It is out of control. Not like this in Europe either. I doubt it’s like this anywhere but here.
setnaffa
2 years ago
Taking advice on tipping (or anything else) fron CNN is rich.
So frankly, I just lost any respect I may have ever had for “Jake”…
Flyingsword
2 years ago
Don’t tip unless the wait staff taking orders at and bring food to the table. Tipping at those cash register things is just stupid.
Hot Stuff x
2 years ago
This is reminiscent of something AAFES is doing at their checkouts –after you swipe your card for payment, the first thing it asks is if you want to make a donation to AER or some other charity.
It’s been a while since I was in the States, but as I remember it, the philosophy behind tipping culture was seemingly simple: good service = generous tip. Of course, I’ve talked with people who are dead set against tipping. Europeans who come to America feel they’re being blindsided: the price on the menu says one thing, but when it’s time to pay, you have to add more. (They feel the same way about how US price tags never show the additional tax: there’s just a small-font “plus tax” label somewhere.) The flip side—and this comes from one of my brothers, who worked in the US food industry for many years—is that Europeans in the US come off looking like stingy bastards when they walk away from a huge pizza dinner for ten people and never lay down a tip. (That happened to my brother once.)
Making the matter more complex is how tips are handled in the States. Not everyone does it the same way. Many restaurants do a “tip-out” thing in which all tips are put into a pool and divided evenly among the workers, and the workers can include more than the servers. This means lazy servers & staffers get the same amount as the more industrious servers and staffers. And if you’re tipping for the quality of service, but the food that comes out is crappy, do you penalize your server for something that’s not his/her fault? So I can see why some people are against tipping. It’s more complex than it first appears.
Europeans and Koreans normally visibly include things like tax and tips in their price totals. That is, admittedly, more straightforward. But it still rankles me that the customer has no power to penalize bad service except by opting never to visit that establishment again. The establishment doesn’t care whether you never come back because there will always be others. Some penalty, right?
Either system, tipping or service compris, can be abused. I grew up in the US and consider tipping a simple, brute reality, but I can see why it might be a shock for people from different countries. Tipping culture isn’t going to go away anytime soon, though, so foreigners traveling to the US should educate themselves about tipping. I’ve had to learn to adapt to the Korean way despite its flaws, and I don’t complain about it; it’s only fair for travelers to the US to do the same with a minimum of complaining.
BTW, Jake needs to correct the dangling modifier in his tweet. As written, he’s saying that “the practice” is “coming from Asia.”
Coming from Asia, I find tipping baffling. For Asians, tipping is a baffling practice.
Kevin Kim, since you’ve been away from the US for a while you might not know that things have changed a lot with tipping quite recently.
It is no longer payment for good service, one is expected to tip before the service is rendered (however badly…it feels exploitive, actually).
I blame Jack Dorsey with Square. “Let me turn this iPad around and ask a question…” Every coffee shop expects a tip before handing the coffee. Or even handing over a roll or muffin. And the cost is outrageous…coffees at the shop (and at the store) have about doubled in two years. With the new always expected tips on top of that coffees are about 3 times the price in 2022 that they were in 2019.
I brew my own. Can’t even buy k cups. I was raised too frugally.
Last edited 2 years ago by Liz
setnaffa
2 years ago
You’re right Liz! And sadly, those are the folks we’re hoping will get real jobs to fund Social Security and Medicare.
The tipping culture is the result of a failure in crony capitalism.
Resturaunts and coffee shops don’t pay a living wage so they let tips and welfare pick up the slack.
The low-skill/no-skill workers blame the business owners but they really can’t afford to pay more in most cases.
Even if they look like they are getting fat, if they paid more, it would be more profitable to put a 40 hour week in at a corporate store than the 60+ hour weeks they work.
Where does the money go?
Layers of taxes, expenses for various compliances, insurances against stupidity and malice, “shrinkage” when there are no cops to protect and serve, social security/umemployment/worthless health insurance for the employees who “aren’t getting paid enough”… etc.
But Ukraine isn’t going to win this war without an unaccountable few hundred billion in something for Russia to destroy in transit to the front… and Pakastan isn’t really up to speed on the ins and outs of trannies which will take about a hundred million to do so… and the Blacks in Wax Museum isn’t going to make it without government subsidy because even black people have zero interest in gawking at wax figures of black people.
Perhaps workers that need tips to survive should be more grateful they are accomplishing so much good in the world.
I have always gotten excellent service in resturaunts… probably because I address the server by name, speak respectfully, and am not demanding. I also will tip 30% for exceptional service, which I frequently get.
I’m not sure I have ever gotten any special treatment worthy of a tip while a slothish batista turned my spoken word into a push on a touch screen and then watched hot water change colors.
You could always give this tip:
“Get a job that doesn’t require you to live off the generosity of others.”
liz
2 years ago
I tip well for good service in restaurants. That actually requires a good bit of work. It changes the eating experience a little though. In Italy, the servers are slow but they encourage you to stay at the tables (less work for them, and they aren’t getting a tip anyway). In the US, they get your food fast but you feel a lot more rushed.
It is out of control. Not like this in Europe either. I doubt it’s like this anywhere but here.
Taking advice on tipping (or anything else) fron CNN is rich.
So frankly, I just lost any respect I may have ever had for “Jake”…
Don’t tip unless the wait staff taking orders at and bring food to the table. Tipping at those cash register things is just stupid.
This is reminiscent of something AAFES is doing at their checkouts –after you swipe your card for payment, the first thing it asks is if you want to make a donation to AER or some other charity.
It’s been a while since I was in the States, but as I remember it, the philosophy behind tipping culture was seemingly simple: good service = generous tip. Of course, I’ve talked with people who are dead set against tipping. Europeans who come to America feel they’re being blindsided: the price on the menu says one thing, but when it’s time to pay, you have to add more. (They feel the same way about how US price tags never show the additional tax: there’s just a small-font “plus tax” label somewhere.) The flip side—and this comes from one of my brothers, who worked in the US food industry for many years—is that Europeans in the US come off looking like stingy bastards when they walk away from a huge pizza dinner for ten people and never lay down a tip. (That happened to my brother once.)
Making the matter more complex is how tips are handled in the States. Not everyone does it the same way. Many restaurants do a “tip-out” thing in which all tips are put into a pool and divided evenly among the workers, and the workers can include more than the servers. This means lazy servers & staffers get the same amount as the more industrious servers and staffers. And if you’re tipping for the quality of service, but the food that comes out is crappy, do you penalize your server for something that’s not his/her fault? So I can see why some people are against tipping. It’s more complex than it first appears.
Europeans and Koreans normally visibly include things like tax and tips in their price totals. That is, admittedly, more straightforward. But it still rankles me that the customer has no power to penalize bad service except by opting never to visit that establishment again. The establishment doesn’t care whether you never come back because there will always be others. Some penalty, right?
Either system, tipping or service compris, can be abused. I grew up in the US and consider tipping a simple, brute reality, but I can see why it might be a shock for people from different countries. Tipping culture isn’t going to go away anytime soon, though, so foreigners traveling to the US should educate themselves about tipping. I’ve had to learn to adapt to the Korean way despite its flaws, and I don’t complain about it; it’s only fair for travelers to the US to do the same with a minimum of complaining.
BTW, Jake needs to correct the dangling modifier in his tweet. As written, he’s saying that “the practice” is “coming from Asia.”
Coming from Asia, I find tipping baffling.
For Asians, tipping is a baffling practice.
Language is my livelihood. Sue me.
I’m often asked what I like about Korea.
Heated toilet seats and no tipping.
Kevin Kim, since you’ve been away from the US for a while you might not know that things have changed a lot with tipping quite recently.
It is no longer payment for good service, one is expected to tip before the service is rendered (however badly…it feels exploitive, actually).
I blame Jack Dorsey with Square. “Let me turn this iPad around and ask a question…” Every coffee shop expects a tip before handing the coffee. Or even handing over a roll or muffin. And the cost is outrageous…coffees at the shop (and at the store) have about doubled in two years. With the new always expected tips on top of that coffees are about 3 times the price in 2022 that they were in 2019.
I brew my own. Can’t even buy k cups. I was raised too frugally.
You’re right Liz! And sadly, those are the folks we’re hoping will get real jobs to fund Social Security and Medicare.
C’est la vie and Maranatha.
Thanks for the update, Liz.
The tipping culture is the result of a failure in crony capitalism.
Resturaunts and coffee shops don’t pay a living wage so they let tips and welfare pick up the slack.
The low-skill/no-skill workers blame the business owners but they really can’t afford to pay more in most cases.
Even if they look like they are getting fat, if they paid more, it would be more profitable to put a 40 hour week in at a corporate store than the 60+ hour weeks they work.
Where does the money go?
Layers of taxes, expenses for various compliances, insurances against stupidity and malice, “shrinkage” when there are no cops to protect and serve, social security/umemployment/worthless health insurance for the employees who “aren’t getting paid enough”… etc.
But Ukraine isn’t going to win this war without an unaccountable few hundred billion in something for Russia to destroy in transit to the front… and Pakastan isn’t really up to speed on the ins and outs of trannies which will take about a hundred million to do so… and the Blacks in Wax Museum isn’t going to make it without government subsidy because even black people have zero interest in gawking at wax figures of black people.
Perhaps workers that need tips to survive should be more grateful they are accomplishing so much good in the world.
I have always gotten excellent service in resturaunts… probably because I address the server by name, speak respectfully, and am not demanding. I also will tip 30% for exceptional service, which I frequently get.
I’m not sure I have ever gotten any special treatment worthy of a tip while a slothish batista turned my spoken word into a push on a touch screen and then watched hot water change colors.
You could always give this tip:
“Get a job that doesn’t require you to live off the generosity of others.”
I tip well for good service in restaurants. That actually requires a good bit of work. It changes the eating experience a little though. In Italy, the servers are slow but they encourage you to stay at the tables (less work for them, and they aren’t getting a tip anyway). In the US, they get your food fast but you feel a lot more rushed.