should there be more tipping or less tipping

service workers who get tipped should be getting regular paychecks instead

oh shit dude

I think tipping should be expanded as a social practice because it's a good way to get money out of rich people, like every interaction w/ them we can try and guilt them into tipping us, the whole economy can be constructed on guilting rich people into tipping / making them feel good about themselves for tipping

Tipple down economy

Obv answer should be reg paychecks, optional tipping, 10% standard practice

10% is cheap

service workers who get tipped should be getting regular paychecks instead

Not if tipping isnt part of your 'paycheck' xp

I'm okay with tipping in Amurrica. Restaurants would likely pay less per hour than a big part of their waitstaff makes now.

service workers who get tipped should be getting regular paychecks instead

this, but since they don't (and they never will) tipping should be expanded as a practice as much as possible. because service jobs suck. I am also one of those people who think the people with the worst jobs (janitors, teachers, ditch diggers, etc.) should be the highest paid

I always tip my ditch digger

I guess the idea in the US is that the customer is in a better position to determine the quality of the service in a busy restaurant than management. However for the most part customers are fucking idiots who should not be determining how much a human being earns doing their job. If a waiter does a terrible job, let the consequences work like they do in almost every other industry; loudmouthed customers can complain if they're unhappy.

framing it like "tipping is stupid" rather than "it being legal to pay service workers less than minimum wage is stupid" just made dmac look like a typical non-tipper

i got into a huge argument with an (american!) friend of mine whose father never tipped because "you don't tip teachers, why tip waiters", and he wouldn't believe me when i told him waiters make as little as $2 and change hourly. he wasn't having any of it.

i don't really think of tipping as a correction to a substandard wage. not all people working in the service industry make awful wages but i wouldn't devalue their tip if i knew they were well-paid, and i would think that someone who did was being perverse. i like tipping, feels gentlemanly or something

Mordy OTM.

Paychecks should compensate workers, including service workers, which means they def ought to be higher in the USA than they currently are for almost every job, but esp restaurant jobs. tips should still happen on top of those higher paychecks, but more as a thanks for good service than a social obligation and economic necessity.

so yeah waiters should be making a real minimum wage but also minimum wage should be raised to actually reflect inflation over the past like four decades too

worth mentioning that service minimum wage has hardly been adjusted for inflation at all compared to normal minimum wage

the argument i've used vs vocal non-tippers is like that of wearing a dark suit at a funeral. i know it's such a huuuge pain and you didn't like the guy much and you aren't legitimately that sad, but, fuck you, wear the suit

it's a comment box slam dunk!

"and they never will"

This isnt some crazy dream yknow

Xp zach, it was more a "the US system where the onus is on tips to make a living wage is appallingly dumb" which i hopefully expressed sufficiently well there for ya not to worry about my personal habits

there's some horse-cart business going on w/ tipping, since the practice of tipping was i believe justification for setting the minimum wage for those jobs lower than the min-wage generally

i guess the slamdunk case for tipping is that capitalism exploits all labor so why not keep that screwing as explicit as possible? everyone should only get paid in tips and the hard heels of capitalist boots.

this is kinda another subject but in a world where say the govt mandated $15/h wages for servers I think you'd see a ton of iPads (etc) in lower end restaurants doing more and more of the order-side work. we might regardless.

wingtips imo

i'm really against tipping as this ugly practice that demeans everybody but if you offered the choice of "we're going to raise your salary and prices to compensate but that means you're going to get fully taxed on it" vs. "you can sneakily declare less tips than you actually got." no one's going to take #1.

pay the poor buggers a basic wage and stop forcing them to behave like performing seals

surm to thread

eh people should probably pay their taxes

what if we were like: "you can get paid the full value of your work but we will fire you and have an ipad robot do your job instead" OR "you can get paid shit and be grateful you have a job in 8% unemployment, serf," which do you think ppl would take?

http://i.imgur.com/ghKbViy.jpg

well it depends if they are a robot

The assumption that increasing to a living wage somehow stops tips dead has not rly been borne out in the first world, folks

I have an idea, we can write a law to make tipping progressive like taxes, when you go to a restaurant your tax bracket will be encoded into your credit card and your tip will be based on your tax rate

people who generally need tips probably shouldn't pay taxes on it.

I figure a waiter at per se will probably start clearing 6 figures then, even the busboys, but somebody who works at Golden Dragon's Empire Buffet will probably fail to clear $10k =(

if minimum wage became mandatory restaurants would just charge more for food like they do everywhere else in the world iirc

To pay the wages of their staff? Jesus, the very fukn thought huh

Do you tip carpet cleaners?

minimum wage is mandatory in CA I think. Still tipping going on. I think the only real way tipping can go away is if enough people agree to tip a constant amount regardless of service, and it became enough of a social expectation that it would be equivalent to a mandatory service charge.

Having worked as a server in a high end restaurant for the last couple of years, I feel obliged to contribute to this topic. Servers definitely make out better under a tipping system than they would if you replaced tips with some kind of skill commensurate hourly wage. However, the truth is, if you actually replaced the tipping system with a skill commensurate hourly wage, almost nobody would bother to be a server. Cause for that kind of money, you could just do something easy and relatively stress free like retail or back of the house or like "tip jar" kind of jobs. I've worked all of these kinds of jobs, and being a server is definitely the hardest, but it's also the only one in which you can make pretty good money, thanks to the tipping system. And this is even allowing for the free-rider problem of bad tippers.

Thanks peacock.

Can you maybe postulate why eg uk restaurants manage to find servers?

there aren't actually any restaurants in the UK, just bars and waitroses and tescos

off licenses iirc

The assumption that increasing to a living wage somehow stops tips dead has not rly been borne out in the first world, folks

^ ^ ^

lol America

sp to darraghmac

Something is obviously very different outside the United States and I don't know exactly what it is. So no I can't postulate, but I know there must be an explanation.

I do know that I don't know any servers that would do this job for less than $20/hr, and I can't imagine the tipping system being replaced with that kind of wage in America.

however people define 'living wage' it's prob not California's 7.50 / h so really any other min wage in America

I know lots of people who would do any non-sex industry job for 20/h

Fair enough i dunno how that works out relative to ave income or w/e over there, but ppl queue for those jobs here atm on an hourly income (less tips!) that, at a guess, doesnt clear half the avg industrial wage

and any sex industry job for free amirite???

everyone should tip me for my great posts on ILX about tipping

I give 10% of my earnings to god etc

a lot of places pool tips (and I'm assuming that increases the likelihood the full amount will be reported) but I'm a big fan of pay by CC/tip in cash just in case.

also something to consider is that if you didn't have a tipping system, it could become easier for the waitstaff; instead of only assigning one waiter per table, you could have like a free-floating system where any table can flag down any waiter for service, you could have waitstaff whose only job it was is to bring food to a table and to clear tables, etc.

iow the role of the busboy could be greatly expanded

*just revealed to ILX that I've never waited a table in my life*

but i only want to be served by brad with the cute eyes

Wait

If i want something in a restaurant in the US icve to wait for a partic server?

Are you serious

sorta just drawing on my experience in having eaten at restaurants where there was no tipping. the food came out just as quickly! and it was great food! and I was able to order extra drinks and appetizers with little hassle! and I didn't leave a tip! I didn't leave a tip!

it creeps me out that five guys has a tip jar but in-n-out doesn't. I'm not sure who is right.

I've never worked in a place that pooled tips, but it seems pretty ideal as long as you trust your co-workers. I can only imagine it would reduce a lot of the anxiety that comes with the job.

I do know that I don't know any servers that would do this job for less than $20/hr, and I can't imagine the tipping system being replaced with that kind of wage in America.

I don't know how it would shake out if we went to a salary system. It would hurt the good waiters at 'nice' places the most - a flyover state place that's now $50 for 2 people on average probably isn't going to raise prices enough to pay waiters $20/hour. Applebee's/et al. probably couldn't find waitstaff at or near minimum wage who could run the restaurant effectively and couldn't raise prices because who the fuck is going to Applebee's when they're now $50/couple?

fuck applebees. they can go to chez panisse (18% mandatory service charge -- suck it!)

also something to consider is that if you didn't have a tipping system, it could become easier for the waitstaff; instead of only assigning one waiter per table, you could have like a free-floating system where any table can flag down any waiter for service, you could have waitstaff whose only job it was is to bring food to a table and to clear tables, etc.

If i want something in a restaurant in the US icve to wait for a partic server?

Are you serious

― b'hurt's tauntin' (darraghmac), Thursday, January 31, 2013 7:31 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

not only that but the server actually pretends to care about your life and your personal well-being, before trying to upsell you on the 2-for-1 watermelon daiquiri margaritas and wouldn't you also like to try the deep fried cajun breadfood?

well customers never like anything xp

I dont know that you'd see an argument for any existing industry to move to a tipping system so that costs could be lowered to an artificial level.

Why argue for the retention of such a system where it exists?

when they get rid of tipping there will be no extra value associated with being an 'experienced waiter,' that will be a fact of life that everybody will have to accept for the good of society, people will move on

if you get takeout and the restaurant has a person taking all calls and preparing all takeouts, do you tip? less interested in the 'should there be tipping?' debate b/c that won't change. am more interested in knowing what exactly I am supposed to tip for since every place includes a tip line in the receipt you sign if paying with card.

TGI fridays tried out a pretty clumsy sounding system tbph

I would tip the cashier at taco bell if there was a 'tip: ______' line on the receipt

I tip the person i take the food from if i collect a takeout, yeah

if you get takeout and the restaurant has a person taking all calls and preparing all takeouts, do you tip? less interested in the 'should there be tipping?' debate b/c that won't change. am more interested in knowing what exactly I am supposed to tip for since every place includes a tip line in the receipt you sign if paying with card.

― that Django got me Nuages (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, January 31, 2013 7:42 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

basically any time any body does you a service ever you should tip 40%

tip your library circulation desk worker!

Tip your traffic cop 20%

should I tip my dental hygienist?

man this thread moves so fast.

But I imagine even at a flyover Applesbees where you're looking at $50 checks and 10% tips as standard. In a four to six table section, they're probably still clearing better than $15/hr. With cost of living taken into account, that's probably pretty good. It's probably better money than working at the flyover Walmart.

I dont know that you'd see an argument for any existing industry to move to a tipping system so that costs could be lowered to an artificial level.

Why argue for the retention of such a system where it exists?

Flip that around - why should we radically disrupt the restaurant industry and move to a salary scale? How does the change benefit workers?

so many hands involved in a good burrito assembly line. who gets the tip? dude spooning out the chicken if he's generous.

I don't think Applebee's has a $25 PPA - I would guess checks are more like $25/two-top and average out to $30-35.

I don't think you should tip the take-out person at a restaurant. It's usually someone making a decent hourly wage. That said, if there is a tip jar, I always put $1 in, no matter what the cost of my food or beverage.

tipping is a virus that is spreading and must be stopped

Yeah it's probably more like $15.00 ppa. You're right.

a bat tipped a pig. the butcher touched the pig's tip and didn't wash his hands. the butcher shook hands with your dude. tipping pandemic

tip your used car salesman

he's doing you a service!

when I worked at Great Harvest Bread in high school, I had to cut the customer a slice of bread of their choosing. this one dude always tipped me $1.

I can't figure out how to guess at what ending tipping would mean for food costs

Anecdotally, one place I worked at, on a Friday night, had seven hour shifts with 15 waiters (3 or 4 table sections), 3-4 hostesses, 3 bussers, 2 food runners.
Gross sales/waiter were $1000+, we'd walk with $125-150 after tip-out (2001 $$$). Hostesses, bussers and food runners got the same $2.13 as waiters and a set percentage of tip-out.

Hourly labor costs move from $52 to $325-330.

(based on $17.50/hour, which would be low these days)

if a customer came in and didn't pronounce 'asiago' as 'asagio' I sometimes felt like tipping that customer

so many hands involved in a good burrito assembly line. who gets the tip? dude spooning out the chicken if he's generous.

― that Django got me Nuages (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, January 31, 2013 7:50 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

usually gets spread evenly at the end of the shift

tip jars are awesome at minimum wage jobs, i'd always forget about it and then end up with an extra hour's worth of pay

america would just become a land of diners. fuck this stupid country.

Not 'how does it benefit workers', more 'why is this particular element of the costs of a meal so different?'

There are more than workers in the transaction, for a start. It sees a nonsensical and needless extra PITA at the end of the bill, particularly so if it's 'automatic' yet also subject to change based on service. Why get all management accountant on just one particular cost? Why then not leave the whole cost of the meal down to the customer's satisfaction? Why leave a living wage down to chance/uncertain generosity?

It's not really about whether the staff are better or worse off, as a criticism- we'll all quote anecdotes and argue the toss on that anyway

It's not actually a PITA at all is the thing. Tipping is actually really, really easy - if you're a functioning adult, you have enough experience with both numbers and dining out to get in the 15-20% ballpark without thinking.
Automatic gratuities are just that - 15-20% specified on the menu by the restaurant. They come up automatically (or with a manager's approval) and aren't "subject to change based on service" - unless a server rolls the dice and overrides the grat, assuming the person paying will tip better than the set percentage.

It should be about whether the staff are better or worse off if arguments are going to start with the savagery of not paying service jobs real wages.

Maybe I'm overestimating the mathematical abilities of the average person, tho, since people have created apps to tell people how much to tip.

I dony understand any of yr examples enough to countermand them. Sorry. Promise i'm a functioning adult tho.

Again, i'll repeat that a living minimum wage does not magically make tipping stop. I feel this has been assumed in yr posts, giving you idk prob 10-15% leeway in your argument that ppl are better off working for 2 bucks and hour and goodwill as opposed to say five times that and goodwill.

but the cost to the restaurant would be increased and they wouldn't make as much money or they might have to raise prices do you see

If I am served via dance off, do I tip the dancer?

Through the garter iirc

How is this not a frogbs thread?

does frogbs have to tip you now?

obviously

some of this depends on how yr doin generally. like, if you are richly blessed and work a job you fuckin love and make better money than you could legit have expected to make if it weren't for some lucky breaks and people doin you a solid here and there, then you better tip the shit out of every waiter/waitress/cabbie/doorman you meet or I judge the living shit out of you

No arguments, tipping is AGL and one i subscribe to

'here, directly pay our frontline staff wages, we can't honestly be fucked to do so' is less so imo

Again, i'll repeat that a living minimum wage does not magically make tipping stop. I feel this has been assumed in yr posts, giving you idk prob 10-15% leeway in your argument that ppl are better off working for 2 bucks and hour and goodwill as opposed to say five times that and goodwill.

Let's be real - if you increase restaurant prices 15-20% to pay servers what they make right now, tipping will stop in the US. If prices increase 12% to bump waiters up to a slightly-above minimum wage, tipping will still be pretty much dead, because the asshole family at Applebee's figures $9.50/hr is plenty for the college kid waiting on them.

That it continues to exist in other cultures is fine - but that's been the norm, so no one bats an eye. If you announce to the entire population of the US that now servers will be making a decent wage, no one will make a meaningful amount from tips. It will be like Starbucks or a deli - maybe an extra hour's worth of income at the end of the day.

so just change the parameters of the job so that it's not that much more taxing than working at starbucks or a deli, no biggie

some of this depends on how yr doin generally. like, if you are richly blessed and work a job you fuckin love and make better money than you could legit have expected to make if it weren't for some lucky breaks and people doin you a solid here and there, then you better tip the shit out of every waiter/waitress/cabbie/doorman you meet or I judge the living shit out of you

― available for sporting events (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 1 February 2013 01:39 (12 minutes ago) Permalink

this works nicely w/ my rich people should tip literally everyone they meet proposal

also I think what would be more likely than milo's 'asshole family resents server now that he gets paid $9.50/h' is 'asshole family still tips but eats out less because it's more expensive to eat out'

I think it's a lot harder to anticipate the effects of changing the tip system to server wages than some of you are thinking. I mean, restaurants currently generally give servers anywhere from a 3 table section at a conservatively managed restaurant to as large as an 8 table section at a place like IHOP. But you can give servers 3 table sections because you can afford to have like 10 to 20 servers working because they don't cost you anything. But if you have to start paying them what you pay your dishwasher, then you might very well decide you don't actually need that many servers, and so 3 table restaurants become 8 table restaurants and you get IHOP level service just about everywhere. (I don't mean this as any implied knock on IHOP servers. I know they work hard and often bus their own tables even, but 8 tables is madness and it requires superhuman skill to provide great service to that many tables at once.)

People tip grudgingly, often because they're shamed if they don't. That shame would disappear under a salary system.

So people will eat out less and not tip.

I've probably said this before but what perplexes me is that we tip almost the same percentage in Canada as people do in the US, even though server wages are sometimes four times as much AND restaurant prices are higher. Anyway, my vote was for

service workers who get tipped should be getting regular paychecks instead

I've probably said this before but what perplexes me is that we tip almost the same percentage in Canada as people do in the US, even though server wages are sometimes four times as much AND restaurant prices are higher

AND taxes are higher (some of which goes to servers' health care)

I wonder if canada has fewer restaurants per capita / fewer restaurant workers per capita

also something to consider is that if you didn't have a tipping system, it could become easier for the waitstaff; instead of only assigning one waiter per table, you could have like a free-floating system where any table can flag down any waiter for service, you could have waitstaff whose only job it was is to bring food to a table and to clear tables, etc.

well lots of places have started tip-pooling, particularly medium to high end places. i dont think this makes things any easier for servers but it does help ensure better/more seamless service for patrons, all of whom are disgusting savages

what do you tip @ tim horton's?

also servers in canada still make less than provincial minimum wage, which is why you still tip

I realize that server wages are less than the regular minimum wage. I'm just questioning why we tip the same percentage that people do in the US.

why would you tip less?

"Tipping is actually really, really easy - if you're a functioning adult, you have enough experience with both numbers and dining out to get in the 15-20% ballpark without thinking."

in check splits, one guy usually gets stuck with covering the majority of the tip because the other functioning adults (often white collar professionals who work with numbers all day long) couldn't do this. sales tax also a curveball. some places deliberately price food so that it comes out to an even number with tax -- they should extend this to include tip.

I think tipping should be expanded as a social practice because it's a good way to get money out of rich people, like every interaction w/ them we can try and guilt them into tipping us, the whole economy can be constructed on guilting rich people into tipping / making them feel good about themselves for tipping

Ahhhahahahaha, guilt them into tipping, right.

well the transition to a guilt based economy will take time

well that's kind of what we have right now, though right?

Voted 'blah blah' cos i've known a lot of servers over the years and if you know what you are doing and work the busy shifts you can clean up. Then again i don't have much experience outside of America so maybe it is way cooler to have a paycheck.

One of the things i value highly in life is leaving a good tip. I figure if you are going into a place of business where they tip, you should take care of the people serving you. I usually just ballpark 20% in my head (seems easier that way, $10 is 2 bucks, $20 is 4, etc.) and leave that or higher. Often i'll get a coffee and tip a dollar cos i make my coffee at home if i want to save money.

i tip bartenders very well

LOL @ guilting rich people to tip. If only it were that easy, the entire economy would be a completely different story.

the longer it gets since the last time i waited tables, the more strangely unsettling it is when I find myself out to dinner with someone who waits tables for a living now. they get REAL SERIOUS about leaving a huge tip. and i usually tip 20-25% anyway but the telegraphed camaraderie of the whole act is kind of a weird thing to witness.

fwiw i work a (mostly) desk job that is (mostly) sales/project management and maybe two or three clients a year will give me $100 - $200 in an envelope at the end of their event. (This happened more like 6-7 times a year before the '08 crash)

Is there a tip jar out at establishments where they're not bringing food to your table, besides in New York? cuz that is sooooome bullshit.

Milo, tipping continues at around 10-15 % avg elsewhere ime despite yr assertion that it it would die a death in the US with the introduction of a decent minimum wage. Idk why 'let's be real' in this case translates to 'let's assert the opposite of the likely outcome'.

Would fewer people eat out, would they tip less, would servers clear less after tax, would cyborgs be developed to wait tables? Likely enough, except for the last one, but to the extent of the tumbleweeding of the industry? Nah.

Also with the whole 'absurdly low wage is the only way the job is worth keeping to the employer' is yknow a worrying argument imo, and i'm not sure the history of mankind or economics would support it tbh

Is there a tip jar out at establishments where they're not bringing food to your table, besides in New York? cuz that is sooooome bullshit.

― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Friday, February 1, 2013 3:23 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are establishments where they bring food to your table with tip jars?

Saw that at a concession in a bingo parlour in Sarnia, Ontario: Pay $0.50 to the woman at a cash register, she gives you a styrofoam cup and points the way to the coffee pots, where you pour your own - and discover another cup optimistically labeled "TIPS...Thank You". It was empty.

xpost

Is there a tip jar out at establishments where they're not bringing food to your table, besides in New York?

This is basically it, where I live. Cafes and lower end restaurants all have a tip jar on the counter. Ppl will chuck the change in it or a dollar or 2 if theyre feeling generous.

Our minimum wage is something like $16p/h and places that have been caught charging less, like $10/hr (the horror!) have been fined and legally forced to back pay the staff in question.

Is there a tip jar out at establishments where they're not bringing food to your table, besides in New York? cuz that is sooooome bullshit.

I see this often enough, e.g. at the Second Cup (Canadian version of Starbucks) in the nearest mall. I usually see coins in the cup but I don't think there's an expectation of an automatic cup.

"automatic tip"

not only that but the server actually pretends to care about your life and your personal well-being, before trying to upsell you on the 2-for-1 watermelon daiquiri margaritas and wouldn't you also like to try the deep fried cajun breadfood?

― 乒乓, Friday, 1 February 2013 00:39 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

for fuck sake I go out to eat to talk to my friends and family - who I don't see anywhere near often enough - I don't want to waste that precious time being blethered at by some exuberantly tipfishing jack-in-the-box... I don't think I'd like America. ( continue, this is the end of the grumpy old man's ranting ).

tipping is not normal here in ireland or whatever, although the opportunity is always there and exceptional service deserves *something*

Tipping is normal here

Tipping is very normal in Ireland, in many but not all circumstances (I never tipped cabbies regularly until I got to London, and never got called up on it by anyone I was sharing a taxi with)

LOL @ guilting rich people to tip. If only it were that easy, the entire economy would be a completely different story.

Tipple down economics!

Feel like I rarely see people tipping in Ireland, and only ever in a restaurant. At Christmas I tipped the server in a pub (with table service), she seemed quite surprised.

When I'm in the US I feel under constant stress that I'm doing something wrong due to not knowing the tipping etiquette in whatever situation I'm in and can't search ILX for the answer due to no Internet, but I guess the system more or less works for those in it.

When I'm in the US I feel under constant stress that I'm doing something wrong due to not knowing the tipping etiquette in whatever situation I'm in

This. Not that that is anybody's problem but my own, I suppose, and any poor sod who I'm accidentally stiffing because I didn't know that I was supposed to tip them for unlocking the door to the room where my bags are stored, or whatever.

I find the "that's not necessary, sir" when I proffer a couple of paltry dollars to someone I'm not supposed to tip utterly excruciating, btw.

Tripadvisor article on tipping in ireland is p much otm

Wait is autumn almanac in ireland

i think AA was saying that he is in "ireland or whatever", i.e. not-America, like in the poll options.

when i went to New York like 10 years ago i didn't realise that you tipped on coffee when you were having it to-go and i still feel bad about it.

like, i could have guessed i guess that working a coffee machine involves enough skill that it counts as 'service', but at the time it didn't occur to me to tip when you're not eating in (unless you have somehow outstanding service, or a lot of change to get rid of).

Tipping is 15% if service is good or any coins that you wish to throw at the head of your server otherwise.

huh, for me 10% is normal but you have to round up, 12.5% sometimes the amount added to a bill, and i've only knowingly failed to tip once, because the waiter was patronisingly rude (i am totally happy with rude service when it's brusque and does not care about you).

(and i still don't know if i'm supposed to tip taxi/minicab drivers)

there's a whole giant thread for this iirc

no, really? tell me more.

Cant believe farrell's nicked my tipple down gag without even tipping his cap

when my gf visited ireland she apparently really surprised one of her waiters by tipping like it was something that never happened, and the waiter wouldn't stop thanking her

tho maybe it's cause she thought she was supposed to give an 18%+ tip? dmac when you say ppl tip there is it like a dollar or two

I tip prob about 12-5% but if rounding up to the nearest note or ten is more than this then i'll do that, but it varies by service (tips jar on coffee counter gets change, barber gets 15/12, if restaurant service/meal is good it's prob closer to 20%)

I find dublin/city staff are blase about it, rural staff a generous tip is def more of an unexpected bonus

Bah sorry darragh I shall give you 30% of my kudos received for the rest of the day (er, I'm hoping you're not dependant on that to keep the wolves from the door)

*knuckles forehead as if to salubrious yank*

Do i mean salubrious rob not ah well

I think tipping should be expanded as a social practice because it's a good way to get money out of rich people, like every interaction w/ them we can try and guilt them into tipping us, the whole economy can be constructed on guilting rich people into tipping / making them feel good about themselves for tipping

so I guess you give money to every homeless person who asks you, right?

fyi the constant background hum of stress that tipping induces doesn't go away if you happened to have grown up here and grown up with tipping, it just never goes away, do I tip my surgeon???? should I???

If you're able to, then stiff the anaesthetist

I almost never give money to beggars but very regularly give money to buskers. that actually seems like the norm in nyc. I've never not lived somewhere w/ a large homeless population and people def give way more often here than other places but you gotta do something to build up the guilt. the tipple down economy will have lots of busking.

tipping is horrible because it makes you interact with the world through the filthy presence of money, almost all of your interactions are mediated thru money, that is you get to respond and send a message to other people by how much money you give them, instead of just paying a fixed price, fuck you america

otoh that's awesome, tipping is the only way you can give/receive money to/from virtual strangers without it being weird

tip jars should be everywhere

no its not

only virtual strangers who happen to work in the service industry

and only that small subset of service workers for whom its acceptable to tip

librarians are fucking awesome and I can't tip them! but it is mandatory to tip the shitty cab driver who took a 50% longer route than necessary

fuck you america

this is why everyone should have a tip jar and they should always put clever signs on them

"unlike cows we don't mind tipping"

"tippecanoe and me too"

no the answer is to get rid of all tip jars and also all forms of tipping

it makes you think 'is this person being nice to me just because they are nice or are they doing it because they expect a tip' which is just a terrible thought to have about every single person you interact with every day

"give me money if you like tupac"

(( btw you can tip me by paypalling me at y✧✧.dan✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧ ))

maybe you should interact w/ fewer strippers dan

thinking about money is generally just an awful awful thing, money is an awful thing to think about

"i'm just really cool with you giving me money i promise i won't have an existential episode because of it"

I am uncertain if Americans have the spiritual fortitude to withstand being able to tell if their waiters are having a great day (spoiler - probably not)

serious question do you tip your ETSY seller?? you know just paypal him a lil' extra

xp I mean many Americans, no need to insult an entire country when 51% will do.

there is no such thing as a bad day in America

when I am feeling the least bit down I just go outside and lay on the street made of pure gold for a lil' bit, like 5 mins or so, then I feel better

then someone tips you

Kicks some gold dust into your face.

gold dust woman is secretly a song about tipping

I am uncertain if Americans have the spiritual fortitude to withstand being able to tell if their waiters are having a great day (spoiler - probably not)

― Andrew Farrell, Friday, February 1, 2013 9:08 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark

have you ever been on yelp.com?

probably the #1 argument for abolishing tipping is yelp.com

I'm going to start tipping in bitcoins

if we could tip ilxors w/ bitcoins for good posts, this site would improve dramatically

or at least give them some of that sweet banner ad cashflow

"tipping is the only way you can give/receive money to/from virtual strangers without it being weird"

nope nope, this is always weird. it makes every act of kindness or decency subject to market incentive while all parties have to conspire to pretend it doesn't. straight up just giving money to strangers by comparison is a breeze.

is kickstarter really just a form of tipping

i tip 17.5% in restaurants just cuz that's the math i like to do in my head.

I want to get into a meeting with some venture capitalists and offer them t-shirts as return on their investment. "If you invest a quarter of a million dollars, you will receive this company t-shirt. If you invest one half of one million dollars, I will eat lunch with you and two of your friends."

"c'mon. be a dude. it's kickstarter grandpa!"

yah kickstarter is way closer to just straight up giving strangers money than tipping.

esp if they don't end up actually giving you the t-shirt or having lunch with you.

a fried of a friend was trying to turn his food truck into a restaurant on kickstarter. they were offering meals at the restaurant (at what would've been a hefty markup) as the return. put a business plan together and get some actual investors. hate kickstarter sometimes.

in asia, tipping doesn't happen. and, in most places, service kinda sucks pretty bad. otoh, i have several friends who wait tables in america, and they make pretty good money for it, even when you factor in the rare dickwad who doesn't tip. and service in america tends to be way better than in, say, singapore, where they get (shitty) regular paychecks instead.

so, tipping - let's keep it.

if we could tip ilxors w/ bitcoins for good posts, this site would improve dramatically

they have this system at metafilter, and it goes a long way towards keeping things considered, civil and interesting

whoa really how much money can you make

if this catches on some nabisco type dude can make a career out of being a good message board poster

perhaps i misunderstood the meaning of "bitcoins" on mefi it's "favorites" and is basically nothing more than warm fuzzies, sorry for the confusion. still nothing like getting positive feedback! it's not entirely unlike tipping

Bitcoins are an "actual" "currency"

You can use em to buy drugs on the internet

i would be the BEST POSTER EVER if it would allow me to buy drugs on the internet.

"in asia, tipping doesn't happen. and, in most places, service kinda sucks pretty bad."
I haven't eaten in enough of asia or america to say conclusively, but I suspect that controlled for most factors, you're going to get better service in asia, and america really can't hold a claim over providing better welfare for its workers at least over asian countries with nationalized public health services. I'd agree that mefi is generally a better environment than reddit, but reddit also has "tipping", as does yahoo answers and they are generally pretty awful. I'd suspect mefi might even have been worsened by the introduction of this fake tipping if there was a pre and post-tipping era.

On the other hand, I do feel people on social networks ought to receive a cut of whatever ad money facebook et. al are making off them, but that's more of a "reparations" thing than "incentiviziivizing"

Gonna start a thread for the mods to tell us what % of posts we're getting fp'd for, reverse tipping score

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

no ilx consensus for blah blah shockah

Experiments:

That’s one reason we pay attention when a restaurant tries another way, as Sushi Yasuda in Manhattan started to do two months ago. Raising most of its prices, it appended this note to credit card slips: “Following the custom in Japan, Sushi Yasuda’s service staff are fully compensated by their salary. Therefore gratuities are not accepted.”

Sushi Yasuda joins other restaurants that have done away with tips, replacing them with either a surcharge (Atera and Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare in New York; Next and Alinea in Chicago; Coi and Chez Panisse in the San Francisco Bay Area) or prices that include the cost of service (Per Se in New York and the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif.).

The chef Tom Colicchio is considering service-included pricing at one of his New York restaurants, paying servers “an hourly rate that would be consistent with what they make now,” he said. “I think it makes perfect sense. I’m not sure my staff is going to think it makes perfect sense.”

These restaurants are numerous enough and important enough to suggest that a tip-reform movement is under way. On the other hand, they are few enough and exceptional enough to suggest that the movement may remain very small, and move very slowly.

Public NYC Taxicab Database Lets You See Which Celebrities Tipped

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/11/10/joes-crab-shack-becomes-first-restaurant-chain-to-implement-no-tipping-policy/

I know you'll be shocked that the Fox News comments are universally godawful

https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/07/tip-50-percent.html

Tip at least 50 percent. Tip 75 percent. Tip 100 percent. What’s stopping you? Do you need to save that money for the vacation to Saint-Tropez you’re planning on taking once this is all over? If you can afford to go to a restaurant right now and have a leisurely meal — because you don’t need to save as much money as you can? — then, yeah, you can afford it.

Tip 200 percent. Tip 300 percent! Give the delivery guy your car and the deed to your house. If you can order food, you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 country, save those stories about how you ordered out because your back hurt too much to cook because you're taking care of your disabled spouse and your kids, clearly there's a jar full of stacks atop your fridge!

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful
daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the
king, and in order to make himself appear important he said
to him, I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold. The
king said to the miller, that is an art which
pleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring
her to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test.

Haha Neanderthal

Tipping is usually 15% in Quebec, which apparently makes us cheapskates. Vermonters and Upstate New Yorkers who work in the service industry reportedly cringe when they see 'Je me souviens' licence plates.

If it's any consolation, I lived in Buffalo for three years and waitresses resented Ontarians just as much.

Socialist neighbours are such a drag.

also servers in canada still make less than provincial minimum wage, which is why you still tip

Btw, this is false in seven provinces and only true for liquor servers in Ontario and BC (who are just under minimum wage $12.20 vs $14/$13.95 vs $14.60). I don't even really know why we tip as much as we do.

https://www.payworks.ca/payroll-legislation/MinimumWage.asp

I don’t know what tipping means

Something to do with sleeping cows iirc

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/trump-administration-tippers-fine-dining-dc.html