Realistically speaking, I don’t think the original poster said no tip at all. I believe what he said is that “Given the minimum wage increase, is it more acceptable to tip at a lower percentage” For example, if you were tipping at 20% as the norm, will it be acceptable to tip at 16-18% as the norm? Something of that sort.
Regarding looking at the server in the face, I am not sure why it is important or necessary. If this line of logic is always true, then that means everytime we receive a horrible service and want to tip at 10% (for example), you and I will also need to look into the server in the face and say “Your service sucks. Now I am leaving only 10% tip to you because you suck. I want to look you in the face to tell you that.”
One way I solve the low tip problem when somebody offers to pick up the tab is I graciously say, “thanks but atleast let me get the tip”. 90% of the time the person is good with that. Of course it does require having some cash on hand.
It’s not just servers who traditionally get tips. Taxi drivers, hairdresser and the girl that washes your hair, manicurists, bell hops and concierges to name but a few. We do not know any of their salaries or wages, and yet we tip them.
Many of these tipped workers earn traditionally low wages, probably because the hair or manicure salon owners expects them to be tipped.
I just don’t know where we start and stop with wages and tipping. If minimum wage is increased all round to say, $15 for all, then anybody currently earning $15-$20 should have their wages increased pro rata. I don’t see how this can be done artificially in the market place, but I"m no economist! But doesn’t this mean a raise for all? If you currently have a recent graduate earning $15 an hour in a first job in an advertising agency, or a newly qualified dental assistant at $15, how does this equate to a waitress at Denny’s who is 16 with no GED who would benefit from the minimum wage increase? Why should the young lass at Denny’s on $15 an hour get tipped?
The new online services come and go ( fluc went ), and DoorDash’s fees are exorbitant. Pizza is one of the few enduring delivery foods, and I don’t know how the pay is structured. Delivering pizza involves fewer skills that waiting — no greeting, no filling water, no advising on the order. That being said, I tip a lot more than two bucks for a pizza, and I do it in cash to the driver.
Interestingly, in our area ( greater palo alto ) PayPal ran a test of contactless payments, and got a bunch of my local stores to participate. There was a little pad you stuck to the back of your phone ( before NFC readers were in phones ).
I talked to my local cafe owner ( cafe zoe, good shop ), and she was pulling it out because it was hurting her bottom line. She depends on tips, and the way PP structured the system, there was no “tip button”. She said that between cash and credit with a tip line, she was making a certain percent… without that extra screen, she was losing quite a bit of money. PP’s story to merchants was “we’ll charge less than your bank which has to pay Visa and MC”, and the rates were lower, but the tip thing made it a lose in the end.
All the new payment systems learned their lesson, and added a tip screen ( especially bad with NYC taxis ), with high default values, so merchants love them.
This obviously doesn’t get us past tipping…
Finally, in case you missed this NPR Planet Money episode on San Jose West Valley Mall, which has two different minimum wages in two different parts of the mall. I wouldn’t call it deep and insightful, but it was worth the time to listen, IMHO.
Finally, there is few discussion about where the extra wage goes. Does it go to rent? Eating out? Medical bills? You pay people more, at the low end, they don’t just stuff it under the matress ( usually ). [ Interesting note: the accepted wisdom that low gas prices would boost the economy has turned out to be a minimal effect. Most research is showing that people are actually saving the lower gas prices, not changing behavior, because they believe prices are just going to go back up. ]
Of course bus boys get tips. They are tipped out by the servers at a certain percentage, which varies from restaurant to restaurant. That’s why the business owners can pay them below minimum wage.
Yup, after my paper route came bus boy. $1.86 p/hr when regular minimum wage was $3 & change. Didn’t take long to figure out which girls gave us the most & their tables were the first to get cleared & reset.
Interesting comments on tipping in this BBC program “The Food Chain” - The Food Chain (at 8:40) which discusses some of the behind the scenes issues regarding tipping.
One observation is that a lot of the comments on the thread support tipping from quite a positive perspective. Yet a lot of evidence shows that there are many issues: staff not getting their tips; tips disproportionally rewarding servers over other staff; no correlation between service outcomes and tips given; discriminatory tipping i.e. white good looking young females do better out of tips than non-white older servers; fraud i.e. servers comping drinks to regulars who tip well etc etc.
I also see a lot of comments discussing living/minimum wages. I can see for a waiter making making good tips they will get more. But given there is a pretty finite amount of money available for all staff (including tips) as restaurant bills are pretty elastic (in economic terms). If servers continue to monopolise the lions share of this via tips won’t this result in fewer cooks, washer up etc. Or even worse an exacerbation of the indirectly discriminately system with very low paid immigrants in the kitchen and nice young people FOH getting all the rewards.
I know tipping is very ingrained in the US psyche but I wonder if we are at the point were the system can’t sustain itself and will need to change for restaurants to survive. Lots of other services like shopping and banking have changed out of all recognition in the last 30 years…maybe restaurant economics are next.
Just had an experience that exactly describes why I hate tipping (as a general rule):
I’m at the airport - went to a wine bar - ordered a flight and a glass of water - wine delivered, no water - had to ask 2 more time - flight delayed - ordered another glass of wine and the charcuterie board - wine came, charcuterie never did - asked for check - under charged me (had 2 glasses they charged me for one) …
So what do you do …
There was nothing worth a “tip” - do they deserve less than minimum wage? (I’m in Ohio so they make less than minimum theoretically) - are you honest and point out the mischarge but then stuff them on the tip - point out the mischarge and tip for crappy service ….
