Right now, that argument holds water. But I lived through the 1990s when we had negative unemployment. And yet, restaurants still had waitstaff and waitstaff didn’t demand a different method of payment. i.e. if the current system wasn’t working for the staff, it would have changed in a good economy when labor has more power.
Likewise, in a bad economy, when customers are scarce, customers have the power to change the system by going to restaurant where tipping isn’t necessary. Restaurants “requiring” tipping loose business and close down. Enough do, and it becomes an antiquated model.
The problem, of course, is human nature. In a good economy, jobs are easy to get, but I bet tipping is pretty good and business isn’t slow. There really isn’t a need to change the system - because waiters are making pretty darn good cash off tips. In a bad economy, dollars are short for everyone - business is slow and tips probably diminish. But now, you don’t have the bargaining power to make a change - and the business is also suffering from the economy, they don’t have the desire to enable a change either. People don’t take the opportunity to change anticipating the down cycle.
You are reading too much into what I said. I’m not saying that you can look at every single policy change at a business and say “well, I guess the employees like it because they didn’t all leave the day after it was implemented.” But SFG is criticizing a very widely used system that has been in place for a very long time in very many locations. Saying that employees have no power to change a policy like that is ridiculous.
But I don’t really care if I have the same server twice, as long as the service is adequate. I personally don’t need to experience the satisfaction of knowing that people are fighting over being the server for my table, simply because I’m a big tipper.
Oh, I understand that. I was just responding to your statement that you never have the same server twice. I wasn’t suggesting that you should tip bigger or anything like that.
In the U.S., the tip is an intended part of the server’s income and the reason why it is legal to pay them less than minimum wage. Walking out without paying a tip for any reason other than terrible service is tantamount to saying that you’re not paying for something you received just 'cause you don’t feel like it.
Once. I was working on a project in New York with a bunch of other colleagues from a Washington DC office. We all used to try to share cabs etc. to the airport on Friday afternoons. We once had a big enough crowd that we got a van from a car service. Only, nobody chipped in enough extra for the cost to leave a decent tip (we only had a couple of bucks over the van fee). The driver was nasty. I actually felt bad for him, until he got nasty.
It’s not sensationalistic–it’s simply an uncomfortable truth. Refusing to pay for a service you’ve been rendered is stealing. The fact that there are no legal repurcussions doesn’t make it any more ethical.
Waitstaff in the U.S. are paid a ridiculously tiny wage, well under the legal minimum, because a significant portion of their income is intended to be provided by tips. The tip is an intended portion of the cost of the meal; in the small number of establishments where tipping is not allowed, prices are commeasurately higher. You pay a lower price for your meal so that you can tip your waiter on top of it. When you don’t tip even after receiving at least adequate service, you are stealing that service from the person who provided it with the expectation of being compensated for it.
Are you serious? I didn’t think car service drivers expected tips - when I started getting a town car rather than a cab to the airport, I checked with multiple people at my firm to see if I should tip, and everyone said no. Maybe we have a special deal with the company…
Comes with certain professions, but not to the extent discussed in this thread; I’d never even consider tipping bar staff, for example. The idea of a ‘mandatory tip’ also seems insane to me, over here I’d always see it as being entirely at the customer’s discretion. If my hairdresser started giving me guff about not leaving tips for doing his job, he’d lose my business in a heartbeat.
I was going to say the only person I would always tip in the US and not tip in the UK is the bartender. Now I will tip more in the US, but otherwise I cannot think of anyone I tip here and didn’t there.
The potential for drama is still there, though. It just seemed from your post you were saying you didn’t tip at all. Unfortunately, I have met too many British people like that - here’s looking at you, Dad’s wife. And no getting hissy when I tip if I pick up the tab. It’s my money.
The satisfaction of knowing that people are fighting over you is not the point of having the same server repeatedly. If you have a server consistently, he/she will already be familiar with your preferences; he/she may be very much inclined to be more generous where allowed, give you refills “on the house”, etc. Also, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had servers I’ve ‘meshed’ with and those I don’t. I don’t like servers who hover too much, but I also like servers who are friendly and who aren’t hard to find when I need something. Like making friends, etc. your taste in servers will be different from mine. If you find a few that mesh with you, it’s a good idea to ask for them. If you are a decent tipper, they will be more than happy to have you.
Y’know what else is a widely used system? Putting ads before movies. Theoretically, consumers should be catered to more than employees, but even though there haven’t been mass protests over it, I’m willing to bet that if you took a poll of theater-goers, the “don’t likes” would outweigh the “don’t cares.” And that hasn’t even been around very long.
Now I’m not saying that all the waiters would want to change the tipping policy, because they probably make better money at it than they would through a flat rate. But I’m sure there are lots of businesses that do things that employees don’t like, but because there’s a long-standing system in place people don’t have the impetus or organization to change it.
The idea that I’m stealing if I don’t tip in the US is a new twist on this old argument - kudos to whoever brought that gem in. So, if I don’t tip in Canada where servers are paid at least minimum wage (which is $8 per hour in Alberta), am I stealing then, too? How about if I don’t tip the cashier at McDonald’s? I don’t buy that I have any part in the deal between the servers and their employers, I find it offensive that employers would expect their customers to make up the difference, and I find the idea that I’m stealing if I don’t tip laughable - you hire them, you pay them. Tipping is a social convention, not a legal obligation.