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Tipping - Why does this appear to be a "requirement"?

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Josh:
I have a few questions about tipping and why it seems to have become a requirement for most restaurants and food service locations.

First, let me preface this by saying I will typically tip between 10-30% depending on the service received. My issue comes into play when a business forces tipping or "gratuity" for parties of certain sizes, parties serviced after a certain time, etc. How can tipping be made mandatory? Why has the industry become so intent on tips being given? I spoke with a friend of mine who used to work as a waiter and he said tipping was introduced due to the low wages paid to persons who serve you your food.

Isn't tipping something that I am doing as a way of thanking you for good service or going "above and beyond" in some way, shape or form? How can any establishment mandate tipping in ANY circumstance? Why are customers looked down on for not tipping or showing "gratuity"? There are situations, as I said above, where I do feel tipping is warranted and earned but when you ask for tips after I walk up to a "snowball stand" and you make me a snowball? I am sorry, but no. You are doing what I just paid you to do and now I am being asked to give more?

I apologize if these thoughts seem random and thrown together but I am rather upset with an incident which just occurred with my wife. We went to the snowball stand and ordered a few shaved-ice snowballs for her, myself and my daughter. After being handed our cups, we proceeded to leave after which we overheard a comment from one of the staff members inside. The comment was something along the lines of "Oh great, another non-tipper". My wife came to the car and told me this at which time I walked up and asked for a refund. When asked why, I told them that we do not appreciate comments like that. I told them that I refuse to tip you for doing your job. I ordered a product from your business and paid you for said product. Now you get upset when I choose not to pay you more? If you require more money, raise your prices, but do not bad mouth a customer for not tipping you for doing your job. They tried the whole "We have a no refund policy" line with us which I promptly argued that we just paid, not less than 60 seconds prior, for the products. We ended up getting our money back and will not be going there again. We are even considering writing an article for our local paper advising of this incident.

Case and point, why have some industries come to rely on tipping as a supplementary income for their employees? Why are customers expected to give out more money after paying for the services offered by the establishment? How can any company mandate extra money in the form of "gratuity" or "tips" for given situations?

Thoughts?

mouser:
Tipping is definitely out of control, and exerts a distortion on every industry that it touches, not to mention the ramifications for tax avoidance, etc. I think we'd all be much better off if we got rid of the entire practice of tipping.

Regardless of whether you are happy with the business of tipping -- i think you did the right thing and others should follow in your footsteps -- if treated rudely, do not just sit their and take it, demand a refund, and go up the chain of command until you get satisfaction or at least cause them to think twice before they treat someone else that way.

wraith808:
You're looking at it from only the consumer side.  As a practical matter, tipping is not a way that people that serve supplement their income- it *is* part of their income.  If you are expected to receive tips as a part of your wages, in general, they can pay you a lesser amount (less than minimum wage when it is official) because of the fact that you *may* receive tips. 

So imagine that you do a perfectly satisfactory job and someone decides *not* to tip you "because they don't see why they should pay above the price of the service."  I think you'd be a bit perturbed too at the basic reduction in your wages because of that fallacious assumption.  And if it was a conversation overheard, rather than a comment directed at you, then I don't see why it should be so upsetting, IMO.  And the mentality of "I shouldn't have to tip" is the reason that on larger parties they automatically add tips- because serving a large party is very detrimental to the server's salary if no tips (or a subpar tip) is given.  In the course of the day, a server might serve X amount of people.. and perhaps Y as a percentage tip.  If they don't charge a set tip amount, then X becomes drastically lower (as larger parties tend to take longer than smaller ones... and more attention), and some not tipping (or not tipping enough) could be catastrophic to the server.

As to the why's and why not raise the prices... how would the customers react if the price was raised?  Not very favorably, I'm sure.  So it's just a case that this is the way that service jobs operate, and to penalize the server because of the system seems wrong-headed at best, to me.

Josh:
I am paying the restaurant for food, for their employees to cook that food, and for their employees to serve me said food. That is what I am paying for with the price of the meal I purchase. Now I am being told that because the employee entered into an agreement with the restaurant where their income would be SUPPLEMENTED by tips and the base salary is lower than minimum wage, I am expected to tip them for that reason? I am sorry, but no. I did not choose that employees profession, I did not choose the employers base salary rate based on the assumption being made that I will tip them. I chose to eat at a restaurant where the price of the food is set and I am expected to pay for the service of having myself seated, order taken, food cooked and brought to my table, and then dishes removed and cleaned.

Tipping should not be assumed or expected. Minimum wage should be the LEAST an employee should be paid, regardless of profession. Tipping should be something I give for going above and beyond, not just doing your job. That many restaurants do not pay minimum wage on the assumption of tips is the choice of that establishment and the employee accepting the job contract with said establishment. I will, and do, tip for service that I feel merits it. I have left a 20 dollar tip on a 10 dollar meal before. Do not think that I do not reward good service. But for it to be expected, so much so that the waiters and waitresses try and rush someone out of a restaurant in order to bolster the amount of tips they receive, is wrong. I will not tip someone who appears to be rushing me out or not giving me the time of day in an effort to rush every customer they receive out as quickly as possible.

wraith808:
I am paying the restaurant for food, for their employees to cook that food, and for their employees to serve me said food. That is what I am paying for with the price of the meal I purchase.
-Josh (September 12, 2010, 05:53 PM)
--- End quote ---

That is what *you* think and have always thought that you were paying for.  This is *not* what it has ever been in a restaurant where you are waited on.  This is nothing new.  And that perception is *definitely* a problem for people that are in the position of having to depend on this for a living.

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