And look, I get it, times are tough and inflation is high. But begging for tips instead of pressuring businesses to pay their employees is not the way to go. I've also stopped eating out as much for dine-in food for the same reason. Food prices have gone up enough at my local Chipotle, I don't feel the need to eat out and experience a $30 8oz steak, poorly cooked, from my local Olive Garden or whatever.
Edit: Looked at a below comment, if its a delivery driver or a barista or something, yes I still tip as that involves the driver spending most of their time to deliver something specifically for me or the barista hand-making my coffee.
What a rude, entitled, antisocial attitude. What happens if everyone collectively decides you can stay home and cook your own food and make your own... drinks?
And what specific actions have you taken to ensure those workers are paid at least minimum wage, and that said minimum wage is in line with inflation similar to what is was, oh say, back under the times of Reagan that so many pine for when folks like yourself probably would have had your income above 100ish k taxed at 50%?[1]
IMO, if you can't afford both the tip and the meal, stay home, lest someone assume your startup or company is failing and short your stock or refuse to buy your products/services.
(And spoiler alert: This poster is not a barista, has never been a barista, and will literally put a bullet their own head before they go to what they endured like ten years of STEM school to avoid.)
[1] https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-bracke...
Can you vote? If you use said vote to ensure they aren't paid fairly, then you are engaged in abusive gaslighting to use this line of rhetoric rather than admit you do not want to pay a fair wage.
Good thing I don't do that then.
Was the spoiler alert saying you never worked a barista job? I haven’t either, but I did work in other positions growing up which relied on tipping. Still the growth in tipping culture is out of hand. Going to a bar now I buy one draft beer and get a screen flipped over with tip options of 22%, 25%, and 30%…
I’m also confused how me tipping less would enable someone to short my companies stock when nowhere on my person does it say where I work.
Sorry, that was too intense. I've never had that kind of economic security, so I reacted harshly since I've had some really rude people interact with me on and offline recently. I was off the mark in the tone of my comment, and I apologize for that.
(On my end, I keep having shit happen like I'm too depressed to cook because of a death or three, and someone picks that moment to abuse me for something like ordering with grubhub with a generous tip because I can't handle talking on the phone that day. Stuff like that makes you think your money is worthless, since the things you want to purchase will be forever beyond your reach even if you did become a billionaire rather than someone making ~70k in a low cost of living city.)
>I’m also confused how me tipping less would enable someone to short my companies stock when nowhere on my person does it say where I work.
I'm saying the barista might notice where you work and trade based on that information -- or give it to a friend who has enough $ to trade with. Hope that helps. (I know of at least one company that went completely "kaput" because of such a thing, paired with the fact the service worker knew it's unusual for folks to have a meeting outside the company cafeteria/campus/arcology
Why?
The waiter/barista actually controls very little and both so relatively little as well. One job I was using a largely automated $10,000 espresso machine, which you kinda-sorta gotta know how to pack the grounds for. But that only took me about 3 minutes to learn… literally.
As a waiter you just bring the plate to the table. At the fancy place I worked at, we had runners who would also bus the table and they actually did that for us. So… I would get a 20-30% tip for basically just making the table feel cool and rich for being there. Like a food salesman.
I don’t really want to talk to a food or a car salesman myself, in all honesty. If I got paid more then yes, for sure. But I don’t.
Let’s watch society collapse under the weight of collective wage stagnation and greed!
That said, I am very sick of getting asked to tip before anything is rendered-- such as at the counter of a cafe where I have coffee or a pastry.
Tipping a dollar for a coffee to a barista who lacks any customer service skills is a pain. If they're actually friendly, I don't mind as much.
What's worse is a cafe that asks for a $1 tip at a self-service coffee refill station, lol.
But yeah, this whole "We're paid a decent hourly wage, but we'll still have our cash register ask for a tip, even before your food arrives at the counter, where you take it to your own table" thing is insane.
Tips are meant for restaurant servers -- because they don't make even minimum wage. Tips are't meant for every aspect of the service industry. It gets to become extortive.
The tip is actually a tip. Not subsidizing their business.
That sounds more like a gratuity... they do this in America at full blown restaurants, but that's more if you have more than say, 8 people, and they have to be advertised in advance. What you are describing sounds deceptive to me, bu I'm not a lawyer, and no one seems to care about what I think as a consumer unless it's something they already agree with :-)
I don’t work at a FAANG (or whatever the term is now) and I don’t make anywhere close to SV money. But I also don’t make $15/hr and I believe in “love your neighbor as yourself.”
I personally don’t interpret “love your neighbor as yourself” as generous tipping as the Bible seemed more focused on just plain donations to strangers in need. I don’t think many service employees will have their life changed by 15-18% tips sadly because society just turned that into their paycheck instead of morally requiring their employer to do better :(
I used to order a lot and tip cash.
The other day I tried to order:
- Pizza: 13€ (9€ if bought directly from an equivalent restaurant)
- Service fee: 1,5€
- Delivery fee: 4€
So I'm paying 18,5€ for a 9€ pizza and I'm also expected to tip +20% (~4€) that makes the entire endeavor too expensive and not worth ordering (even before tipping).
Bar: $1/beer, $2/cocktail, more if I'm a regular.
All counter/self/coffee shop/etc serve: no unless it's big/complicated enough that it's basically a dine-in order.
Delivery: 15%, but a delivery fee (from the restaurant) will replace that, I'm not doing both. Doordash/etc fees are my problem for being lazy, and I generally try to avoid using those services.
No. The staff literally handed me paper cup.
Am I tipping the person who brewed the coffee and put it on the shelf(where I pour it myself)? I just paid 2 dollars for a cup of coffee. Is that not enough?
It's so crazy.
Tipping is dehumanising for both the server and the served. It often is downright humiliating to the served as well.
Even the simple question that pops up in mind — am I giving high enough, is it too high, will I be looked down upon if it ended up being less. Do servers greatly prefer who tip more or “look like” will tip more anyway — yes, they do! I don’t want to be part of this game. Fix the price - let me be done with it. In India, restaurants have something called “service charge” (not service tax) and if it’s there I don’t tip - it’s an official thing. I just don’t. I usually don’t tip anyway. And I understand beyond reasonable doubt it has nothing to do with income disparity. That’s a truth and it’s everywhere - from hospital, grocery store, etc to kid’s school etc that you and the server both might approach. I don’t want to make this habit of “wondering” about tip every time. In fact at the end of the meal it was becoming a not so good experience.
My worst experience around tipping was in Paris. I had politely asked “Can I have a shake?” and the young lady on the counter said in a terse loud tone “please!” and baffled I said “excuse me?” and then she pretty much shouted “please!!!” and for some reason my brain worked and I realised it was for demand of a “please” being added in my request. I was really embarrassed and I apologised and asked again with a “please”. She then moved and brought the glass and put in on table with audible force (few people turned towards the counter) while sternly looking at me, with bill. I paid the exact amount. Then she said in semi raised voice “tip?”. I again politely said "no tip" and left. The tip has become a misplaced entitlement.
(I asked around. I was told that it was shitty of her to demand a please especially in that manner. My hostel manager said that a Parisian would have had given her “piece of mind”).
So I am not even talking about minimum wage and better labour practises (that’s actually pretty shit in India by the way). In fact it should be kept as far away from tipping as much possible! Tipping should have nothing to do with labour practices and minimum wage. Nothing!!
One of my favourite places here is a cafe that mentions “We do not accept tips!” and guess what that’s the only place where I have not seen entirely or many new staff if I don’t visit for 2 or a even full 1 month.
I sort of like India’s service tax that can be removed if desired (didn’t the government recently mandate restaurants must remove that when requested?)
Desperate times.
My rule, if you hand delivered stuff to me, either you already got paid via shipping fee or you'll get tipped.
Oldest form of gratitude, making it complicated should be duly and overtly shunned.
I’d encourage anyone who can afford it to do the same.
Now, I only dine at places with no tips.
"A paypig is a term used to refer to a submissive person who derives pleasure from giving financial gifts or money to another person, often in exchange for attention or humiliation. This term is often used within the BDSM community to refer to someone who enjoys being dominated and controlled financially. It is important to note that this term is not typically used in a positive or respectful way, and may be considered offensive by some people."
Yeah, apparently you need to Ask Jeeves every eGold handle you see next to a tip jar at or you'll have some very odd interactions until they figure out you're literally just trying to order coffee, not engage in some kind of... microburst of BDSM.
(I don't like to look at the data, I prefer to try to have authentic interactions and let folks surprise me.)