Since when did tips become expected?

[boscolio]

Here in college, pizza becomes a staple of life. All you really need to survive the first week of classes is a loofah, chocolate-covered espresso beans and pepperoni Dominoes. The pyramid order of dorm essentials goes oxygen, pizza, caffeine, condoms. Anything else marks overindulgence.

So as a starving student without a car, when ridiculous extra charges are attached to the pizza delivery service on which my very existence depends, it threatens my way of life � and I don’t appreciate it.

A week ago, I went in on an extra-large pizza with a few friends (and by “friends� I mean the first three people walking past my room to fork over $5). The chef for my house has Saturdays and Sundays off, and after two weekends of cold Progresso soup, cranberry juice and badly bruised bananas, my mouth began to water at the mention of chewable, identifiable meat on a Saturday.

We ordered the pizza and waited . . . and we waited . . . and waited . . . until, lo and behold, sketchy delivery guy shuffles up the stairs an hour and a half late, sweat driplets dangling ominously from his eyebrow over the opened pizza box. Hold the salt, please, Mr. Melodramatic.

“I’m so sorry,� he says with wild hand gestures, panting in mock fluster, “I was already running late and then I couldn’t get in your front door. You didn’t answer the phone and no one was in the lounge to let me in.�

Unfortunately for him, I lost my sense of empathy for late people with my jean Union Bay wallet in the ninth grade. He hands over the box, takes my twenty-dollar bill and pivots as if to walk away.

STOP, REWIND. Since when did tips become automatic?

As if it isn’t annoying enough that so many restaurants in California automatically add tip regardless of the grade of service, to add insult to injury, have we gotten to the point where we don’t even pretend that quality matters? When the hell did gratuity become obligatory?

You see, the whole concept of tipping is that it should be something you want to do, like philanthropy or scuba diving, not a sort of morality stick on which to measure your goodness. How would you like it if, while walking along the shore in Montego Bay, your best friend pushed your head under the water whenever she felt like it?

If the service is excellent, the service is excellent. It does not require a tip, though it may deserve one. We all know that delivery people and waiters are overworked and underpaid, partly because their bosses expect them to receive tips. But that is an oversight on the part of their managers and not a determinant of my personal kindness.

In blaming the customer, we attach a status symbol to tipping that totally negates its purpose. It should be selfless. Otherwise, we become attached to it for approval, mechanically shelling out an extra 15 percent regardless of the quality of the service like 25-year-old crack addicts.

Sure, it was daring and glamorous and badass in their youth, but now it’s just pathetic. The same way it’s just you in the dark alley behind a cheap restaurant with bloodshot eyes and bruised arms, handing out $5.00 bills like candy, hurting no one but yourself.

Yamanda Wright is a sophomore majoring in human biology. E-mail her at ywright@stanford.edu.

Source: The Stanford Daily

[boscolio]

I remembered this article and felt it was worth tracking down for this.

[size=18px]Man arrested for not tipping enough is not charged[/size]

LAKE GEORGE, New York -- A man arrested in an upstate New York restaurant for not tipping enough is off the hook.

Local prosecutors say they won’t charge Humberto Taveras for not leaving a big enough tip at Soprano’s Italian and American Grill in Lake George.

The 41-year-old Long Island man was arrested Labor Day weekend when the restaurant owner accused him of not leaving an 18-percent gratuity required for large parties.

Taveras says he wasn’t aware of the policy and wouldn’t have left that much money anyway because he wasn’t happy with the service.

The Warren County District Attorney’s Office says a restaurant patron can’t be forced to leave a gratuity.

Prosecutors say establishments have to call it a service charge, not a tip, in order to make it a mandatory add-on charge.

Source: WKYC.com

[Trem]

haha nice article.

Originally Posted by boscolio

STOP, REWIND. Since when did tips become automatic?

As if it isn’t annoying enough that so many restaurants in California automatically add tip regardless of the grade of service, to add insult to injury, have we gotten to the point where we don’t even pretend that quality matters? When the hell did gratuity become obligatory?

I think you just had a bad experience. The "party over x" charge does stink, but the restaurant is usually losing money on big parties as they tend to stay longer and take up more seats.

I used to work in the Food Service business. (what a horrible, horrible place)

I completely agree with you though.

[boscolio]

i can understand putting a service charge of 15% on large parties. but to just expect tip is rediculous. granted i always tip, usually over 20% because i appreciate people who work hard. but if i had a jerk of a waiter that didn't deserve anything then they shouldn't be surprised when their tip is whatever loose change is left when i get the check back, bills not included.

[ScytheNoire]

i have to agree that a tip should not be automatic. if i had a pizza that was delivered an hour and a half late, i wouldn't even pay for it, let alone give a tip.

i do understand how those tips do mean a lot for those who work in the food service industry, but they should at least be friendly and do a good job.

[Akasha]

Originally Posted by Yamanda Wright

You see, the whole concept of tipping is that it should be something you want to do, like philanthropy or scuba diving, not a sort of morality stick on which to measure your goodness. How would you like it if, while walking along the shore in Montego Bay, your best friend pushed your head under the water whenever she felt like it

This topic is something Thor and I have discussed, sometimes at length before. The first time came up when I worked for TGI Fridays (Thank God It's Friday) and was really my first real Waitressing job. I didn't appreciate having to 'pool' my tips and split them between the other lazy slack ... er... people that did nothing but chat all night while I ran my ....er.... buttocks off all night.

The one thing that is good about Australia and that I completely don't get about the US is that tipping here is a choice. If you don't want to tip, don't tip hehe and if you want to make the pizza guy say, "WoW! Thanks and you have a nice night ok!" give him say... a $5 tip. I gave the pizza guy a $10 tip once and he swung past 15 minutes later with a garlic bread to say thankyou.... to me... for giving him a tip to say thankyou to him for delivering the pizza I wanted to gorge myself on. ;)

In restaurants here you don't have to tip, and TGI Friday's was the only one where we were taught how to 'linger' for that added bonus and the receipt actually had 'total' and 'total including tip' :evil: To me, there are so many places to eat now a days that it's the service that makes one place stand out over the next. The same goes for anything really, clothing shops in particular... why would I take your snotty, stuck up, you look fat in those jeans attitude when I can walk three shops down and be told I have a hot bum and would I like to sit down while she rings up my total?

To get a tip from me you better make me laugh, make my day or make my ego swell :lol: Anything 'normal'... then move along to the next person you think you can get a dollar out of. Mind you, in Australia we are also paid better as Waitresses because they know we don't rely on the tips.

[boscolio]

the system in the US allows people to charge very little as a wage because they are expected to earn tips. i think that's a stupid system. it's all a scheme concocted by the restaurant industry so they can pay their employees squat. ;)

[Akasha]

I'm actually really amazed at the comments that were posted on this article... Whooooo

.: See the comments :.

Edited to Add

Originally Posted by Jenna X in the comments section

In NYS I make minimum wage: $3.30/hr, less taxes.

Holey Crap Wage Batman!!! That's like $6-7 an hour in Aust.... we don't even have a minimum wage THAT low! Our minimum is like $11 an hour.... unles you're like... 12

[boscolio]

well i can see why they react so fiercely. those jobs are hard work and usually go under-appreciated. i've known many good people in the service industry. that's why always tip very well for good service. then again, i'm also understanding of when they hit snag when catering to me.

[Akasha]

See that's really interesting to me... over here the crappier your job the better it pays mostly. I'm no expert on Waitressing as I only did it short term (bad knees and plates are hot *pouts*) but I look at other jobs like really mundane work pays up to $20 - $25 an hour...

An example of this is what I am doing at the moment, which sadly because of my knees I can't do anymore. All I do (did) is stand there, pick up plastic bottles, look at the plastic bottles to make sure there are no obvious defects then put them in a box. For this I earn $23 an hour. I get paid that much because it's boring as anything, I have to stand for 8 hours (which is why I can't do it physically) and because you might occasionally burn your finger on the hot plastic. ;)

Personally I found the article really amusing and if something can make me laugh and go eww at the same time... you have a winner! ;) Course I took it to be a funny article and nothing more...