Perhaps you’ve noticed. We have reached a tipping point in the country over tipping.

To tip or not to tip has led to Shakespearean soliloquies by customers explaining why they refuse to tip for certain things.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, customers were grateful for those who seemingly risked their safety so we could get groceries, order dinner or anything that made our lives feel normal. A nice tip was the least we could do to show gratitude.

But now that we are out about and back to normal, the custom of tipping for just about everything has somehow remained; and customers are upset.

A new study from Pew Research shows most American adults say tipping is expected in more places than it was five years ago, and there’s no real consensus about how tipping should work.

  • SCB@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Tipping is bad culture because we as customers should not need to directly subsidize the employees paycheck

    This is literally what all business transactions are.

    The restaurant should raise their prices and pay all employees a livable wage regardless of position

    Right, so the discussion is about how you want the pay to work, and there are lots of opinions on that. As a person who served for a long time, I would have not wanted to go by percent of food order at one restaurant but would have vastly preferred that at another, literally in the same chain of restaurants.

    I think the concept of ending tipping and paying more works, but I think there will be some sticker shock for a lot of goods. This is really baked into the system.

    It won’t actually cost more but it’ll seem like it does, and perception is everything.

    • XbSuper@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I simply don’t tip, it’s not my responsibility. How the workers and owners figure out how to deal with it, isn’t my problem.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Well then honestly, you’re way better off by encouraging tipping culture, and still continuing not to tip.

        You’re effectively getting a discount on labor across the board, of 15-20% of total purchase cost. Not a bad deal.

        • jackoneill@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          But I’m not an asshole and I want society to improve, so I’ll shit all over tipping culture every chance I get and only tip when I actually get good service, as it should be

    • Stumblinbear@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      And yet people pay significantly more tipping than they would if prices just increased to cover actual wages. Tipped workers make a lot of fuckin money.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Tipped workers will still need that same income or you lose the tipped workers for worse workers (at best).

        The price increase will need to be roughly the average percentage made in tips, at minimum.

            • Stumblinbear@pawb.social
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              1 year ago

              Unlikely. Around 15% is the generally recommended tip, and many people don’t tip even that. Plus basically no restaurant is going to pay them what they would used to earn in tips.

              • SCB@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Plus basically no restaurant is going to pay them what they would used to earn in tips.

                They will if they want employees. It’s crazy to me people think servers would just work for free so you get a small discount lol

        • Stumblinbear@pawb.social
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          1 year ago

          No, they don’t, actually. Workers in other countries don’t make nearly as much as tipped workers in the same job here, and they manage perfectly fine.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            What happens in other countries is irrelevant. No one is going to accept the same job for less pay because people in France make dog shit money