Tipping culture - what do you tip?
Tipping culture - what do you tip?
A new survey reveals that restaurant tipping has an unsettling upside for customers.
Here in WA state, the minimum wage per hour is $15.74 (higher in some areas). Tipping culture says 20%, but that's generally to support lower paid waitstaff in areas that can pay less than minimum wage by employers. Where/What are you tipping and what kind of service would you expect for a 20% tip?
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When COVID started, I started tipping everywhere including fast food restaurants, coffee shops, take out counters, etc. At the time I considered it to be a sort of "hazard pay" almost, since I felt bad for the workers having to be on the front line against their will.
These days with most people (including the employees) disregarding COVID as a whole, I no longer feel the need to tip everywhere, but I find it very hard to know where to tip.
I used to (before COVID) use the rule of thumb that if there was a cash tip jar, then the tip was not expected; but with the POS machines always asking for tips I honestly get pretty confused about what's expected of me.
Even when I'm confident a tip is not necessary (a merch booth, for example), I feel incredibly guilty searching the POS screen for the "no tip" button.
In most grey area situations I usually just take the L and add a tip because I'm fairly certain I'm getting paid more than whichever worker would be receiving the tip and it's a nice easy minor method of wealth distribution. I usually just consider it part of the cost of the good/ service.
In terms of the main portion of the question (percentages tipped): if it's something I think I would have tipped on pre-COVID my starting point is 20%, if it's a grey area situation where I'm pretty sure I'm not actually "supposed" to tip my starting point is usually 15%.
This is what I do, with one more category - I tip 22 or more to small, local businesses I use. Box stores or large franchises, not so much.
During covid, when I did order takeout we kept it to our favorite two places, hoping they'd survive, which they did. When we went back to in person it turns out I was known - it was a funny way to become a regular. So I feel like it must have made a difference.
Anyway. The landscape is increasingly complicated and I think we've got to choose the one or two things that are important.
I can get behind the idea of wealth redistribution. I'm making decent money (enough to eat out in Seattle) so I usually tip 15% normally and 20% if I've been a nuisance with special requests, etc.
The idea of knowing who my money goes to is important. If I can interact with waitstaff and tip them for helping me through the dinner transaction, I feel like it's a bargain. On the other hand the tip jars seem like a donation to management and not the workers. On the POS screen, it's always 'no tip' for me with cash on the table.