Tipping has become crazy since the pandemic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I don’t tip on takeout. Tip creep is real. I’m also not tipping on a 6 dollar latte at Starbucks.

We tip generously at restaurants. We tip people throughout the resort on vacation who lug our bags and strollers in and out of the car and to the rooms. I tip the hairstylists.

Tipping at my kids preschools has also gotten out of control at holidays, teacher appreciation week and end of year- PLUS we have a dedicated line item for it on tuition and then are ancouraged to give more. Just charge me an all inclusive number and be done with it. I don’t have time for the mental gymantics and I’d rather just know upfront what I can and can’t afford.

Tipping is out of control but preschool workers make very little. If you can go to a hotel that has baggage people you can afford a gift for those who care for your kids at minimum wage.

[Anonymous]

What I wonder is: since this tipping is now so pervasive, there must be a lot of people (the ones who work in or own these businesses) who support it, but they are never on these threads explaining their point of view and why they think this tipping is justified. I really want to know what they think. Is it just taking what you can get if customers are stupid/kind/feel guilty enough, but there is no real expectation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I don’t tip on takeout. Tip creep is real. I’m also not tipping on a 6 dollar latte at Starbucks.

We tip generously at restaurants. We tip people throughout the resort on vacation who lug our bags and strollers in and out of the car and to the rooms. I tip the hairstylists.

Tipping at my kids preschools has also gotten out of control at holidays, teacher appreciation week and end of year- PLUS we have a dedicated line item for it on tuition and then are ancouraged to give more. Just charge me an all inclusive number and be done with it. I don’t have time for the mental gymantics and I’d rather just know upfront what I can and can’t afford.

Tipping is out of control but preschool workers make very little. If you can go to a hotel that has baggage people you can afford a gift for those who care for your kids at minimum wage.

I hate the “if you can afford X you can afford Y” argument! That is not how spending money works. But also, I think what the PP is saying is that she’s happy to pay more to the preschool worker but just bake that into the bill!

[Anonymous]

At some point, this all throws off the differential treatment needed between tipped wage workers who rely on tips to hit minimum wage and normal wage workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I don’t tip on takeout. Tip creep is real. I’m also not tipping on a 6 dollar latte at Starbucks.

We tip generously at restaurants. We tip people throughout the resort on vacation who lug our bags and strollers in and out of the car and to the rooms. I tip the hairstylists.

Tipping at my kids preschools has also gotten out of control at holidays, teacher appreciation week and end of year- PLUS we have a dedicated line item for it on tuition and then are ancouraged to give more. Just charge me an all inclusive number and be done with it. I don’t have time for the mental gymantics and I’d rather just know upfront what I can and can’t afford.

Tipping is out of control but preschool workers make very little. If you can go to a hotel that has baggage people you can afford a gift for those who care for your kids at minimum wage.

I hate the “if you can afford X you can afford Y” argument! That is not how spending money works. But also, I think what the PP is saying is that she’s happy to pay more to the preschool worker but just bake that into the bill!

It is baked into the bills, only it's not actually going to workers. It's going to the private equity investors that are buying up daycares

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/us/child-care-centers-private-equity.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I don’t tip on takeout. Tip creep is real. I’m also not tipping on a 6 dollar latte at Starbucks.

We tip generously at restaurants. We tip people throughout the resort on vacation who lug our bags and strollers in and out of the car and to the rooms. I tip the hairstylists.

Tipping at my kids preschools has also gotten out of control at holidays, teacher appreciation week and end of year- PLUS we have a dedicated line item for it on tuition and then are ancouraged to give more. Just charge me an all inclusive number and be done with it. I don’t have time for the mental gymantics and I’d rather just know upfront what I can and can’t afford.

Tipping is out of control but preschool workers make very little. If you can go to a hotel that has baggage people you can afford a gift for those who care for your kids at minimum wage.

I hate the “if you can afford X you can afford Y” argument! That is not how spending money works. But also, I think what the PP is saying is that she’s happy to pay more to the preschool worker but just bake that into the bill!

PP here- that’s exactly what I’m saying. You tell me what’s appropriate and charge me upfront for it with tuition. One of my children’s preschools does do that, but they’ve also recently started sending out emails that we can give more if we want. It’s just never ending. I appreciate my children’s teachers. But I don’t want to be in charge of paying or tipping them directly, which is what things have come to with expensive gift cards 3x a year for various things (multiplied by multiple kids.)

[Anonymous]

I get confused about base salaries. From working as a waitress, I remember how pathetic the base salary was. If someone’s providing counter service (like PP’s bakery example), I don’t know if they’re paid minimum or a lower salary based on tipping expectations. As a result, I usually add a tip, because I don’t want to stiff anyone relying on it. I wish there was some clear indicator about the pay structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not "pandemic" related; it's enshittification due to modern technology infecting payments.

True. But this experience involved the person asking if I wanted to add a tip. There was no iPad involved.

I would be completely comfortable looking that person in the eye and saying, “No, this is not a service transaction that merits a gratuity.”

I am so stealing the line!!

To OP, learning to say NO would be the only way that the owners will start compensating their staff appropriately. Or the staff can go find better paying jobs, employment at will!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I wonder is: since this tipping is now so pervasive, there must be a lot of people (the ones who work in or own these businesses) who support it, but they are never on these threads explaining their point of view and why they think this tipping is justified. I really want to know what they think. Is it just taking what you can get if customers are stupid/kind/feel guilty enough, but there is no real expectation?

From the business perspective it is a way to increase compensation without being locked into higher wages. If times are good, the worker gets more money but the business isn't put in a position where it has to cut wages if the business isn't doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get confused about base salaries. From working as a waitress, I remember how pathetic the base salary was. If someone’s providing counter service (like PP’s bakery example), I don’t know if they’re paid minimum or a lower salary based on tipping expectations. As a result, I usually add a tip, because I don’t want to stiff anyone relying on it. I wish there was some clear indicator about the pay structure.

As was expressed in multiple threads before, if the tips do not add up to make minimum wage, the owner is supposed to compensate the wait/counter staff. By tipping every tom, dick and harry you are allowing the owners to pay their staff less than minimum wage and get to keep more profits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get confused about base salaries. From working as a waitress, I remember how pathetic the base salary was. If someone’s providing counter service (like PP’s bakery example), I don’t know if they’re paid minimum or a lower salary based on tipping expectations. As a result, I usually add a tip, because I don’t want to stiff anyone relying on it. I wish there was some clear indicator about the pay structure.

I don't think someone working in a bakery is allowed to be paid the server wage because a substantial portion of their work is non-tipped labor as compared to a server that does mostly tipped labor.

[Anonymous]

Last time I spend $100 on a meal for my family, I told them 10% was enough, because we were only there for an hour, and that is $10+ an hour, way more than I was making when I was her age.

[Anonymous]

If workers don't want to be dependent on tips, then they should go apply for a non-tipped position. Employers are desperate - working at a restaurant is not the only option right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If workers don't want to be dependent on tips, then they should go apply for a non-tipped position. Employers are desperate - working at a restaurant is not the only option right now.

This argument is so dated. What jobs?! It’s not easy to find a well-paying job without a college degree. And even with a college degree, employers want lots of relevant work experience for entry level jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If workers don't want to be dependent on tips, then they should go apply for a non-tipped position. Employers are desperate - working at a restaurant is not the only option right now.

Agreed, need to make these wait staff jobs less lucrative. As a society, we need more childcare (so more women can work), plumbers, electricians, caretakers (to help with the aging population and low cost housing). In the grand scheme of things, how many people need a special experience at a restaurant? Sure sometimes for a special occasion, but lots of these tipped jobs are not "table stakes" for a well functioning society