I recently had a very intellectual debate with myself about the whole phenomenon known as tipping. Now, I’ve always believed that tipping should be done when service is over and above what might “normally” be expected. Except, of course, restaurant servers, I tip them regardless of their service because I know that they only get paid like $2 an hour and they rely on tips to even make a living. And that is where I run into a problem.
Why don’t wait staff get paid the same as everybody else? I believe that wait staff should be paid at the very least minimum wage and should be given raises for a job well done or in conjunction with cost of living rising etc. Wait staff should be paid like everybody else and they shouldn’t have to rely on tips just to bring their take home pay up to the minimum wage level. It’s just silly. Lots of employers have to pay the difference in their wages if they don’t make enough in tips anyway so what the heck? Isn’t that just a whole lot of work and paperwork keeping track of everyone’s tips?
Think of it this way, we don’t tip the post office person who brings our mail, yet they perform a service for us right? They bring our mail. Unless you have a post office box, they deliver the mail right to your mailbox. Nobody tips their mail carrier. Of course some may leave a little gift card or small gift for them at Christmas, but on an everyday basis, we don’t tip the mail carrier.
Same with the Fed Ex/UPS guy/gal. They deliver packages to us yet we aren’t required to tip them. The garbage guys pick up our trash. We don’t tip them to perform this yucky service for us. The clerk at the grocery store rings up our purchases for us and he/she or perhaps a courtesy clerk bags up our groceries for us and we have no problem walking away without tipping them. The people who come and clean our pools or our yards don’t get tipped when they’re finished. Why? Because they’re doing their job. Well, aren’t waiters just doing their job as well? Delivering our food from the kitchen. Yet, hardly anybody walks away from their table without leaving a tip. It’s just expected.
Why don’t wait staff just get paid a normal wage for doing their job? It makes no sense to me.
And sometimes I wonder “am I expected to leave a tip?” Like for housekeeping at a hotel. I never see those people. They don’t do anything for me. Sure, they come in and clean the room when I vacate, but isn’t that their job? I shouldn’t have to leave them extra money when I haven’t even seen these people.
And, I always feel obligated to tip my hair dresser, the lady who gives me a massage, the nail technician. Why? Am I not already paying them to perform a service? Same thing with the bell hop at a hotel or the shuttle driver who takes our luggage from us at the airport. Why should we tip these people when they’re just doing their job? It’s all so confusing.
Why don’t we just pay everybody a decent wage and abolish the whole tipping thing altogether? Wouldn’t that just make things easier? We wouldn’t have to decide whether or not to tip and if so, how much to tip.
Just something to think about. Another one of those things that makes me go, “huh?”
What say you blog followers? Any advice or suggestions about tipping? Are you a big tipper? Do you tip even if you’re unsure if you should or not?
Word of the day: Oquassa
Fun fact about me: I’ve never worked in a job where I expected or relied on a tip.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, November 2019. Photos courtesy pexels.com
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I often wonder what the protocol is for tipping and why some people are expected to be tipped and others not. In Oregon, at least, waitresses and waiters make minimum wage plus tips. I didn’t realize other states were different. It would suck to rely on the generosity of customers to make a decent wage! Even if you do a good job, there are lots of cheapskates out there who prefer to keep every cent in their pocket…and do. Usually, those are people on the richer side of the road. Maybe that’s how they became well-off, right?
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I know there are cheapskates who leave a buck or two at a restaurant, which is totally not cool, but sometimes I wonder why it’s expected to leave a tip at a buffet restaurant. I mean . . . for taking my empty plate and bringing me a drink? It’s just weird. Do I leave half a tip? Full tip for half service? The whole thing is weird.
But, I will leave tips where folks customarily leave tips because I don’t want to be THAT lady.
Thanks for visiting. Sorry for the late response but I was enjoying some Disney goodness for the holidays.
Patricia
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I wholeheartedly agree with you on this, Patricia. I somewhat resent being expected to tip the lady who cuts my hair or my pedicurist. As you said, they are already getting paid, and to me tipping them is redundant. Same for taxi drivers, although I almost never use a taxi.
Waitpersons are a different matter. I agree it would be better if they were paid a decent wage instead of $2 an hour, but to me tipping them makes more sense than a hair stylist or taxi driver. I think I would probably tip waitpersons even if they did get paid a little better, because the quality of their service affects my enjoyment of my meal. At least in theory, expectation of a nice tip should make them a little more interested in serving me.
On a very few very rare occasions I have left a restaurant without leaving a tip, but the waitperson has to give some really sorry service to cause that. I’ve heard people talk about not leaving a tip because the food was bad or some other thing not under the control of the waitperson, but I never do that.
Since I’ve only been to Maine one in my life, I’ve never experienced oquassa – not that I would eat it anyhow. I don’t do fish. Ugh!
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You see – it doen’t make sense. Wait persons should just get paid what everyone else does and nobody should be expected to leave a tip. That’s what I think. Would make life easier. That way you’d never have to figure out the 15, 18 or 20 percent number either. See, less math, win, win all the way around.
I think it’s totally okay not to eat an oquassa.
Thank for stopping by.
Patricia
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I’ve also never worked a job where I relied on tips, thank heavens! My husband has, though – we owned a bar for ten years, and he bartended. So yes, we’re good tippers, unless the service is really, really lousy and it’s clearly not someone else’s fault. What’s worse is if you travel internationally, tipping protocol varies in other countries! So yeah, I have to agree with you 100% it would sure be less confusing if people were just paid better and we didn’t have to worry about this.
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Now in some states food service employees do get minimum wage, so that’s different. In Mississippi where I live, honest to God, wait staff get paid like $3.85 a hour. I’m not sure how anyone can get away with that, or who would work for that amount, but it happens. So, yeah, leave a bigger tip people. In California, I leave a smaller tip. Sorry if that’s not “right” but that’s how I feel about it.
And I’m sure international travel would make this issue even more confusing.
Thanks for visiting. Sorry for the delayed response but I’ve been out of town enjoying some pre-holiday cheer!
Patricia
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That tipping thing is an interesting topic…I was a server once, before I became a teacher, and I made 500-600 bucks a week in tips working part time – my restaraunt paid me about 3.60 an hour for 20-25 hours or about 72-90 bucks a week. The restaurant essentially passed the salary cost onto the guest who decided how much to tip. Some days it worked out for me, some days it didn’t. The restaurant could pay a living wage to everyone but they’d have to raise prices. It’s quite the conundrum we have in America.
As for tipping everyone else, Starbuck’s, McDonalds and other places that put out a tip jar… I don’t…. unless the person goes above and beyond and shows some passion and pride in their job. But, I’ve also been know to write a thank you note or two.
And… when I do tip at a restaurant – I tip at least 20% – the difference between 20 and 15 isn’t significant, 5 bucks on $100 tab isn’t gonna keepnme from paying the light bill and if I can spring for a big meal, I should pay a nice tip for excellent service.
Enough on this… hope all is well in your world and getting better. Peace.
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It is a conundrum indeed. And tip jars are rude and obnoxious. I hardly ever put money in them. I will tip a piano player who’s performing at a restaurant or bar, but only if they’re really good and not imposing into my dining/drinking experience. Some of those people are obnoxious too.
I think it’s the expectation thing that gets me. Tipping should be based on service given (in my opinion). I think that way, wait staff will step up their game. But, I’m just full of opinions that nobody really cares about.
As always thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll be enjoying your winter break soon.
Patricia
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