they do their job particularly well, they get a bigger tip. Tipping is the way for the customer to give the waitstaff feedback.
Even though I fit one of the categories in the article (I order all beef products well done), I am a very generous tipper. If the wait staff does their job to a minimum level of satisfaction, they get a 20% tip. No questions asked. If I am particularly impressed with how well they do their job, they easily get 25% to even 30%. I once even gave a 35% tip when I was extremely impressed. However, if I am particularly struck by you doing your job badly, I will also exercise my right to not tip. Actually, I'm meaner than that. I want them to know that they are not getting tipped, not that I forgot (or that I'm a millennial and just don't know about tipping). So, they will get a extremely low tip. Like less than 5% tip.
I also tip in general. I tip the lady who cuts my hair. I tip the people at the airport. I tip. Period.
I am also not picky on service. I have only done my mean-tip once, and the waitress was rude, ignored us (we made eye contact and asked her to come over, and she turned and went the other way), and was generally bad at her job.
However, I take umbrage when restaurants calculate the tip in as "gratuity." Especially when they see that I'm a millennial and put it in as "gratuity," but don't usually, assuming that I don't know how to tip because I'm 23-years-old. FYI, you usually are just hurting yourself, because, as established, my base-level tip is 20%. So you calculating out the 15% tip? See what I'm saying. But the point is that I should be able to tip how I like. Otherwise I have no way of giving you feedback. I'm a nice feedback giver. If I am at a place of business (store, car place, restaurant, you name it), and one of their associates does a particularly good job, I will go out of my way to find their manager and let them know that their employee did a good job. Or, I will find a way to get a note to them. I think that you should be rewarded for that. But don't take away my feedback giving.
Even though I fit one of the categories in the article (I order all beef products well done), I am a very generous tipper. If the wait staff does their job to a minimum level of satisfaction, they get a 20% tip. No questions asked. If I am particularly impressed with how well they do their job, they easily get 25% to even 30%. I once even gave a 35% tip when I was extremely impressed. However, if I am particularly struck by you doing your job badly, I will also exercise my right to not tip. Actually, I'm meaner than that. I want them to know that they are not getting tipped, not that I forgot (or that I'm a millennial and just don't know about tipping). So, they will get a extremely low tip. Like less than 5% tip.
I also tip in general. I tip the lady who cuts my hair. I tip the people at the airport. I tip. Period.
I am also not picky on service. I have only done my mean-tip once, and the waitress was rude, ignored us (we made eye contact and asked her to come over, and she turned and went the other way), and was generally bad at her job.
However, I take umbrage when restaurants calculate the tip in as "gratuity." Especially when they see that I'm a millennial and put it in as "gratuity," but don't usually, assuming that I don't know how to tip because I'm 23-years-old. FYI, you usually are just hurting yourself, because, as established, my base-level tip is 20%. So you calculating out the 15% tip? See what I'm saying. But the point is that I should be able to tip how I like. Otherwise I have no way of giving you feedback. I'm a nice feedback giver. If I am at a place of business (store, car place, restaurant, you name it), and one of their associates does a particularly good job, I will go out of my way to find their manager and let them know that their employee did a good job. Or, I will find a way to get a note to them. I think that you should be rewarded for that. But don't take away my feedback giving.
Comments