Hacker News Reader

Gratuities are useful when they follow the service.

The porter carries the luggage, the waitress brings the food, the vallet retrieves the car, the technician fixes the furnace, etc.

Some of the payment is up to the consumer, who can pay more for quality service.

Tipping prior to service is dumb and pointless.

Tipping prior to service is usually a bid for priority in the work queue.

I wouldn't be sad if that were true, but I've never seen it.

Like tipping the hostess to get a table faster? That works?

I don’t know how realistic it is, but it is a common tv/movie show trope to slip the host/hostess some cash to get seated quicker or a better seat.

Whenever I've asked for a different seat at a restaurant, I've been granted it no questions asked and no tip given.

Paying to skip ahead in a line sounds more like a bribe than a tip, is this isn't some kind of advertised service.

Tipping your ubereats/etc driver so they actually want to pick up your order from the queue and not eat half your fries, I'm guessing.