As a European, I'm mystified by these American rules where the price on display and the amount you pay are only mildly correlated. You get a $20 meal, but then you have to add taxes that depend on where in the US you are (possibly on the product as well?), and if you add a further 10% on top of that taxed-up price, your American friend goes back to the counter to add an other 10% with an apologetic smile. Here, I know how much I have to pay by simply adding the price tags together, and if you want to tip, you leave a couple euros on the table, or perhaps wave the change away if you paid cash.
Americans were sensible enough to draw their streets in straight lines intersecting at square angles, why is it that a system where the price tag is exactly the amount to be charged could not take root in American culture?
I also prefer the European system but Americans are so used to this way of doing things that it’s hard for me to imagine us making the switch. Though if tipping culture gets even more out of hand, maybe we’ll say “time for a total reboot”.
It is not hard to imagine. Everyone I talk to is fucking sick of this. I think culture is ready to reboot it's just a coordination problem at this point
I've noticed that, since the pandemic, a lot more American restaurants are making the gratuity non-optional. Which is hilarious and completely defeats the purpose. But if this practice becomes universal, then we're only one step away from forcing restaurants to reflect the gratuity in the menu price.
My position: service is always included. Did I have the option to go out to the kitchen and get the food myself? No? Then the cost of carrying it to the table is in the menu price.
It’s also so much easier to pay in Europe. I hold up my phone and out goes the payment. Done. In most places there’s no need to touch the payment device (good hygiene if there’s a pandemic), no screen to interact with asking me how much I want to tip, no need to put my reading glasses on. So many places in the US don’t even take ApplePay or do contactless. They want you to write down your tip and sign a slip of paper like it’s still the 20th century.
You seem to be forgetting the worst tip scammers of them all - bathroom attendants. Luckily, they seem to be a dying breed, but there's nothing worse than having someone expect to get paid for turning on the tap and handing me a paper towel completely unasked for
I didn’t know I can tip the hotel maid who cleans up the sacrificed goat I left behind. How do I do that?
I previously thought it was tip enough that they rummage through my medicine bag and steal all my Adderall. At least it always seems to disappear quicker after a hotel stay.
My favorite is the touch screen at the self service store in the Austin airport that won't let you cash out without leaving a tip. So you can either steal that bottle of water or leave a penny to the invisible employee who didn't assist you.....
"But there’s an exception: I tip nothing if the cashier has set the options on the screen to 20, 25, and 30 percent."
It's never the cashier that sets up those things. There's studies that indicate those options increase revenue so it's pitched as benefit. It's a great bullet point if you're selling POS (Point of Sale) systems to a small business or are the Chief Assistant Program Manager of Payment Systems at McDonalds and want to talk about what a good job you're doing. I think that the increased revenue isn't worth the cost to both customer and cashier, who both receive a worse experience, but that's probably why I'm more likely to be a cashier than Head Payment Processing Officer. A lot of the systems implemented in restaurants since your time at Wendy's benefit the owner while causing conflict between the worker and customer.
I am 100% aligned with your approach - it's uncomfortable, but the only way to re-normalize tipping only for tip-worthy behavior is to make the hard choice and say no when you're asked to tip in situations where it's not appropriate. I particularly agree with your argument against "service industry workers don't make enough money" - forcing everyone to subsidize their income one awkward encounter at a time isn't the correct solution.
Tips are not for service, they are a sales commission. That's why you will tip twice as much for ordering a $20 entree compared to a $10 one even if the level of service is the same.
I stopped ordering food delivery online because sometime in 2021 I realized I was about to pay $50 for a sandwich that would be $15 if I went there in person.
Anyway, I tip ~20% for sit-down restaurant service and nothing else. Cashiers don't get anything because it's not traditional and I suspect it's the owners that pick up the money anyway. I don't go to hotels and I carry my own bags, so nothing to worry about there.
But my immigrant coworkers fall for that shit and hate it. I can never convince them to just ignore the screen. I do wonder how that's all going to play out.
This was infuriatingly accurate. The other day I was at a sushi restaurant where the food was brought by a robot. Then the real waiter made sure to show up at the end with the machine that asked for a tip, between 15-30% of course. Who am I tipping, the robot? Does Rosey need to feed her robot children?!
I never got tipped when I was making an hourly wage at places that now ask you to tip, so I don’t tip there. Also annoying at all the places that ask you to round up so they can do a tax write off at the end of the year. Not contributing to that!
Don’t worry it ist just liberals who feel the pangs of guilt. Even a heartless anarchist can get the feels with this crap. Once you realize it is just manipulation by POS providers (and yes that is an intentional double entendre) then you stop feeling bad.
I feel like I should knock off a buck for anyone that I’d otherwise tip but shoves a screen in my face that will “just ask you a couple questions”. Either say nothing or say it’s asking for a tip. Enough of this digital version of a bellhop loudly clearing his throat with his hand out.
Also, getting way too many “just ask yous” at purely service related places that have never been tipped. Tradesmen should be embarrassed to ask for tips.
A buddy and I bought a joint off a guy in bar years back. It was a southern state where that was only option. It was really good, and he was very nice. It occurred to us that we were tipping the bar tender, so why not him? He laughed pretty hard but accepted our tip.
As a European, I'm mystified by these American rules where the price on display and the amount you pay are only mildly correlated. You get a $20 meal, but then you have to add taxes that depend on where in the US you are (possibly on the product as well?), and if you add a further 10% on top of that taxed-up price, your American friend goes back to the counter to add an other 10% with an apologetic smile. Here, I know how much I have to pay by simply adding the price tags together, and if you want to tip, you leave a couple euros on the table, or perhaps wave the change away if you paid cash.
Americans were sensible enough to draw their streets in straight lines intersecting at square angles, why is it that a system where the price tag is exactly the amount to be charged could not take root in American culture?
I also prefer the European system but Americans are so used to this way of doing things that it’s hard for me to imagine us making the switch. Though if tipping culture gets even more out of hand, maybe we’ll say “time for a total reboot”.
It is not hard to imagine. Everyone I talk to is fucking sick of this. I think culture is ready to reboot it's just a coordination problem at this point
...These are contradictory. Reboots are always coordination problems first and foremost.
I've noticed that, since the pandemic, a lot more American restaurants are making the gratuity non-optional. Which is hilarious and completely defeats the purpose. But if this practice becomes universal, then we're only one step away from forcing restaurants to reflect the gratuity in the menu price.
We need a new noun, like "service compris" to say "this is the 100% final cost."
My position: service is always included. Did I have the option to go out to the kitchen and get the food myself? No? Then the cost of carrying it to the table is in the menu price.
Okay, if you don't like that noun, then a different noun. Totus Tuus
It’s also so much easier to pay in Europe. I hold up my phone and out goes the payment. Done. In most places there’s no need to touch the payment device (good hygiene if there’s a pandemic), no screen to interact with asking me how much I want to tip, no need to put my reading glasses on. So many places in the US don’t even take ApplePay or do contactless. They want you to write down your tip and sign a slip of paper like it’s still the 20th century.
You seem to be forgetting the worst tip scammers of them all - bathroom attendants. Luckily, they seem to be a dying breed, but there's nothing worse than having someone expect to get paid for turning on the tap and handing me a paper towel completely unasked for
I didn’t know I can tip the hotel maid who cleans up the sacrificed goat I left behind. How do I do that?
I previously thought it was tip enough that they rummage through my medicine bag and steal all my Adderall. At least it always seems to disappear quicker after a hotel stay.
Of all the things for secular society to crib from religion, I think I appreciate "monetized guilt trip" the least.
My favorite is the touch screen at the self service store in the Austin airport that won't let you cash out without leaving a tip. So you can either steal that bottle of water or leave a penny to the invisible employee who didn't assist you.....
Can't you put "0" (as in, "zero," not "surprise emoji") for the tip? That's what I do for the online food order that I'm going to pick up myself.
"But there’s an exception: I tip nothing if the cashier has set the options on the screen to 20, 25, and 30 percent."
It's never the cashier that sets up those things. There's studies that indicate those options increase revenue so it's pitched as benefit. It's a great bullet point if you're selling POS (Point of Sale) systems to a small business or are the Chief Assistant Program Manager of Payment Systems at McDonalds and want to talk about what a good job you're doing. I think that the increased revenue isn't worth the cost to both customer and cashier, who both receive a worse experience, but that's probably why I'm more likely to be a cashier than Head Payment Processing Officer. A lot of the systems implemented in restaurants since your time at Wendy's benefit the owner while causing conflict between the worker and customer.
And the only way to stop this bullshit is to ensure you select zero every time so their “scientific studies” actually have better data.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I am 100% aligned with your approach - it's uncomfortable, but the only way to re-normalize tipping only for tip-worthy behavior is to make the hard choice and say no when you're asked to tip in situations where it's not appropriate. I particularly agree with your argument against "service industry workers don't make enough money" - forcing everyone to subsidize their income one awkward encounter at a time isn't the correct solution.
Tips are not for service, they are a sales commission. That's why you will tip twice as much for ordering a $20 entree compared to a $10 one even if the level of service is the same.
I stopped ordering food delivery online because sometime in 2021 I realized I was about to pay $50 for a sandwich that would be $15 if I went there in person.
Anyway, I tip ~20% for sit-down restaurant service and nothing else. Cashiers don't get anything because it's not traditional and I suspect it's the owners that pick up the money anyway. I don't go to hotels and I carry my own bags, so nothing to worry about there.
But my immigrant coworkers fall for that shit and hate it. I can never convince them to just ignore the screen. I do wonder how that's all going to play out.
What’s the rule for Safeway asking me to round up to save homeless kittens and disabled turtles?
<Click here to round up to support pediatric cancer>
I press the button.
Cashier looks up at me with a dirty look.
"You monster. How could you support pediatric cancer?"
This was infuriatingly accurate. The other day I was at a sushi restaurant where the food was brought by a robot. Then the real waiter made sure to show up at the end with the machine that asked for a tip, between 15-30% of course. Who am I tipping, the robot? Does Rosey need to feed her robot children?!
If I have to give the tip before you cook my food, it's gonna be a good tip so I don't get a phlegmburger. But I'm never coming back.
I never got tipped when I was making an hourly wage at places that now ask you to tip, so I don’t tip there. Also annoying at all the places that ask you to round up so they can do a tax write off at the end of the year. Not contributing to that!
Does anyone ever round up?
My liberal guilt still gets me though
Don’t worry it ist just liberals who feel the pangs of guilt. Even a heartless anarchist can get the feels with this crap. Once you realize it is just manipulation by POS providers (and yes that is an intentional double entendre) then you stop feeling bad.
I feel like I should knock off a buck for anyone that I’d otherwise tip but shoves a screen in my face that will “just ask you a couple questions”. Either say nothing or say it’s asking for a tip. Enough of this digital version of a bellhop loudly clearing his throat with his hand out.
Also, getting way too many “just ask yous” at purely service related places that have never been tipped. Tradesmen should be embarrassed to ask for tips.
Yeah, it's funny how quickly "just ask you a couple of questions" became the standard patter for that situation, isn't it?
A buddy and I bought a joint off a guy in bar years back. It was a southern state where that was only option. It was really good, and he was very nice. It occurred to us that we were tipping the bar tender, so why not him? He laughed pretty hard but accepted our tip.