Reply to Tourist to DC here. No tipping at restaurants or anywhere else is appropriate, right?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think people who look for reasons not to tip are sending out bad karma that can poison their lives. I can’t really explain why that’s logical but it’s how I feel. Years ago, I took a long cab ride and realized at the end that I was short on cash and could only to pay the driver the fare plus a very minimal tip, and the guilt I had was awful.  I’ve been trying to make up for it ever since by tipping generously and honestly it’s one of the best mental health decisions I’ve ever made.  Staff at most restaurants are underpaid and mistreated by their employers, regardless of whether they work in a higher minimum wage place like DC or CA. Absent bad service, I feel like I’m lucky to be able to afford the pleasure of eating out, and also feel like it’s a decent gesture to help these young servers out at a financially vulnerable time in their work lives.  Even if I might be paying more than I absolutely have to, it’s worth the risk to help try to make sure I’m not adding to an abusive dynamic, and even to maybe help them out with a little extra cash, and just to send some good vibes out into the world. I might get flamed for this for being self delusional or a “sucker” but it’s my choice and I’d highly recommend it for your overall enjoyment when you sit down to break bread.  There’s more to life than approaching meals with suspicion as if everyone’s trying to put one over on you.  Maybe look at it as an opportunity to make sure you are being kind, even at the risk of being overly generous. [/quote]

All of this just highlights why tipping as a practice is bad. Guilt, feeling lucky, feeling bad for other people, etc should not need to be part of financial transactions. I assume you don’t feel all of these things in everything you do (do you feel this same level of responsibility for the cashier at Safeway, for example?) so I don’t understand why it needs to be part of the dining experience. Price the food fairly to cover the costs of fair wages for all the staff and that should be the end of it! [/quote]

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