At a certain point "take the ball and go home" becomes the rational decision if a player in the game isn't being treated fairly. In this case, tipping zero becomes the simplest option.
Tips encourage artificial menu pricing, which disguises the intended price of a service.
Customers are being socially pressured into tipping more than they otherwise would want to. Social pressure is not a fair mechanism in a market.
Another pattern is where servers are expecting 20% tips in addition to 5-10% "Employee Healthcare/Benefits/Wage" Surcharges. Sure, health insurance is a critical need but that should be baked into the price of the food being sold. Patrons are then pressured to effectively give a total 25-30% for service, in addition to the advertised price of food. Insane.
Sorry that servers are caught in the cross-fire on this but their employers decided to use them as fodder.
Why is "stiffing the staff" bad but surprise pricing to customers is tolerable?
If the pricing practices are disclosed up front, yeah that's clearly stiffing the staff, but that's simply not the case here.
I'm referring to the game where you're lured into a service with an ambiguous ruleset for pricing.
The pricing rules aren't disclosed until it is time to pay. When it is time to pay, you're now given an increasingly difficult puzzle to solve in order to tip what you intend to, without manipulation.
Expecting anyone to solve this puzzle is unreasonable.
I'm not defending surprise pricing or tipping at all. But up until you pay you have the option to not pay. If this is a big concern of yours you should take that option.
I agree that if at any point you suspect the pricing isn't fair in any transaction, it's up to you to leave. If someone checks Yelp and sees red flags on tipping but still decides to go and complain about it, they're being a jerk.
But many sit-down restaurants don't give any indication about the tipping procedures until after a meal is served and consumed.
so instead of tipping zero, since that implies the ability to decide, tip something that might be less jerk and make the decision to not return, perchance?
and if you aren’t given a choice, and it isn’t advertised, well, that’s a different predicament. same solution. you aren’t going to refuse to pay, so refuse to return.
Tips encourage artificial menu pricing, which disguises the intended price of a service.
Customers are being socially pressured into tipping more than they otherwise would want to. Social pressure is not a fair mechanism in a market.
Another pattern is where servers are expecting 20% tips in addition to 5-10% "Employee Healthcare/Benefits/Wage" Surcharges. Sure, health insurance is a critical need but that should be baked into the price of the food being sold. Patrons are then pressured to effectively give a total 25-30% for service, in addition to the advertised price of food. Insane.
Sorry that servers are caught in the cross-fire on this but their employers decided to use them as fodder.