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Tipping is essential. It's the most common generosity exercise in everyday life. It gives us a chance to flex a muscle we don't flex often enough. We should be

Tipping is essential. It's the most common generosity exercise in everyday life. It gives us a chance to flex a muscle we don't flex often enough. We should be doing it more, not less. We should tip the cashier at the grocery store and our mechanics and our mail carriers and the referees at high school sporting events. Paypal tip jars and Humble Bundle's Pay What You Want model are two examples of tipping on the web that I'd like to see more often. The more nudges toward generosity, the better.

Cyph0n 10y ago
Right, but it shouldn't be mandatory. The issue with the current model is that it's not really a gratuity but rather a necessity. To be quite frank, tipping does not make me feel generous at all.
d0100 10y ago
As long as it's not required.
grenoire 10y ago
Tipping is for cases where you are delighted by the service to the point that you feel the server deserves additional compensation for their work. When it turns into a hidden cost (like tax in tax-excluding prices) it is not okay, and it is not generosity. It's the real life equivalent of dark patterns.
peterkelly 10y ago
> Tipping is essential. It's the most common generosity exercise in everyday life As someone who comes from a country where tipping is not part of the culture (Australia), I'm struggling to understand this. What are we missing out on by not having it?
- lupin_sansei 10y ago
  Notice in Australia only higher end places have table service and not that great service either. That's what we miss out on in Australia. We have much more self service cafes and much less attentive service when we do get it.
  - lupin_sansei 10y ago
    ...Australian places work around the higher minimum wages through self service and I've been to a few places now that have touchscreen ordering (McDonalds, some yum cha places). Expect to see more of that to reduce labor costs.
- icantdrive55 10y ago
  Nothing. I haven't been to Australia, but in the USA, you are missing out on a fake smile, a fake compliment, a light pat on the back, the server invading your personal space, by leaning into you to take your order (it makes you feel like you know the server? A weird bond forms? They become more than just someone who takes an order?). I waited tables in college, and was taught some of the ways to increase that all important tip. You used to be able to sneak in a free drink; that's the best one. I would like to see an end to all tips here. It complicated because some employees are just likable. You want to give them money. Some employees actually make a pretty good living off a job that allows for tipping. Most employees don't have that magic though; I couldn't pull it off, without being fake. I'm just not a people person most days, especially with the self-entitled customer. We have a huge sector of the society that needs jobs that allow for tipping though. I don't see the need for unskilled labor decreasing anytime soon. (I'm probally hurting someone's feelings? I don't mean to. Certain jobs that accept tips require training, and talent--a hair stylist is one.) So--I feel raising the minimum wage is the right choice. It will prevent certain industries from just filling up the shop with bodies. Owners will have to hire the best applicant. More thought will go onto the hire? Speaking fluent English might be a requirement? Along with being bilingual? My minimum wage would be close to $20 though. (I came back to add something. Too many employers are paying skilled labor minimum wage--without tips. This is especially prevalent in construction. I worked for a few non-union telecommunications companies, and they all paid minimum wage. This edit isn't about tipping, it's about just how desperate certain workers are, and how employers exploit them. Couldn't sleep until I added this.)
ThomPete 10y ago
The problem in the US is that tipping have become a part of the employees salary not a bonus for good work.
nihonde 10y ago
That's absurd. I could make an even more valid argument that employees should be aiming for perfection in their work, regardless of the incentive of a tip. In Japan, no one tips, and customer service is better than anywhere else on earth. Dangling money on a stick is a loser's game. Winners have pride in their work.
stephenboyd 10y ago
Don't forget your software development consultant. I wouldn't mind an extra 20% :) I'm not convinced of your point, but I wonder how far you could take it. Do you tip your kid's teacher, your professor, a librarian, your doctor, your doctor's assistant? What if the referee is actually wealthy and does it for the love of the game? You'd have to make explicit judgements about every job's place in the socioeconomic hierarchy, and not everyone is going to appreciate getting grouped with the waiters.
- padobson 10y ago
  I think everyone is overthinking my comment, which I was surprised to find was the most controversial thing I posted here in weeks. I like your take, because it questions where the line should be, and my answer is, how generous do you want to be? I'm not saying people should tip because they get good service, or because the service provider is poor or because they want to encourage specific results, either in the present or in the future. I'm saying people should tip, full stop. I am also in no way suggesting that people should be forced, coerced, or otherwise compelled to tip. That's definitely not generosity. Generosity is good. Sometimes goodness can be goodness regardless of the result. I could care less if it makes a waiter work harder or makes them entitled. That's an entirely different and mostly unrelated problem to getting people to be more generous.
tmnvix 10y ago
If I give additional money to a bartender to encourage them to serve me before other (possibly poorer) people, that is not generosity.

Cyph0n 10y ago

Right, but it shouldn't be mandatory. The issue with the current model is that it's not really a gratuity but rather a necessity. To be quite frank, tipping does not make me feel generous at all.

d0100 10y ago

As long as it's not required.

grenoire 10y ago

Tipping is for cases where you are delighted by the service to the point that you feel the server deserves additional compensation for their work. When it turns into a hidden cost (like tax in tax-excluding prices) it is not okay, and it is not generosity. It's the real life equivalent of dark patterns.

peterkelly 10y ago

> Tipping is essential. It's the most common generosity exercise in everyday life As someone who comes from a country where tipping is not part of the culture (Australia), I'm struggling to understand this. What are we missing out on by not having it?

lupin_sansei 10y ago
Notice in Australia only higher end places have table service and not that great service either. That's what we miss out on in Australia. We have much more self service cafes and much less attentive service when we do get it.
- lupin_sansei 10y ago
  ...Australian places work around the higher minimum wages through self service and I've been to a few places now that have touchscreen ordering (McDonalds, some yum cha places). Expect to see more of that to reduce labor costs.
icantdrive55 10y ago
Nothing. I haven't been to Australia, but in the USA, you are missing out on a fake smile, a fake compliment, a light pat on the back, the server invading your personal space, by leaning into you to take your order (it makes you feel like you know the server? A weird bond forms? They become more than just someone who takes an order?). I waited tables in college, and was taught some of the ways to increase that all important tip. You used to be able to sneak in a free drink; that's the best one. I would like to see an end to all tips here. It complicated because some employees are just likable. You want to give them money. Some employees actually make a pretty good living off a job that allows for tipping. Most employees don't have that magic though; I couldn't pull it off, without being fake. I'm just not a people person most days, especially with the self-entitled customer. We have a huge sector of the society that needs jobs that allow for tipping though. I don't see the need for unskilled labor decreasing anytime soon. (I'm probally hurting someone's feelings? I don't mean to. Certain jobs that accept tips require training, and talent--a hair stylist is one.) So--I feel raising the minimum wage is the right choice. It will prevent certain industries from just filling up the shop with bodies. Owners will have to hire the best applicant. More thought will go onto the hire? Speaking fluent English might be a requirement? Along with being bilingual? My minimum wage would be close to $20 though. (I came back to add something. Too many employers are paying skilled labor minimum wage--without tips. This is especially prevalent in construction. I worked for a few non-union telecommunications companies, and they all paid minimum wage. This edit isn't about tipping, it's about just how desperate certain workers are, and how employers exploit them. Couldn't sleep until I added this.)

ThomPete 10y ago

The problem in the US is that tipping have become a part of the employees salary not a bonus for good work.

nihonde 10y ago

That's absurd. I could make an even more valid argument that employees should be aiming for perfection in their work, regardless of the incentive of a tip. In Japan, no one tips, and customer service is better than anywhere else on earth. Dangling money on a stick is a loser's game. Winners have pride in their work.

stephenboyd 10y ago

Don't forget your software development consultant. I wouldn't mind an extra 20% :) I'm not convinced of your point, but I wonder how far you could take it. Do you tip your kid's teacher, your professor, a librarian, your doctor, your doctor's assistant? What if the referee is actually wealthy and does it for the love of the game? You'd have to make explicit judgements about every job's place in the socioeconomic hierarchy, and not everyone is going to appreciate getting grouped with the waiters.

padobson 10y ago
I think everyone is overthinking my comment, which I was surprised to find was the most controversial thing I posted here in weeks. I like your take, because it questions where the line should be, and my answer is, how generous do you want to be? I'm not saying people should tip because they get good service, or because the service provider is poor or because they want to encourage specific results, either in the present or in the future. I'm saying people should tip, full stop. I am also in no way suggesting that people should be forced, coerced, or otherwise compelled to tip. That's definitely not generosity. Generosity is good. Sometimes goodness can be goodness regardless of the result. I could care less if it makes a waiter work harder or makes them entitled. That's an entirely different and mostly unrelated problem to getting people to be more generous.

tmnvix 10y ago

If I give additional money to a bartender to encourage them to serve me before other (possibly poorer) people, that is not generosity.