12 ms·

Dear Americans, Being expected to tip a person for a service you just paid for is NOT normal! Yes, in the EXCEPTIONAL situation where you want to give a perso

Dear Americans, Being expected to tip a person for a service you just paid for is NOT normal! Yes, in the EXCEPTIONAL situation where you want to give a person money for whatever reason, please do so but do not change a default setting for something that warrants it 10% of the time. How does one justify going to a salon, being given a price by the barber, paying it and still be expected to "tip" the person you just paid what was asked for? Uber including tipping will mess up the experience. Period. It will influence ratings. Cos, how would a driver rate 2 passengers with equal service but one tipped $20 and the other $0. We from the rest of the world are very uncomfortable being forced to perform this "optional" task.

plaidturtle 10y ago
1. I don't think the drivers can see how much you tip. 2. In case of restaurants in the US, generally servers make very little without tip. When you pay you are paying the restaurant and not the person who serve you food. I know it's different in other countries but that's just how things are here.
- OoTheNigerian 10y ago
  Can the drivers know IF you tipped? Then let the restaurants pay their servers more. Or put it in the bill. "service charge" it is called. Don't leave me with calculations to do and faux hospitality from waiters being nice only because of money. I'd hate to have to do a "little dance" and show extra teeth every time I serve someone.
  - plaidturtle 10y ago
    From my previous conversations with Lyft drivers, if I recall correctly they get a sum weekly/biweekly and don't see who tipped. I used to live in a country where tipping wasn't a thing. But having lived in the US for a while now I actually like it. It gives the servers incentive to do well. Also you always have the option to not tip if the service is really bad. I understand your frustration, though. Perhaps, I've gotten too used to it haha.
    - zuppy 10y ago
      Ok, this may work for drivers, but what about the kitchen staff at restaurants, don't they deserve more? Do you think the waiters share the tip? This is a horrible way to solve problems, everyone should receive a fair pay directly, by their employer.
- estomagordo 10y ago
  But it's hardly the patrons' responsibility to mitigate a horrible labour situation.
  - watwut 10y ago
    In USA, even minimum salary for servers is lover then minimum salary for other workers - the law expects the tips. Whole American culture expects patrons to pay directly to server.
    - Pyxl101 10y ago
      > In USA, even minimum salary for servers is lover then minimum salary for other workers - the law expects the tips. Not true. The federal minimum wage for servers and other tipped employees is the same as other employees: it's just the minimum wage. https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm
      - watwut 10y ago
        "Where an employee does not receive sufficient tips to make up the difference between the direct (or cash) wage payment (which must be at least $2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference." Interesting, they did not told us that part when I worked in USA in summer. Cooks got 6.5$ and that was minimum wage in there. Servers got 1.5$ and had to report all tips to be taxed. Then again, servers earned more overall, so minimum wage was not really an issue for them.
      - sokoloff 10y ago
        Literally the third sentence in your link provides support for GP's position: "The employer is prohibited from using an employee’s tips for any reason other than as a credit against its minimum wage obligation to the employee (“tip credit”)"
        Pyxl101 10y ago
        You are mistaken. Please read the rest of the article, and the comment that is a peer to yours. "Where an employee does not receive sufficient tips to make up the difference between the direct (or cash) wage payment (which must be at least $2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference."
- sagivo 10y ago
  > generally servers make very little without tip So pay them more. isn't the whole point of paying for a meal is to include expenses like paying employees? By paying tips you actually contributing to a system that doesn't pay to employees.
  - Notre1 10y ago
    But, if you decide not tip someone, especially a food service worker that you know is only making $2.35/hour, then you are punishing that worker. Punishing them vastly more than you are punishing are system or the employer. If you really don't want to support tipping culture, don't use any service/store that allows for it and petition your legislature to change the laws.
    - Pyxl101 10y ago
      > But, if you decide not tip someone, especially a food service worker that you know is only making $2.35/hour In the USA, all tipped employees always earn at least the federal minimum wage. There is no such thing as a service worker making $2.35 per hour. https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm It's possible that food service workers might earn a lot more than minimum wage with tips, such that taking away their tips would hurt their compensation. Perhaps - it's still arguably no concern of the patron. If I'm buying an automobile from a car dealership, should I pay extra because the poor car salesman needs his commission? I don't think so. His compensation is between him and the leadership. It is fair that I negotiate the lowest possible price, and a price that works for me. Regardless of all that, my primary point is that it is incorrect to claim that servers will make less than minimum wage without tips. They always earn minimum wage and so this is not a reason to justify tipping.
    - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
      a food service worker that you know is only making $2.35/hour This varies by state. For example, in Oregon the minimum wage is $9.75, and, importantly: Oregon is one of the few states that does not allow employers to take a tip credit. Employees must be paid at least the full state minimum wage, whether or not they also earn tips. Despite this "high" wage, there is no shortage of restaurants in Oregon. Somehow good restaurants do manage to stay in business here. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/oregon-laws-tipped-employees.html http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/oregon-laws-tipped-em...
- repomies691 10y ago
  > 2. In case of restaurants in the US, generally servers make very little without tip. When you pay you are paying the restaurant and not the person who serve you food. I know it's different in other countries but that's just how things are here. Yeah, this applies only to US. It is a fucked up system. Everyone else people are rational and tips are not excepted - the service is excepted in the price.
  - dazc 10y ago
    It applies in plenty of other countries too, although not to such a high degree.
pvitz 10y ago
I don't know where you live but I know some Western European countries where tipping in the way you described it is quite normal.
- jsumrall 10y ago
  Such as?
  - pvitz 10y ago
    E.g. Austria, Germany, Switzerland
    - teknologist 10y ago
      I was in Switzerland for a couple of years and only saw very drunk people try to tip female bartenders. Otherwise no tips. Prices are high and service staff are well-paid.
    - ATsch 10y ago
      It is really not normal, at least from my experience being and living in those countries.
      - pvitz 10y ago
        You obviously have never been to a hairdresser in e.g. Vienna. The same applies to taxis, cloakrooms, hotels, bars and restaurants in southern Germany and Austria. But as said somewhere else, it could depend on your milieu.
    - snovv_crash 10y ago
      No it isn't. At least in Switzerland, you round up a Franc or two maybe if you are paying with cash, just to make the bill easier to pay. If you are paying card you generally don't tip at all. If you tip 20% you either come off as a stupid tourist, or if you speak the language and explain it is for exceptional service (and not just because you culturally don't know better) you will make the waiter's day.
rspeer 10y ago
Yes, I'm glad that on top of the cultural problems of Uber, at least they don't support tipping culture. I use Lyft when I have the choice now, but the tipping makes me uncomfortable. Tipping is why taxis drive past people of the wrong skin color. Tipping is why the most important thing in restaurant service is to be sexually attractive to your customers. Lyft does not entirely have the moral high ground, because it supports tipping. Just pay your employees the money they earned and charge me the correct amount for it.
- plaidturtle 10y ago
  "Tipping is why the most important thing in restaurant service is to be sexually attractive to your customers." This isn't true. You tip for their service not sexual attraction. It's hard to calculate the service they provide. Wouldn't you pay more for a pleasant drive than for an unpleasant one? Besides these points, I think it is a stretch to say tipping is immoral.
  - viraptor 10y ago
    > This isn't true. You tip for their service not sexual attraction. Or you think you do: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=articles http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic... "This study found that attractive waitresses earned larger sales-adjusted tips than did less attractive waitresses. Attractiveness had no effect on the tips of waiters." If this was just based on (an even) salary, wouldn't it be better for everyone?
    - kriro 10y ago
      The same logic applies without tipping. Attractive waiters can negotiate a better salary or get the job instead of someone less attractive.
      - viraptor 10y ago
        Not in case of known salaries per position. (Or at least small differences in case of ranges) But we won't get there in one day. Getting rid of tipping is one of the steps.
philfrasty 10y ago
„...paid what was asked for...“ A barber/hairdresser will get paid minimum-wage over here in Germany. From friends who worked in this profession I know that they make even less at the end of the day, roughly 5€ per hour. Only because you get paid market-rate doesn't mean you can make a living. Whenever I ask myself if I would be happy to receive a tip being in the same situation I tip: restaurant, package delivery...everywhere. Nothing specific to the US.
- nul_byte 10y ago
  You tip for taking a delivery?
  - Insanity 10y ago
    I do - when it is for a food delivery. If I order pizza or something, I'd tip something small to the person delivering it. I'm from Belgium, so we do not have a tipping culture either, and in many cases it is not that needed, but always welcome (restaurants). I live in a university city, so many of the waiters are students and as having been a student in a similar position, I know that they do not tend to have money to waste so the tips are a nice extra. In general I am happy that we do not have a strong culture around it like in the US, because then you'd have to find out how much to tip etc, which would probably be uncomfortable for me.
pricechild 10y ago
I tried "Gett" once or twice since they did a deal for new joiners. They included a tip feature but it infuriated me with the way you had to decide on the tip amount before the journey was over. What if they don't drop me off where I want and stop the journey early? That default 20% tip you encouraged me to set is... not good.
repomies691 10y ago
Tipping could work, if the tips are received anonymously with some time period. So that drivers would not know, from whom the tip came from. I'm not from US and generally I like the "no tips" culture. However sometimes I want to tip for exceptional service. Unfortunately Uber doesn't offer a tool for that. I think it could be implemented in some non-intrusive way.
- iamtew 10y ago
  You could always just give the driver a bit of cash on the side, if you have any, like an old fashioned tip.
wruza 10y ago
It is not optional, you just have to understand that polite announce. It allows you to decide how much service guy/girl earned in your case. And the sane default is n%, depending on location. If you don't care, simply tip n% instead of zero. You are absolutely able to pre-calculate your expenses including tip if you're going to be served.
- viraptor 10y ago
  > It allows you to decide how much service guy/girl earned in your case. Unfortunately that's not how it works, unless you also know what percentage of your meal cost goes to them. Maybe the restaurant already pays them a sizable portion of what you spent. Maybe they work for tips only. (regardless how legal that is) Maybe the tips go directly to them. Maybe they're pooled and shared with everyone at that shift. And many, many other questions... You don't know the answers, and nobody will tell you what they are. You're doing a blind bidding game. If you want to do it and be fair to the servers, you have to tip them the whole amount you think they earned. Do you really want to decide that every time?
  - wruza 10y ago
    Even if shared, low-tip workers will be managed off by the team. On 'decide' part, you simply pay fixed percentage if you are not able to. Even kitchen is motivated that way on a long distance. That works at large scale, not in single case, right. Like a market.
    - viraptor 10y ago
      I had some insight into how restaurant teams work. I could write a long post here, but in practice... no, nobody will be managed off, teams will fight internally, discussion about servers/kitchen tips split will both anger and further (if it's possible) divide people, ... Just remembering that stuff makes me sad. Maybe there are some good places. I've seen a few and it's a total mess, inequality, and any tip pooling leaves everybody upset. Thinking of it, it's basically a small mirror of the general society with managers as the government.
zxmys 10y ago
+1 tips are just a result of ppl being brainwashed by capitalists who are not willing to pay WAGE instead.
kriro 10y ago
The author asked a bunch of questions and even used the anecdote in a blog post. I think tipping here is fine and also the ethical thing to do. There was no tip option so...shrug. Do people not carry cash anymore, could have tipped in cash imo I'm European and I actually prefer the tipping system for service over higher base wages. I'd much rather have the customers decide who gets paid better than giving equal wages to the crappy service at the cost of the good people and hoping the employer filters out the bad apples and rewards the good ones. Then again it's pretty rare to see "well your service was horrible, have 0$ as a tip" and the tipping also kind of smears together into one big "roughly 10-20% every time independent of service"...so whatever I just accept the better base wage and only tip for good service now. It's usually 25% or nothing for me.
philliphaydon 10y ago
Tipping could work if tipping was made annonomous to the service just provided in order to prevent users feeling guilty for not tipping or Drivers giving bad reviews for lack of tips. But americas tipping culture is silly.
sheraz 10y ago
Give it a rest, man. Don't like how we roll in the US? Don't come. Don't want to tip? Then don't do it. If you want to live in the US, then assimilate. Either do it or dont -- but please stop this pedantic "how-the-rest-of-the-world" works perspective.
- iUsedToCode 10y ago
  That seems like a silly perspective. Can't handle even reasonable criticism? Maybe you're the problem. America has this huge ego, where some of you guys feel "the best". It's a third world country, seriously. Don't like how you roll and won't come back, once was enough. It's your problem, so maybe try relaxing and listen to advice if it's sensible.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- OoTheNigerian 10y ago
  Mr. US roller. I'm sorry, you'd have to live with hearing different perspectives. I'll be visiting the US in a bit, I'll decide to tip or not and I'll still give my opinion. :) Or you could take your own advice and avoid any place (on or off line) that will expose you to international perspectives.
  - sheraz 10y ago
    I don't need an Internet argument to learn that tipping is uncommon outside the US. Nor do I care. Your opinion is always welcome even if I disagree with it. Enjoy your stay :-)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- inflagranti 10y ago
  Well not only is it perfectly fair to criticize something irrespective of whether you live want to live or don't want to live in a place, given that Uber is international and does not allow tipping anywhere, even in countries without forced tipping, it's absolutely valid to be annoyed at US tipping culture. The were many instance where I would have liked to tip an especially nice Uber driver as an extraordinary thing. But due to the poisonous tipping culture this is not easily available through the app and giving cache is another hurdle and inconvenient for both parties.
jlg23 10y ago
> Being expected to tip a person for a service you just paid for is NOT normal! In other cultures it is normal. Yet in other cultures you'll offend people when you try to tip them. Can we just accept cultural differences, and, when visiting, adapt, please? PS: I am "from the rest of the world", and you don't speak for me nor for my friends who work in service in Central Europe - you don't have to tip them and they'll still smile, but you'll wait for your drink while I can down and order 3.

plaidturtle 10y ago

1. I don't think the drivers can see how much you tip. 2. In case of restaurants in the US, generally servers make very little without tip. When you pay you are paying the restaurant and not the person who serve you food. I know it's different in other countries but that's just how things are here.

OoTheNigerian 10y ago
Can the drivers know IF you tipped? Then let the restaurants pay their servers more. Or put it in the bill. "service charge" it is called. Don't leave me with calculations to do and faux hospitality from waiters being nice only because of money. I'd hate to have to do a "little dance" and show extra teeth every time I serve someone.
- plaidturtle 10y ago
  From my previous conversations with Lyft drivers, if I recall correctly they get a sum weekly/biweekly and don't see who tipped. I used to live in a country where tipping wasn't a thing. But having lived in the US for a while now I actually like it. It gives the servers incentive to do well. Also you always have the option to not tip if the service is really bad. I understand your frustration, though. Perhaps, I've gotten too used to it haha.
  - zuppy 10y ago
    Ok, this may work for drivers, but what about the kitchen staff at restaurants, don't they deserve more? Do you think the waiters share the tip? This is a horrible way to solve problems, everyone should receive a fair pay directly, by their employer.
estomagordo 10y ago
But it's hardly the patrons' responsibility to mitigate a horrible labour situation.
- watwut 10y ago
  In USA, even minimum salary for servers is lover then minimum salary for other workers - the law expects the tips. Whole American culture expects patrons to pay directly to server.
  - Pyxl101 10y ago
    > In USA, even minimum salary for servers is lover then minimum salary for other workers - the law expects the tips. Not true. The federal minimum wage for servers and other tipped employees is the same as other employees: it's just the minimum wage. https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm
    - watwut 10y ago
      "Where an employee does not receive sufficient tips to make up the difference between the direct (or cash) wage payment (which must be at least $2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference." Interesting, they did not told us that part when I worked in USA in summer. Cooks got 6.5$ and that was minimum wage in there. Servers got 1.5$ and had to report all tips to be taxed. Then again, servers earned more overall, so minimum wage was not really an issue for them.
    - sokoloff 10y ago
      Literally the third sentence in your link provides support for GP's position: "The employer is prohibited from using an employee’s tips for any reason other than as a credit against its minimum wage obligation to the employee (“tip credit”)"
      - Pyxl101 10y ago
        You are mistaken. Please read the rest of the article, and the comment that is a peer to yours. "Where an employee does not receive sufficient tips to make up the difference between the direct (or cash) wage payment (which must be at least $2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference."
sagivo 10y ago
> generally servers make very little without tip So pay them more. isn't the whole point of paying for a meal is to include expenses like paying employees? By paying tips you actually contributing to a system that doesn't pay to employees.
- Notre1 10y ago
  But, if you decide not tip someone, especially a food service worker that you know is only making $2.35/hour, then you are punishing that worker. Punishing them vastly more than you are punishing are system or the employer. If you really don't want to support tipping culture, don't use any service/store that allows for it and petition your legislature to change the laws.
  - Pyxl101 10y ago
    > But, if you decide not tip someone, especially a food service worker that you know is only making $2.35/hour In the USA, all tipped employees always earn at least the federal minimum wage. There is no such thing as a service worker making $2.35 per hour. https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm It's possible that food service workers might earn a lot more than minimum wage with tips, such that taking away their tips would hurt their compensation. Perhaps - it's still arguably no concern of the patron. If I'm buying an automobile from a car dealership, should I pay extra because the poor car salesman needs his commission? I don't think so. His compensation is between him and the leadership. It is fair that I negotiate the lowest possible price, and a price that works for me. Regardless of all that, my primary point is that it is incorrect to claim that servers will make less than minimum wage without tips. They always earn minimum wage and so this is not a reason to justify tipping.
  - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
    a food service worker that you know is only making $2.35/hour This varies by state. For example, in Oregon the minimum wage is $9.75, and, importantly: Oregon is one of the few states that does not allow employers to take a tip credit. Employees must be paid at least the full state minimum wage, whether or not they also earn tips. Despite this "high" wage, there is no shortage of restaurants in Oregon. Somehow good restaurants do manage to stay in business here. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/oregon-laws-tipped-employees.html http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/oregon-laws-tipped-em...
repomies691 10y ago
> 2. In case of restaurants in the US, generally servers make very little without tip. When you pay you are paying the restaurant and not the person who serve you food. I know it's different in other countries but that's just how things are here. Yeah, this applies only to US. It is a fucked up system. Everyone else people are rational and tips are not excepted - the service is excepted in the price.
- dazc 10y ago
  It applies in plenty of other countries too, although not to such a high degree.

pvitz 10y ago

I don't know where you live but I know some Western European countries where tipping in the way you described it is quite normal.

jsumrall 10y ago
Such as?
- pvitz 10y ago
  E.g. Austria, Germany, Switzerland
  - teknologist 10y ago
    I was in Switzerland for a couple of years and only saw very drunk people try to tip female bartenders. Otherwise no tips. Prices are high and service staff are well-paid.
  - ATsch 10y ago
    It is really not normal, at least from my experience being and living in those countries.
    - pvitz 10y ago
      You obviously have never been to a hairdresser in e.g. Vienna. The same applies to taxis, cloakrooms, hotels, bars and restaurants in southern Germany and Austria. But as said somewhere else, it could depend on your milieu.
  - snovv_crash 10y ago
    No it isn't. At least in Switzerland, you round up a Franc or two maybe if you are paying with cash, just to make the bill easier to pay. If you are paying card you generally don't tip at all. If you tip 20% you either come off as a stupid tourist, or if you speak the language and explain it is for exceptional service (and not just because you culturally don't know better) you will make the waiter's day.

rspeer 10y ago

Yes, I'm glad that on top of the cultural problems of Uber, at least they don't support tipping culture. I use Lyft when I have the choice now, but the tipping makes me uncomfortable. Tipping is why taxis drive past people of the wrong skin color. Tipping is why the most important thing in restaurant service is to be sexually attractive to your customers. Lyft does not entirely have the moral high ground, because it supports tipping. Just pay your employees the money they earned and charge me the correct amount for it.

plaidturtle 10y ago
"Tipping is why the most important thing in restaurant service is to be sexually attractive to your customers." This isn't true. You tip for their service not sexual attraction. It's hard to calculate the service they provide. Wouldn't you pay more for a pleasant drive than for an unpleasant one? Besides these points, I think it is a stretch to say tipping is immoral.
- viraptor 10y ago
  > This isn't true. You tip for their service not sexual attraction. Or you think you do: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=articles http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic... "This study found that attractive waitresses earned larger sales-adjusted tips than did less attractive waitresses. Attractiveness had no effect on the tips of waiters." If this was just based on (an even) salary, wouldn't it be better for everyone?
  - kriro 10y ago
    The same logic applies without tipping. Attractive waiters can negotiate a better salary or get the job instead of someone less attractive.
    - viraptor 10y ago
      Not in case of known salaries per position. (Or at least small differences in case of ranges) But we won't get there in one day. Getting rid of tipping is one of the steps.

philfrasty 10y ago

„...paid what was asked for...“ A barber/hairdresser will get paid minimum-wage over here in Germany. From friends who worked in this profession I know that they make even less at the end of the day, roughly 5€ per hour. Only because you get paid market-rate doesn't mean you can make a living. Whenever I ask myself if I would be happy to receive a tip being in the same situation I tip: restaurant, package delivery...everywhere. Nothing specific to the US.

nul_byte 10y ago
You tip for taking a delivery?
- Insanity 10y ago
  I do - when it is for a food delivery. If I order pizza or something, I'd tip something small to the person delivering it. I'm from Belgium, so we do not have a tipping culture either, and in many cases it is not that needed, but always welcome (restaurants). I live in a university city, so many of the waiters are students and as having been a student in a similar position, I know that they do not tend to have money to waste so the tips are a nice extra. In general I am happy that we do not have a strong culture around it like in the US, because then you'd have to find out how much to tip etc, which would probably be uncomfortable for me.

pricechild 10y ago

I tried "Gett" once or twice since they did a deal for new joiners. They included a tip feature but it infuriated me with the way you had to decide on the tip amount before the journey was over. What if they don't drop me off where I want and stop the journey early? That default 20% tip you encouraged me to set is... not good.

repomies691 10y ago

Tipping could work, if the tips are received anonymously with some time period. So that drivers would not know, from whom the tip came from. I'm not from US and generally I like the "no tips" culture. However sometimes I want to tip for exceptional service. Unfortunately Uber doesn't offer a tool for that. I think it could be implemented in some non-intrusive way.

iamtew 10y ago
You could always just give the driver a bit of cash on the side, if you have any, like an old fashioned tip.

wruza 10y ago

It is not optional, you just have to understand that polite announce. It allows you to decide how much service guy/girl earned in your case. And the sane default is n%, depending on location. If you don't care, simply tip n% instead of zero. You are absolutely able to pre-calculate your expenses including tip if you're going to be served.

viraptor 10y ago
> It allows you to decide how much service guy/girl earned in your case. Unfortunately that's not how it works, unless you also know what percentage of your meal cost goes to them. Maybe the restaurant already pays them a sizable portion of what you spent. Maybe they work for tips only. (regardless how legal that is) Maybe the tips go directly to them. Maybe they're pooled and shared with everyone at that shift. And many, many other questions... You don't know the answers, and nobody will tell you what they are. You're doing a blind bidding game. If you want to do it and be fair to the servers, you have to tip them the whole amount you think they earned. Do you really want to decide that every time?
- wruza 10y ago
  Even if shared, low-tip workers will be managed off by the team. On 'decide' part, you simply pay fixed percentage if you are not able to. Even kitchen is motivated that way on a long distance. That works at large scale, not in single case, right. Like a market.
  - viraptor 10y ago
    I had some insight into how restaurant teams work. I could write a long post here, but in practice... no, nobody will be managed off, teams will fight internally, discussion about servers/kitchen tips split will both anger and further (if it's possible) divide people, ... Just remembering that stuff makes me sad. Maybe there are some good places. I've seen a few and it's a total mess, inequality, and any tip pooling leaves everybody upset. Thinking of it, it's basically a small mirror of the general society with managers as the government.

zxmys 10y ago

+1 tips are just a result of ppl being brainwashed by capitalists who are not willing to pay WAGE instead.

kriro 10y ago

The author asked a bunch of questions and even used the anecdote in a blog post. I think tipping here is fine and also the ethical thing to do. There was no tip option so...shrug. Do people not carry cash anymore, could have tipped in cash imo I'm European and I actually prefer the tipping system for service over higher base wages. I'd much rather have the customers decide who gets paid better than giving equal wages to the crappy service at the cost of the good people and hoping the employer filters out the bad apples and rewards the good ones. Then again it's pretty rare to see "well your service was horrible, have 0$ as a tip" and the tipping also kind of smears together into one big "roughly 10-20% every time independent of service"...so whatever I just accept the better base wage and only tip for good service now. It's usually 25% or nothing for me.

philliphaydon 10y ago

Tipping could work if tipping was made annonomous to the service just provided in order to prevent users feeling guilty for not tipping or Drivers giving bad reviews for lack of tips. But americas tipping culture is silly.

sheraz 10y ago

Give it a rest, man. Don't like how we roll in the US? Don't come. Don't want to tip? Then don't do it. If you want to live in the US, then assimilate. Either do it or dont -- but please stop this pedantic "how-the-rest-of-the-world" works perspective.

iUsedToCode 10y ago
That seems like a silly perspective. Can't handle even reasonable criticism? Maybe you're the problem. America has this huge ego, where some of you guys feel "the best". It's a third world country, seriously. Don't like how you roll and won't come back, once was enough. It's your problem, so maybe try relaxing and listen to advice if it's sensible.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
OoTheNigerian 10y ago
Mr. US roller. I'm sorry, you'd have to live with hearing different perspectives. I'll be visiting the US in a bit, I'll decide to tip or not and I'll still give my opinion. :) Or you could take your own advice and avoid any place (on or off line) that will expose you to international perspectives.
- sheraz 10y ago
  I don't need an Internet argument to learn that tipping is uncommon outside the US. Nor do I care. Your opinion is always welcome even if I disagree with it. Enjoy your stay :-)
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inflagranti 10y ago
Well not only is it perfectly fair to criticize something irrespective of whether you live want to live or don't want to live in a place, given that Uber is international and does not allow tipping anywhere, even in countries without forced tipping, it's absolutely valid to be annoyed at US tipping culture. The were many instance where I would have liked to tip an especially nice Uber driver as an extraordinary thing. But due to the poisonous tipping culture this is not easily available through the app and giving cache is another hurdle and inconvenient for both parties.

jlg23 10y ago

> Being expected to tip a person for a service you just paid for is NOT normal! In other cultures it is normal. Yet in other cultures you'll offend people when you try to tip them. Can we just accept cultural differences, and, when visiting, adapt, please? PS: I am "from the rest of the world", and you don't speak for me nor for my friends who work in service in Central Europe - you don't have to tip them and they'll still smile, but you'll wait for your drink while I can down and order 3.