Tipping Culture Is Not Normal
Tipping from what I have seen elsewhere in the world has gotten out of control and has changed from what it used to represent. Tipping was an extra bonus as a thank you for excellent service you received whilst dining. The people serving you were almost all students helping make up for their shortfall in living costs and this was never considered a full time job. these days I have noticed the people serving are far older and guess not students and most likely immigrants, but that is not my problem.
Restaurants that expect their patrons to cover the costs of their staff by subsidizing their wages are not living in reality and one has to question when will this end. If any restaurant I visited expected a 30 or 40% tip they would not have my business as this is not sustainable.
Last week we visited a restaurant and the service fee was added to the bill being 10% and what I would call standard. The staff are obviously taken care of salary wise and this tip would go into a tip kitty and be distributed weekly or fortnightly amongst all the staff. Once I paid the bill the waiter was smiling and very happy as he appreciated being able to serve and do his job. There was no expectations of some outrageous tip.
This is the fine balance an establishment has to consider as their core job is to sell food and drink and the cost of those items should factor in all costs as in rental, electricity and staffing. The food and drink prices have risen so much over the last 10 years it is hard to imaging that staffing costs have not been accounted for and if they have not then it is not the customers problem. I work hard enough for the money I earn and this is not a freebie hand out charity situation. If the restaurant cannot afford to pay waiting staff then they should shut their doors.
When I visited Portugal earlier in the year the tipping culture was not evident and there was no inclusive service charges on the bill. The one restaurant we visited I offered to pay a tip and the staff declined as they said they are well paid and appreciated us visiting their establishment. The Chinese restaurant was similar and I left a tip when settling the bill and this is up to the discretion of the customer.
I have seen Starbucks here who have tip jars at their till points plus on their card machines have extra boxes for various percentages of tips. This in my mind is rude and unethical and morally wrong asking for this and why I no longer visit Starbucks. The same would apply to a take away as I am not sitting down. You are doing your job which is what you are paid to do and now you are saying you deserve more. If you feel that way then go and work somewhere else as I am not funding you.
There are certain countries where applying a 25 or 30% service charge to the bill will not work and South Africa is definitely one of them. If I am going out for an evening meal which is seen as a treat with already inflated prices with restaurants making anywhere between 200 and 300% as standard profit margins. Food has always been seen to have a minimum of 100% mark up to cover costs so where is the extra 100 or 150% going?
Yesterday I was at a restaurant for lunch which is a rarity for myself and what i noticed was the waiting staff were all South African locals. The restaurant was busy and it was all local black people with me being the only white. Why i say this is the fact the people are happy to dine here is that the waiting staff are all local and no foreigners. If there were foreigners employed as service staff then these people would not be dining here and this is how fickle people are here and I am kind of with them on this as local employment has to come first. Again the service charge is not written on the bill and is entirely up to your discretion.
I know the US has a problem and the problem lies with people thinking waiting is a full time job which it is not. This is an extra job like a bar man which I used to do two evenings a week whilst working my main job. I used to be offered drinks all the time whilst working which were appreciated but never taken up on as the salary I was earning was all I expected. If you expect more then you are the one who has a problem as I can take my patronage elsewhere where it is appreciated.
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Tipping IMO should always be voluntary for a job well done if the customer wishes to do so and never expected. If everyone started doing this businesses would be forced to start paying people a normal wage which they can clearly afford to do or come up with another payment structure such as revenue generated for the day a percent is split out to workers for that day.
100% agree as this is unfair on the customer to expect them to fund someone's wage. I remember back in the 1990's in the UK the majority of people never tipped and I though this was rude and not right so there has to be a balance of what is the right amount and I feel 10% is the middle ground if the service was good. If the experience was great then customers will return so earning a percentage of takings is a good way of doing this as wait staff are as important as the food.
This was just covered by @dbooster. It is definitely out of hand. I tend to tip quite well because I can afford to, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
No one likes it as it is not how going out and enjoying your meal should be about. I have no problem tipping or not tipping if the service is non existent and have not tipped in the past on the rare occasion. How long will it be before the tip is equivalent to what your total bill is because that is kind of where it is heading. 30 or 40% is insanity and I would rather stay and cook at home because I would then pay myself instead.
Most times the food at home is better anyway, at least since Covid happened.
I've heard people taking on restaurants jobs because of the tipping mechanism, workers make it a strategy and start forecasting how much they could earn from it in a week/month. I personally also think tips are just a bonus, and one is better off focusing on doing a great work first and foremost.
Yes it is about turning tables and getting a small percentage from those and not expecting them to cover your dreams because life does not work like that. The living costs have increased but that does not mean those customers have to cover your living expenses as this is a temporary job to cover shortages and not cover all the bills.
A possible solution is finding a job that can cover most if not all the bills and see the temporary job as a side hustle to have more money to save/invest.
My tipping is always done with a one on one in mind; between myself and the service provider. How they interact with their employer is never of issue due to my belief of a huge inequality of wealth existing in this world and the employer should be expected to be taking advantage of the service provider instead of taking care of them in the capitalist system which many of us live.
Unless you spill hot water on me, expect 20% of the transaction as a recompense for giving up some of your life's precious timeline to me.
I think you are too generous and that should be the high end for exceptional service. These waiting jobs are not permanent gigs and should be seen as the extras and not your wage. If I served 10 tables during an evening service working on 20% I would be earning a competitive salary and this is now what this is meant to be.
You are probably correct, however circumstances have been kind to me with my fairly early introduction to Bitcoin in 2013. It feels right spreading some abundance around to those still locked in the 9 to 5.
My take on tipping is basically tip is partially service and partially rental of the table at a restaurant. I myself never worked at a restaurant, but because it is customary to tip in USA I follow the tradition.
My basic tipping rate is:
15% - something was dissatisfactory to me
20% - solid job on the part of the staff at a restaurant
25% - outstanding job
If there is a service charge then I reduce my tip amounts by the amount of the charge, the highest service charge I have seen here in WA was 5%.
One thing to keep in mind that minimum wage in Seattle is $20.76 per hour, Washington state has minimum wage of $16.66 per hour and most cities are above that. When minimum wage in Seattle was first raised to $15 an hour many said it would be the death of the WA economy, years later not much has changed except minimum wages got modified up. You have to keep in mind that minimum wages differ in USA quite a bit and start at $7.25 an hour:
Having said all that I think that $20.76 + Tips could be a living wage... So waiting tables in Seattle could be considered a real job :)
I agree with your sentiments completely. Anytime you go out anywhere in the US you are confronted with a tip screen, even when there is no service involved at all. When you are expected to tip regardless of service, it creates a weird tension between patrons and staff. I think it is gross when businesses pocket massive profits and underpay staff, passing the burden of a fair wage onto the customers. Since moving to Asia, I find service tends to be better than in the west, and with no expectation of a tip at all. When I do give tips for good service it is always much more appreciated than when I would give significantly larger tips in the US.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1mj3xjs/tipping_culture_is_not_normal/
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