It always brings me such joy when my local coffee shop spins the iPad around, and the bright screen flashes the tipping options after I just paid for my overpriced coffee. Seriously, when the lady who clicked two things on this iPad to input my order is now asking me for a 10%, 20%, or 25% tip, I cannot think of a better feeling than that of societal guilt for clicking the “no tip” option, which is a big fat zero percent.
I am all for tipping when service is done well. I have been an employee on the receiving end of the “no tip” option, and that feeling of no tip is demoralizing. The system that has been set up in the United States forces service workers to rely heavily on their tips. The minimum wage laws were designed to allow employers to pay their service workers less than the federal minimum wage, assuming that tips would make up the difference. However, being a customer who feels the pressure to leave a tip all the time to make up for the government not paying their employees fairly, even for services that don’t necessarily need one, is appalling.
Today, it is common to be asked to tip at places that are more transactional and less personal, such as fast- food restaurants and coffee shops. I never know if I should tip the workers or not. At times, I don’t think it is necessary if they are doing a very simple task that doesn’t require a more personalized service. Personalized services being cutting hair, doing nails, or waiting tables. However, I still feel the pressure to click the automatic 20% tip option just so I don’t look like a jerk.
According to Pew Research Center, after conducting a survey asking Americans how they saw tipping spread, they stated,
“But even as Americans say they’re being asked to tip more often, relatively few have a great deal of confidence about when and how to do so. Only about a third say it’s extremely or very easy to know whether (34%) or how much (33%) to tip for different types of services.”
Tipping should be enforced when a service is done well – taking the time to make conversation, keeping up on customer needs, and going above and beyond basic standards and actions that I can do myself.
Once, a group of my friends and I went to a popular restaurant that serves brunch. The ten of us walk in, because they don’t take reservations, and are seated. We were the largest group there and received some glares from the ladies working the register. However, our waitress immediately came over with a smile on her face and began placing menus, forks, and glasses of water down. Throughout the entire meal, she refilled all of our glasses of different drinks, hand-wrote our orders, and made polite conversation with all ten of us. Not once did I ever feel like an annoyance (which, to be honest, we were) when she was serving us. We all left her a generous tip because she provided services well without complaint. She didn’t hint that she was irritated with the amount of refills or the amount of requested napkins, even after she had walked away to serve the other tables for a third time. Although I don’t think this type of service has gone completely out of style, the idea that people in service are always worthy of a generous tip has become normalized, even when they don’t provide efforts up to basic standards.
The most outrageous circumstances of being asked to tip are to an iPad or the self-checkout machine (so am I tipping myself there?). That raises the question of where that money goes. Does it go to the employees, the company, or will it be in my paycheck next week? One could argue that if tipping ended, that would force worker’s wages to reach the minimum. However, this would then increase the prices of goods and services, but then you won’t have to add a tip to your final total. This subject lies in a grey area because at the end of the day, someone is not satisfied.
You are not evil for not tipping. You are not evil for having standards and expectations for those who are providing you service. It is not up to the customer to make up for the lost wages that the companies are not funding employees. It’s time to get rid of the meaningless tip screens at the end of my order and bring back quality service, deserving of a good tip.
