
Counter Service Tipping: Who Gives? - gnicholas
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/travel/ipad-tipping-gratuity.html
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stubbedtoe
The problem I have with tipping is the idea that if you don't tip you are
stingy and ungenerous - surely me choosing to be at your establishment and
paying for your product is enough of a contribution to your business and your
workers. If you need more cash to pay your workers, make the product more
expensive.

It's not like people who do tip are even tipping everyone underpaid who helps
them live their life - no one is sending extra cash over to the kid that made
their phone or the poor worker who picks their food.

And specifically for counter service as described in the article, tipping
makes even less sense. How can you possibly know what service you will receive
before you receive the service? If the tip isn't conditional on the quality of
the service, surely it just becomes a tax.

~~~
NowThenGoodBad
Tipping before the service is weird. However, I don't know if you've ever
worked on the other side of the counter, but it's a lot easier to get someone
to tip when they already have their wallet out and cash in hand. Getting
someone to take their wallet out a second time, regardless of how "above and
beyond" the service or product are is tough.

I'm glad I never worked at a restaurant where pay is supplemented by tips.
That's an unacceptable practice.

At Starbucks, tips were in excess to wages, so anything people gave were a
really nice bonus.

Tipping should be done out of generosity. Do you value that person, their
time, the level of quality they bring you?

If you look at Japan, tipping is not a thing. In some places it might even be
considered an insult to tip because that level of quality is a deeply
engrained part of the culture, not something to be rewarded extra for.

However, I see it as a way to show my appreciation, my gratitude.

Yes, I believe that people who have the means to tip who don't, yet greedily
eat up high quality service and goods, are being stingy in the worst sense.
Just from my experience at Starbucks, it seemed like those who tipped most
frequently were the people who might not really been able to afford it.

An extra dollar from 100 customers, for whom that is less than 1% of 1% of
their net worth means $20 for a 5 person shift. That extra $20 usually is gas
money, college supplies, or a couple bucks to spend for something fun.

However, we completely and utterly lack empathy. So many people DON'T know
what it's like to be on the other side of the counter and they completely
forget that those people are thinking and feeling humans like they are. That
those people have dreams and ambitions just like they do. That they are
working because they have SOME goal. There is more depth to the person than
the apron they wear, the smile they put on, the job they do. We forget that.
We view them as objects and we devalue their existence.

But those who do tip, those who don't necessarily have the means to but still
do, they have not forgotten. Perhaps it's because their situation isn't too
far removed.

I think Steinbeck said it well:

"If you're in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the
only ones that'll help - the only ones."

~~~
kungito
In Europe generally tipping isn't obligatory. You tip if you feel like it/feel
rich/are drunk etc. In Italy they even have a per person fee included in the
bill in restaurants which apparently is supposed to work as a tip.

I hate these arguments about gas money or college blabla since why would
someone working in warehouses or supermarkets be in any other position. It's
always bartenders and similar feeling special

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gregmac
> Some cafes pay tipped employees less, though they are guaranteed $15 an hour
> if tips don’t make up for it.

This means your tips are largely _not_ going to the employees, but instead are
simply allowing the business to lower their payroll costs -- at least until
tips exceed the real bare minimum the business is allowed to pay their
employees.

"Would you like to increase Starbucks' profit margin or look like a jerk?"

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erttuy4eth
I refuse to rate Uber drivers, and I refuse to tip them. As long as you didn't
screw up big time (which would mean a report to Uber), you are fine. Force
close the app and it all goes away. I can't stand this individual rating
black-mirror dystopia.

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notenoughbeans
The only place I tip for counter service is a smoothie shop with ridiculously
low default of 2%.

It's the 15% starting default and anti-patterns that really turn me off from
tipping.

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veezbo
One question I've really been wanting answered is- how do I even know my tips
are going to the workers? In the worst case, the tips are going straight to
the owner.

This is why I typically tip with cash only, and view these credit card-based
counter service tips as a form of price segmentation, where I can pay more if
I want to support the business.

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gnicholas
The thing that confuses me about tipping at the counter is that you're
supposed to do it before any service has been provided. I hardly ever tip at
the counter, but will instead leave cash tips at the table when I'm done.

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robertcope
Tipping is dumb. I should not have to concern myself with how other people are
paid. It's not my problem nor is it something I want to think about while
simply trying to exchange money for goods or services.

~~~
untog
> I should not

> nor is it something I want

Agree on both points. You _shouldn 't_ have to, but if you live in the US you
very often so, because customer service staff are chronically underpaid.

The full answer is legislative, so make sure these people are paid
appropriately. The short term answer is that yes, until the problem is fixed
we _do_ have to concern ourselves with how other people are paid.

~~~
aeternum
Underpaid based on their skill-level?

The driver delivering your food or groceries typically gets a tip, but the
driver delivering your package doesn't. It could actually be the same driver
since they are now both gig-economy jobs.

Warehouse workers, retail store workers, even the cooks and dishwashers at
those same restaurants make less on avg. than waiters/waitresses, and yet
don't get tips.

Tipping is mostly tradition, it has to do with how 'close' a job is to an end-
user. There is little logic to it.

~~~
untog
> Underpaid based on their skill-level?

Underpaid based on the amount of money required to live life.

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landcoctos
Tipping /has/ gotten out of control. I will agree.

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baggy_trough
Tipping is a barbarous custom. Do not ever tip for counter service, in order
to discourage its spread.

~~~
untog
The true barbarism is caring so little about the welfare of your fellow human
that you'll deprive them of money they deserve as some kind of broad societal
punishment.

Pass laws that make sure customer service workers are paid a fair wage. _Then_
you can stop tipping.

~~~
ilikehurdles
Tipping at counter service should never be expected and you should not feel
pressured to tip there. What world do you live in where counter service tips
are required? I get that the restaurant service industry in the US largely
relies on this institutionalized panhandling for reasonable pay, but expanding
tipping culture _beyond_ that realm is something we could actively prevent,
which is a much easier path to success than allowing the cancer to spread and
then working to undo it later.

~~~
boring_twenties
Most counter serve places I have been to in the last year or two. The checkout
is done through a touch screen tablet which includes a tip screen before
checkout can be completed.

The options are usually absurd, too. For example, three large buttons labeled
"20%," "25%" and "30%." Then a medium sized-button labeled "No Tip" and a
barely readable one that says "custom amount."

