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Before I even read the articles, here's how it goes: - Where I live, there isn't a culture of tips. Employees are paid by employers. - Some employees though,

Before I even read the articles, here's how it goes: - Where I live, there isn't a culture of tips. Employees are paid by employers. - Some employees though, and businesses, delight me. Like I "really" enjoy it there. So I tip. Look at what happened here: I tip in an environment not used to tips at all. Tips should be a consequence for delight. Not some thing you do. It's just that I can't help tip people who take care of me (and I'm from that culture). Sometimes, they'll offer a discount and I'll insist on paying the full price. It happens I enter a shop only looking for directions to somewhere, and the person there goes beyond it. I buy something. It's natural for me. Now, the very thought of having to tip, as if it is a given, granted thing I have to do, whether the waiter/waitress was good or bad would make me sick. I understand they are under pressure, but I have seen waiters/waitresses under pressure behave with an unimaginable class and composure. With whom things that would piss you off would magically disappear. They exist, you should hire them. Not some snorky bitch waiter/waitress(yeah, there are waiters who are bitches. It's not just waitresses) who'll treat you like crap, and then have the gall to even expect a tip (I mean, you screw up, you go incognito and pray you even get to keep your job, not ask for a tip and have an attitude). So I say this: - Their revenues are mainly from tips and they are not very well paid: It's not the customer's problem what your employer does. But you can delight a patron, and most people who are delighted pay beyond reason for service beyond "normal". - If you're a waiter and think this is unfair, look around you. I am sure there are other waiters who get tipped regularly and fatly. What are they doing you're not ? Humans are generally not assholes. If a patron gets treated really well, only a small percentage will be assholes. I help my friend with his business (car accessories, installing alarm systems, etc) and people just don't believe the length we go to. They just are shocked. They've never seen that. The welcoming, the explanations, the garantees, etc. I have a friend who sells computers and repairs them (and some other stuff like flash drives, etc). People would drive 30 miles to buy a flash drive from him. They could buy it anywhere, but they buy it from him. People came to him from 400 miles away, because of reputation and service and referrals (his regular clients vary from normal dude, to senators). Your behavior matters. I once called customer service of my crappy ISP, as usual, and that day, a tremendous guy answered the phone. This is something I have never seen before. I was literally in frigging bro love with him. I mean, I asked him if there is any way I could like give feedback to his supervisor or something. He treated it with grace saying he was flattered, and he was only doing his job. And no, he wasn't just doing his job: He went the extra 100 miles. I've eaten in many places. Some places I wouldn't let them keep a 5 cents change because they were cunts. Some places I'd have no problem leaving 30% to even 50% at times because they were simply surreal and treat people like royalty.. Like really, really, really cater to you. And it's no difference of small restaurant, big restaurant, or someone just outside grilling rabbits. Behavior matters.

w0utert 13y ago
Thanks for that, you basically described exactly how I feel about tipping in the US. I'm from Europe myself, and where I live, a tip really is a way to explicitly express appreciation of service, instead of some kind of unwritten rule you have to tip '10% for mediocre service', '15% for satisfactory service' and 'above 15% for outstanding service'. No tip here, basically means 'satisfactory', anything more is considered a reward for great service and I don't mind tipping big at all when the service is good. I travel to the US every now and then, and recently had a heated discussion about tipping with my (also European) colleague, who insisted on tipping at least 15% even though there was nothing special about the service we received. The premise was that this was considered 'normal' in the US, that we had to 'conform to this culture of tipping', and that it would be considered rude to tip less, say 10%. I vehemently oppose this kind of reasoning, because in my opinion, a tip should reflect appreciation. I'm not opposed to tipping when I'm somewhere where waiters are underpaid and depend on decent tips, but I reject the idea I have to follow some kind of 'table' that says the minimum tip is 10%, even if I get served a raw steak. I'd much rather tip a lot less (say 5 to 10%) for mediocre service, and a lot more (say 20 to 25%) for outstanding service, but apparently, this is 'rude' and 'inconsiderate' according to my collegue. The fact that the tip needs to be a percentage of the check doesn't make sense to me anyway. If I order an expensive bottle of wine, the tip would have to increase much more compared to when I order a cheap wine. That doesn't make sense at all, it's completely unrelated to the performance of the waiter.
- Jugurtha 13y ago
  Yeah, exactly.. About percentages, it makes sense, hence my 30% sometimes 50%. It depends on what you order. What's funny about that is, I live in Algiers, Algeria.. Where a tip is sometimes considered "rude" :D You'll have to insist, or reframe it as "This is for coffee". But people have a hard time accepting a tip: Everything is included in the price, and I don't want charity. Plus, there are a lot of things people do for free.. Like you go to a shop to fill your tires with air.. You take the air pistol and fill your tires .. The shop owner doesns't even expect you to pay, because for them "it's nothing". But most people would still pay as a courtesy (notice how it's interesting that they're not even supposed to pay, yet pay). And on and on, a lot of repairs and all are done and you ask the guy "How much do I owe you ?" and he goes "We're good." I was on a village once, and there is someone there who carved out from his home and made a toilet available to the public. I used that toilet, and threw money outside to the court of that home, several times. I smile at the thought they wondered "WTH is this ?" since they did it for free, just as a gesture for people to use. My friends do that, too (free stuff). They "lose" some money but when you think about it, it's only tiny, since they get multiple folds the value from referrals: Those very people who got something for free bring their acquaintances and become sort of "evangelists".

w0utert 13y ago

Thanks for that, you basically described exactly how I feel about tipping in the US. I'm from Europe myself, and where I live, a tip really is a way to explicitly express appreciation of service, instead of some kind of unwritten rule you have to tip '10% for mediocre service', '15% for satisfactory service' and 'above 15% for outstanding service'. No tip here, basically means 'satisfactory', anything more is considered a reward for great service and I don't mind tipping big at all when the service is good. I travel to the US every now and then, and recently had a heated discussion about tipping with my (also European) colleague, who insisted on tipping at least 15% even though there was nothing special about the service we received. The premise was that this was considered 'normal' in the US, that we had to 'conform to this culture of tipping', and that it would be considered rude to tip less, say 10%. I vehemently oppose this kind of reasoning, because in my opinion, a tip should reflect appreciation. I'm not opposed to tipping when I'm somewhere where waiters are underpaid and depend on decent tips, but I reject the idea I have to follow some kind of 'table' that says the minimum tip is 10%, even if I get served a raw steak. I'd much rather tip a lot less (say 5 to 10%) for mediocre service, and a lot more (say 20 to 25%) for outstanding service, but apparently, this is 'rude' and 'inconsiderate' according to my collegue. The fact that the tip needs to be a percentage of the check doesn't make sense to me anyway. If I order an expensive bottle of wine, the tip would have to increase much more compared to when I order a cheap wine. That doesn't make sense at all, it's completely unrelated to the performance of the waiter.

Jugurtha 13y ago
Yeah, exactly.. About percentages, it makes sense, hence my 30% sometimes 50%. It depends on what you order. What's funny about that is, I live in Algiers, Algeria.. Where a tip is sometimes considered "rude" :D You'll have to insist, or reframe it as "This is for coffee". But people have a hard time accepting a tip: Everything is included in the price, and I don't want charity. Plus, there are a lot of things people do for free.. Like you go to a shop to fill your tires with air.. You take the air pistol and fill your tires .. The shop owner doesns't even expect you to pay, because for them "it's nothing". But most people would still pay as a courtesy (notice how it's interesting that they're not even supposed to pay, yet pay). And on and on, a lot of repairs and all are done and you ask the guy "How much do I owe you ?" and he goes "We're good." I was on a village once, and there is someone there who carved out from his home and made a toilet available to the public. I used that toilet, and threw money outside to the court of that home, several times. I smile at the thought they wondered "WTH is this ?" since they did it for free, just as a gesture for people to use. My friends do that, too (free stuff). They "lose" some money but when you think about it, it's only tiny, since they get multiple folds the value from referrals: Those very people who got something for free bring their acquaintances and become sort of "evangelists".