The New Trend in America, Excessive Tipping
There’s a trend that I’ve noticed recently and I not only find it annoying, it’s also unfair to me as the consumer of a good or service. I’m talking about what I define as “excessive tipping.” At one point, tipping was limited to restaurants as well as some other services that may be done around your house (you may tip a housekeeper for instance or a someone who details your car, you get the idea). The people you’re tipping performed a service for you that either went above and beyond the “normal” tasks associated with the job or they simply did a great job and you want to show your appreciation. This form of tipping makes sense, but as is the case with so many things in our society at the moment, this is apparently not the only time you’re supposed to tip.
My family and I attended an outdoor concert last week. It was a local band at an outdoor venue where food and alcohol was offered at varying prices depending on what you ordered. We ordered food for the kids which was more of the pre-made variety and then we ordered our food which had to be prepared. As I went to pay for the food, the girl taking my order passed me a tablet showing the total, which I approved and then proceeded to insert my card so I could begin the payment process. Before I provided a signature, a prompt popped up asking if I wanted to leave a tip of 20/25/30 percent or other. I simply bypassed and paid for my order, handing the girl back the tablet. She smiled and gave us instructions on where we could pick up our food, easy enough. We then walked over to the outdoor bar area and proceeded to buy 2 beers, which were around $15. As I proceeded to pay, the same prompt came up, asking how I wanted to tip. Normally, I would leave a tip for a bartender, but the girl taking my order simply punched in the info and then handed us the beer. The entire transaction took less than 10 seconds and she may have moved 1 foot in either direction. This isn’t necessarily her fault, but I also didn’t feel like she’d done enough to warrant anything extra. I bypassed the tip again and proceeded to pay. As I handed it back to her, she could see that I didn’t leave a tip, since the screen stays on after you’ve passed it back. The look of disdain that I received was both comical and surprising, but it also got me thinking. What’s the deal with this excessive tipping?
The notion of excessive tipping appears to have happened with the use of handheld payment devices, the kind the server either brings to your table so you can run a card or the kind you use when paying at an event, similar to what I described above. Previously, depending on what you’re buying, a paper receipt had been provided. If you were buying Chinese take out, the receipt may have had a line for a tip since the restaurant may have the option of dining in, I’m assuming the system was designed to have the tip line present for this purpose. You could simply bypass and hand back to the cashier, where more often than not, eye contact remained with you and they had no preconceived notion that you may provide a tip. Another example would be Panera, which is considered fast casual in that you can sit down but it’s more self serve. In the past, you would simply pay and receive a receipt, the option to leave a tip wasn’t even offered. Nowadays, in both the Chinese take out and Panera examples, both places would most likely use a digital payment method whereby the option to leave a tip is being offered. Why? For taking my order and cooking it? Isn’t that the purpose of a restaurant? Are we supposed to overpay for even the most basic example of a service being provided to us?
I’ve had some terrible jobs in my life. My first job was as a busboy at “O’Charleys,” which was back breaking work and definitely eye opening on how challenging life could be if I had to do that job for a living. I also washed dishes one summer at the Cracker Barrel, which was equally back breaking and incredibly tiring. Keep in mind, in both cases I was 21 or under so I was at my peak both physically and mentally. I understand working in the restaurant industry is tough, very tough. I only did both of those jobs for a short time but I realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t for me. I appreciate the people who work at restaurants and bars and serve the masses as they do. I’m also of the mind set that you shouldn’t be tipped for simply doing your job and doing it well. It’s not my responsibility as the customer to supplement your living, this should be done by your employer. I’ll gladly provide a tip for a job well done when you’re actually providing a service, for instance, as our waiter and waitress who brings our food, fills our drink glasses and has witty banter with us as we enjoy the experience the restaurant provides. I will not provide a tip just because you say hello, punch some info into a computer and wait for someone else to bring it out, which is then handed to me so I can sit down and eat it. Thanks for doing your job, but I’m not going to tip you because you showed up to work today or because you work in a restaurant and it kind of sucks.
But Patrick, these people need the money, they’re not making a living wage! My question is this, who in their right mind thinks they’re going to be able to live any semblance of a decent life working at a Starbucks? A Starbucks manager makes around $40K per year, the manager! If he or she is making this, you can deduce your pay will be around half that, which is not enough to live on. The number of signs I see on buildings and trucks offering hourly wages of $18-25 an hour or more, with “we will train, no experience necessary” on them continues to be staggering to me. I’m aware of the fact that I live in a growing area and the jobs may not be as plentiful elsewhere, but there are options. Me providing you with an extra $3 tip is not going to get you to where you want or need to go. Excessive tipping is not the answer, additional education and forward momentum on your way to a different career choice is a better way to go. As a society, we shouldn’t be guilted into tipping someone for providing a service that a kiosk would be able to do if that business simply invested in the technology to perform that function.
Too harsh? I’m not trying to be but I’m also not going to feel obligated to tip someone simply for standing there and having a 5 second conversation with me. Funny enough, I consider myself to be a pretty good tipper. I rarely go below 20% and oftentimes find myself tipping 25% or above since I understand this is how many hard working people supplement their incomes. Notice how I said “hard working,” that’s the distinction. We cannot move away from this in America, it’s important to reward those for a job well done rather than simply rewarding people for showing up that day, in whatever capacity that may be. Hard work is something that should be valued and revered (pardon the pun); otherwise, the next generation will simply think they’re owed something for doing nothing or close to nothing. Perhaps that’s already happening, hence the overtipping as a result.
It’s hard to go to work everyday, especially doing something you don’t want to do. Take it from a guy who did that for years on end and now has had time to look and breathe. It’s not easy and many out there aren’t provided that luxury to take a breath and have extended time off. It’s these people we should be caring for and rewarding. Throwing a few extra dollars their way may not be life changing, but it’s the principle of the matter. We need to show those who work hard and sacrifice for themselves and their families, we appreciate you and you deserve a little extra for a job well done.
To quote Vince Vaughan from Wedding Crashers, “Just the tip, just for fun.” Different context of course but the sentiment rings true, those who deserve it, should be rewarded with a nice tip, just for fun.
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