Bribery or Tippery
I want to start out by underlining the fact that I am not a cheap person. Matter of fact I'm generous almost to a fault, but at my own discretion.
One of my pet peeves is the US tipping culture. It annoys me because I fail to see how it is any different from slipping someone a backhander or a bribe. I mean, in addition to paying for goods and/or services you are automatically expected to pay a little something extra! Madness I tell you.
Case 1 - Restaurants, I am automatically expected to leave tip regardless of whether the service is good or bad. The rationale behind this is that waiters get really crappy pay and so they live off their tips. I can't stress how much I do not consider this to be my problem. The restaurant owner is essentially passing all of his costs on to me his patron. Surely the onus for ensuring the livelihood of staff should be on the owner as opposed to the patronage. It is outrageous that when I get poor service I still have to tip at least 18%. If I get good service I can then tip more than that. Senseless.
Case 2 - Delivery guys, If I purchase a piece of equipment or furniture I have to pay shipping and delivery costs. When the delivery guy brings it to me at home, I am however also expected to give him an additional tip. He informs me that he only makes money from the tips and doesn't get paid to deliver. Can someone tell me why I have paid delivery costs if I have to pay this guy again??!!
Case 3 - Hairdressers, manicurists etc. These people give me a price list when I come into their establishment. They tell me how much it will cost for them to provide me a service (it is usually extortionate). That however is not sufficient, I am now expected to tip everyone who has played a role in providing that service. The person who washed the hair, the stylist, the manicurists etc. Do I look like I am made of cash? If you feel that your prices are too low, then increase them or whatever, but I need a fixed cost to work with not a moving line depending on how many people you decide to use to provide the service.
Case 4 - Taxidrivers, In addition to paying the fare for my ride I am expected to give a taxidriver a tip. This one irks me big time. If a cabbie picks me up from the airport and therefore has to assist me with loading luggage then I can see where a tip might factor into the equation. If however he drives me 10 blocks down the street while yakking into his cellphone all the way, what exactly am I tipping him for?
Case 5 - Bartenders, I am expected to tip them $1 every time I buy a drink. I find this especially offensive in establishments that choose to charge $15 per drink. I am expected to shoulder all the staffing costs of their employees? Ridiculous.
Now in numerous countries in the developing world, (Naij comes to mind) you generally have to raise people just to get them to do their jobs. I am starting to see significant parallels between both cultures. Bribery and Tippery are blending into one as far as I am concerned. Why bother referring to it as a tip anymore? As much a they like to pretend it is optional/customary, what they really mean is that it is obligatory...Regardless of service levels.
One of my pet peeves is the US tipping culture. It annoys me because I fail to see how it is any different from slipping someone a backhander or a bribe. I mean, in addition to paying for goods and/or services you are automatically expected to pay a little something extra! Madness I tell you.
Case 1 - Restaurants, I am automatically expected to leave tip regardless of whether the service is good or bad. The rationale behind this is that waiters get really crappy pay and so they live off their tips. I can't stress how much I do not consider this to be my problem. The restaurant owner is essentially passing all of his costs on to me his patron. Surely the onus for ensuring the livelihood of staff should be on the owner as opposed to the patronage. It is outrageous that when I get poor service I still have to tip at least 18%. If I get good service I can then tip more than that. Senseless.
Case 2 - Delivery guys, If I purchase a piece of equipment or furniture I have to pay shipping and delivery costs. When the delivery guy brings it to me at home, I am however also expected to give him an additional tip. He informs me that he only makes money from the tips and doesn't get paid to deliver. Can someone tell me why I have paid delivery costs if I have to pay this guy again??!!
Case 3 - Hairdressers, manicurists etc. These people give me a price list when I come into their establishment. They tell me how much it will cost for them to provide me a service (it is usually extortionate). That however is not sufficient, I am now expected to tip everyone who has played a role in providing that service. The person who washed the hair, the stylist, the manicurists etc. Do I look like I am made of cash? If you feel that your prices are too low, then increase them or whatever, but I need a fixed cost to work with not a moving line depending on how many people you decide to use to provide the service.
Case 4 - Taxidrivers, In addition to paying the fare for my ride I am expected to give a taxidriver a tip. This one irks me big time. If a cabbie picks me up from the airport and therefore has to assist me with loading luggage then I can see where a tip might factor into the equation. If however he drives me 10 blocks down the street while yakking into his cellphone all the way, what exactly am I tipping him for?
Case 5 - Bartenders, I am expected to tip them $1 every time I buy a drink. I find this especially offensive in establishments that choose to charge $15 per drink. I am expected to shoulder all the staffing costs of their employees? Ridiculous.
Now in numerous countries in the developing world, (Naij comes to mind) you generally have to raise people just to get them to do their jobs. I am starting to see significant parallels between both cultures. Bribery and Tippery are blending into one as far as I am concerned. Why bother referring to it as a tip anymore? As much a they like to pretend it is optional/customary, what they really mean is that it is obligatory...Regardless of service levels.
posted by Monef at 1:33 PM
15 Comments:
Nne men u r my American idol.This issue has been disturbing me for a long time o.
I feel super badly on this issue men.Like the bartenders one,I have to tip u everytime I come for a drink that u r already ripping me off on and the craziest one is if u venture to go to a buffet like chinese buffet,u r expected to leave a tip,Holy Guacomolly, for what I had to do all the work of going to pick my food myself,dishing it and bringing it to the the damn table.Why shd I tip u.
Efe lemme give u a warning o,cos with what u r feeling right now,try to leave ur tipping allergies in New York when going to Las Vegas o,cos everytime u eat,sleep,drink,enter bus or cab,dance and even walk self na tipping on four fours o.Was there a month ago and men,all my planned spending money almost went to tipping.
One of my friend even said I chic was banned from coming to a restaurant cos she never tips.They will always tell her to leave when she comes in.
Anyway nne I guess thaz how this society is.
ha ha ha!! Why all the agro about tipping? Its a free world!! To tip or not to tip? That is the qiestion. I must confess that I am not such a big fan of tipping either!! I am equally guilty of not tipping waiters at all!! Why should i give them more when i have already been charged for the services rendered by then + VAT?
Delivery men, absolutely out of the question!! Didnt realise actually they expected a tip also!! lol. always too eager to shut the door in their faces and get to the work on unveiling whats in my parcel.
As for taxi drivers, hairdressers and the like, that is their business. I pay for any services rendered and as no extras are given by my boss for sevices rendered by me, so i reciprocate acordingly!! lol. Call me a miser if u like but thats life.
Abeg if them no like my non tipping, make them go baf naked!!
Calabar chic na so jere.Since the day I discover one bartender that I normally tip well @ a sports bar I use to hang out with my friends drives a 2006 BMW 750i,omo if I no dey happy and u talk abt tip near me,na thunder go fire ur yansh.
Me I just dey tip the chic and she dey use my money pay car note dey go.Me sef never gree buy 750i cos I get priorities o.
You need to come to Poland! When we go for drinks, we usually just pay at the end of the evening. If I leave a tip all the Poles look at me like I'm mad: 'only tourists tip!'
tip ke? i pay what was priced for and colllect each and every single coin of mine (change) as i may my way shamelessly back to my seat. even the 2p coins dont get left behind...why pretend to be rich?
totally agree. the expectation stinks. it gets worse when you pay by card. you get this space where you are meant to fill in a tip amount. something the waiter/waitress never fails to point out.
I give the odd tip (my barber, good food at a resturant) but only at my discretion. to be expected to is ... bollocks to that.
@naija bloke - advice taken on the vegas thing as i'll be headed there soon.
@calabargal - LMAO
@beeca - warsaw is looking more and mor like the place to be.
@delot - you know dis!
@obi - you hit the nail on the head, it is the expectation that pisses me off more than anything else.
I love this post. I really feel you on this whole tipping issue. It's obviously not that bad in Jand, but in America. When I went to New York 3 years ago, my friend and I scraped together the sixty dollars fare for the cab from the hotel to the airport, we even managed to give the driver our last 2 dollars as a tip, and the stupid guy said, "What, only 2 dollars tip"!!! Agggh
Oh, another thing I hate about America is the tax they add on when you get to the till. I've carefully added up my pennies, and I get to the counter and they add some more.......I HATE THAT!!!
Monef! This post is too funny!, especially the cab fare tips!
Tipping indeed!
When i buy something and my change is 1p i collect it oh! Cause i say if you are 1p short, they dont let you off the hook!
Haha nice post!
Tip high, tip low. I once had an issue with tipping and in some cases still do, however for the greater part, I see the neccessity atleast in the case of waitresses and bartenders. One has to remember, if not known already, that ninety something percent of the money they make is from tips. They make, in most cases, less than minimum wage. Do you really expect them to survive on less than $6 an hour? In my opinion, if the establishments took better care of their workers monetarily, tipping would need not arise. Granted the service is sometimes not pleasurable, but hey, what would you expect when more than enough people treat them as less than human. It is merely, a defense mechanism. Tip high, tip low, tip non the less.
i dont typically tip my hairdresser and we talk openly about it....as in she said it jokingly to me once that i dont tip and i "jokingly" said to her too.. YOU'RE TOO EXPENSIVE. I tell her it's like I have to work overtime just to come visit her...come every two weeks? naah men...i think not...i can whip my bathroom into a salon right quick if necessary.. $75 for a perm...plus tip..plus gas to drive there and back...
okay...just read thru the comments...as far as waiters and stuff...they dont get paid anything because the system is set up that way...they're expected to make their money off tips...for a waiter/waitress...their min way maybe like $3/hr...or something mundane like that...
@musical chemist...HABA...15 is nothing...
i feel you on this one, even though i don't think we're called on to tip as much here. tip the delivery guy?
i will tip generously if the service is good and the waiter was friendly etc. otherwise i will leave the minimum, and if the sevice is poor, then my money will remain in my pocket.
i don't see why i am OBLIGATED to leave what is supposed to be voluntary. some establishments even have a service charge tagged on to the bill. if they do, then i wont tip. what's the service charge for then?
Seems these days that businesses do not want to absorb a penny of the the cost of doing business. I pay your heat, your staff, your benefits, and your overhead so you can take 100% profit home at the end of the day. L isten, it's not my problem if you want to pay your employees 6 bucks an hour, and it's doubly not my problem if somebody is desperate enough to take that job for 6 bucks an hour. Of course I empathize with anyone who feels they must take the job for survival reasons, but you made a concious decision to take that low paying job and I shouldn't be shamed into picking up the slack for your deadbeat employer - take it up with your federal HR commission.
Folks, there is already a 300% to 1000% mark up on retail and services -everything from a pair of pants to a spaghetti dinner. I think businesses are making their fair share and are now just profiteering with impunity. But as long as people keep accepting those rediculous sub minimum wages, and we keep tipping because we feel sorry for them, this expectation will never change.
I once had a store manager chase me to my car threatening to call the police because I didn’t pay the ‘automatically included’ gratuity. I explained to him that it is not illegal to exclude the gratuity, then explained how that the waitress dropped a drink on me, brought me the wrong order twice and then gave me the wrong bill 15 minutes after I asked for it. What exactly was I tipping for? Shitty service and shitty food and plus pay a tip now? Get real. I told him I would pay the tip if he will pay for my dry cleaning bill!
Here are some Restaurant Rules that will help you in your dining experience:
Rule #1 Do not patron any establishment that adds an automatic gratuity to your bill. This is pretentious, presumptuous and insulting and these qualities will almost certainly be reflected in the attitudes of your hostess, your waitress and the quality of your dining experience.
Rule #2 Set your expectations when you arrive. When the waitress arrives and says 'Hi my name is Julie and I'll be your waitress tonight.." You say 'Hi Julie , listen tonight is an important night for me, I am looking to get in and out as quick as possible and if you wouldn't mind checking in on us a few minutes after the meal is delivered, and once more when you see that we've finished, I would really appreciate it an I won't forget the good service.
Julie will know exactly what you mean and although you might feel a little embarrased, why would you? If it were any other place besides a restaruant, if you were looking for a pair of pants, you would tell the clerk your size and measurmeents so he could get it for you. Speak up!
Rule #3 If the waiter/waitress takes more than 5 minutes to come to your table and bring you a menu... leave! This is only a small indication of what you can expect for the rest of the night. Alternatively if they bring you a menu and leave right away without taking your drink order first- LEAVE- it will be another half an hour before you get your order taken and another hour before it arrives.
Rule #4 If you get the wrong meal twice- Leave! The third one will have spit or rat droppings in it.
Rule #5 If your waitress is rude to you or flirts openly with your spouse, has offensive body odor or any other issue that will detract from the enjoymnent of your dining experience, get the manager and ask for another server- Explain your situation and don't be shy . If the manager does not accomodate- Leave!
Rule #6- If it’s a Friday night, and you walk into a restaurant and see only one or 2 tables poplulated out of 50- There's a reason for that! Leave.
Conclusion
This is a service industry and the premises for Tipping is ‘good service’. You can’t lay out the expectation then not deliver on the mandate. I don’t care how saturated the restarurant industry is they should be grateful for your business. If they’re not, then you shouldn’t give them your money. You work hard for your money and are entitled to be as anal as you want about your expectations as long as you yourself are not unduly disrespectful or rude to the persons who are serving you.
Somewhere along the road, this industry has forgotten that the customer is always right and your business is important to them. Instead, there remains a sence of entitlement even after the service level has degraded.
Up to you to remind them.!
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