For most Britons, tipping, or paying gratuity, is seen as relatively limited to the hospitality industry where it’s traditionally been considered a gesture of appreciation for good service. And as a custom, it generally isn’t one that people bemoan unless of course they feel it’s foisted upon them. If I go to a restaurant, I have no qualms in leaving a decent tip for the waiter or waitress if they’ve provided good service and positively contributed to my overall dining experience. Therefore to remunerate them with something extra seems an appropriate way to acknowledge that. However, would I instinctively tip someone for pulling a solitary pint of Stella at a bar, a transaction that is complete within minutes where unlike someone waiting tables, we may not even exchange much if any conversation? No. After all, would that not be considered a very basic element of their job that as a consumer, I should be able to presume them to be being paid a decent wage for? The problem is, often they aren’t.
There are many jobs that don’t pay well where staff may go the extra mile for you as the consumer. So where do we draw the line at who and for what we should tip for and when we shouldn’t? Furthermore, considering the argument of helping to support low paid workers with a tip to supplement their income (a definite driver for me when tipping), how much of that onus should we be expected to shoulder as consumers? After all, we aren’t their employers with whom (along with governments) the responsibility to ensure a living wage should be assumed. Indeed, it can create a moral quandary when considering one’s view on paying gratuity.
With an Anglocentric perspective, the status quo for paying gratuity in North America presents such a contrast to what we’re used to in the UK that it’s often inexplicable to us. It’s more than we’d usually tip and it isn’t just extended to restaurants, bars and hotels either. In fact, in most service industries, and for most customer facing roles, a tip is expected. In developing countries, I’ve often felt this is an appropriate conduit for helping local people who arguably have a harder life than me. But otherwise in more developed countries, this can be an expectation that is met with underlying resentment.
In many service industries within the United States especially, consumers are expected to tip regardless of quality of service or how minor the service being provided might be. And as it’s become socially inherent, few people bat an eyelid at the custom. It’s to the extent that Brits, unfamiliar with such universal tipping, are often perceived as penny-pinching misers when abroad in contrast with our American peers as we typically tip less or not at all based on the respective situation. Conversely, it’s also a frustrating experience that such an expectation is foisted upon us rather than it being a decision we willingly make for ourselves.
In my experience, genuinely or otherwise, service industries in America typically offer great service that is admittedly better than one can often expect in the UK. Staff waiting on you in a restaurant are hugely personable, knowledgeable of the menu and highly accommodating. Their intention is clearly to provide the consumer with the best dining experience possible. Obviously, this isn’t without exception but I’ve nevertheless experienced some great service in American eateries. And while on some level it’s probably in pursuit of a good tip, I have no qualms in tipping generously in such instances as I feel it’s well deserved and appropriate. I also know that such jobs often pay a poor basic wage which again incentivises me to want to acknowledge good service with additional remuneration.
In considering the aforementioned, there is something that isn’t right about the consumer having to effectively subsidise an employee’s wage because the employer isn’t willing or able to factor a living wage into their costs. The employer thereby maximises their profit by paying the employee as little as legally (if not immorally) possible while relying on the consumer to provide any meaningful income for the employee in addition to what they’ve already paid. Someone’s losing out and it certainly isn’t the employer. Nonetheless, as the bastion of capitalism, it’s unsurprising that such an approach is commonplace in America.
Admittedly, for many employees, this approach works just fine. Work hard and provide great service and you’ll make tips aplenty that will dwarf what you might make in other sectors with a higher basic wage. With tipping being so socially ingrained and therefore not contested by consumers, one might argue that ignorantly or otherwise, the status quo actually leaves everyone happy. But the crux of the argument is that staff in service industries deserve a decent basic wage, regardless of any gratuity they might receive on top of that to reflect their efforts. Alas, capitalism has a way of making people decline to examine the flaws of a system as long as they’re able to make money from it.
Returning to the UK, some British restaurants have greedily seen gratuity as a pot of cash that they’d also like to get their hands on; 'tis the nature of capitalism when the bourgeoisie spy an opportunity to make extra cash at the expense of the workers. This is despite tips being a reflection of a customer’s gratitude for the staff that attended to them. In 2015, it was revealed that French restaurant Cote takes the service charge it adds to bills rather than distributing it to staff. Cote’s argument is that it pays slightly higher than the minimum wage (but still lower than the living wage) and that taking the service charge facilitates this. Up until October 2015, Pizza Express took an 8% ‘administrative charge’ for processing tips that were paid via card, a policy that led me to boycott their restaurants since it was revealed in 2008. Similarly, Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s (another that I’ve not been to since it was revealed) felt it was appropriate to pay below the minimum wage as they would meet it using customers’ tips. And they aren’t the only restaurants that have had such practices.
Wherever possible, I’ve always endeavoured to tip in cash and asked staff if the tip will be going directly to them (as their employers may be too unscrupulous for that to be assumed). Too often tipping presents a grey area where employers blur the lines between it being part of an employee’s pay rather than recognition for their service. It’s akin to a pimp taking a cut from his or her prostitutes’ payment under the guise that they facilitated the transaction in the first instance. Yet these restaurants would undoubtedly have received less ire than that of a pimp.
The crux of the problem with tipping is two-fold. Firstly, employees need to be paid a fair, living wage that is commensurate with their role and that can be reasonably met as part of an employer’s costs. This needs to be separate from the consideration of tips which are a reflection of the relationship between the consumer and the employee. This indeed is the second consideration as a tip cannot be considered something that the employer has a claim to, nor should it be factored in as a likely subsidy to an employee’s income. Governments too need to ensure that a fair wage is being paid to workers in service industries.
Tipping will probably continue to be a moral and corporate grey area and one that many struggle with in either context. Though regardless of the solution, someone is probably always losing out.
There are many jobs that don’t pay well where staff may go the extra mile for you as the consumer. So where do we draw the line at who and for what we should tip for and when we shouldn’t? Furthermore, considering the argument of helping to support low paid workers with a tip to supplement their income (a definite driver for me when tipping), how much of that onus should we be expected to shoulder as consumers? After all, we aren’t their employers with whom (along with governments) the responsibility to ensure a living wage should be assumed. Indeed, it can create a moral quandary when considering one’s view on paying gratuity.
With an Anglocentric perspective, the status quo for paying gratuity in North America presents such a contrast to what we’re used to in the UK that it’s often inexplicable to us. It’s more than we’d usually tip and it isn’t just extended to restaurants, bars and hotels either. In fact, in most service industries, and for most customer facing roles, a tip is expected. In developing countries, I’ve often felt this is an appropriate conduit for helping local people who arguably have a harder life than me. But otherwise in more developed countries, this can be an expectation that is met with underlying resentment.
In many service industries within the United States especially, consumers are expected to tip regardless of quality of service or how minor the service being provided might be. And as it’s become socially inherent, few people bat an eyelid at the custom. It’s to the extent that Brits, unfamiliar with such universal tipping, are often perceived as penny-pinching misers when abroad in contrast with our American peers as we typically tip less or not at all based on the respective situation. Conversely, it’s also a frustrating experience that such an expectation is foisted upon us rather than it being a decision we willingly make for ourselves.
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In considering the aforementioned, there is something that isn’t right about the consumer having to effectively subsidise an employee’s wage because the employer isn’t willing or able to factor a living wage into their costs. The employer thereby maximises their profit by paying the employee as little as legally (if not immorally) possible while relying on the consumer to provide any meaningful income for the employee in addition to what they’ve already paid. Someone’s losing out and it certainly isn’t the employer. Nonetheless, as the bastion of capitalism, it’s unsurprising that such an approach is commonplace in America.
Admittedly, for many employees, this approach works just fine. Work hard and provide great service and you’ll make tips aplenty that will dwarf what you might make in other sectors with a higher basic wage. With tipping being so socially ingrained and therefore not contested by consumers, one might argue that ignorantly or otherwise, the status quo actually leaves everyone happy. But the crux of the argument is that staff in service industries deserve a decent basic wage, regardless of any gratuity they might receive on top of that to reflect their efforts. Alas, capitalism has a way of making people decline to examine the flaws of a system as long as they’re able to make money from it.
Returning to the UK, some British restaurants have greedily seen gratuity as a pot of cash that they’d also like to get their hands on; 'tis the nature of capitalism when the bourgeoisie spy an opportunity to make extra cash at the expense of the workers. This is despite tips being a reflection of a customer’s gratitude for the staff that attended to them. In 2015, it was revealed that French restaurant Cote takes the service charge it adds to bills rather than distributing it to staff. Cote’s argument is that it pays slightly higher than the minimum wage (but still lower than the living wage) and that taking the service charge facilitates this. Up until October 2015, Pizza Express took an 8% ‘administrative charge’ for processing tips that were paid via card, a policy that led me to boycott their restaurants since it was revealed in 2008. Similarly, Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s (another that I’ve not been to since it was revealed) felt it was appropriate to pay below the minimum wage as they would meet it using customers’ tips. And they aren’t the only restaurants that have had such practices.
Wherever possible, I’ve always endeavoured to tip in cash and asked staff if the tip will be going directly to them (as their employers may be too unscrupulous for that to be assumed). Too often tipping presents a grey area where employers blur the lines between it being part of an employee’s pay rather than recognition for their service. It’s akin to a pimp taking a cut from his or her prostitutes’ payment under the guise that they facilitated the transaction in the first instance. Yet these restaurants would undoubtedly have received less ire than that of a pimp.
The crux of the problem with tipping is two-fold. Firstly, employees need to be paid a fair, living wage that is commensurate with their role and that can be reasonably met as part of an employer’s costs. This needs to be separate from the consideration of tips which are a reflection of the relationship between the consumer and the employee. This indeed is the second consideration as a tip cannot be considered something that the employer has a claim to, nor should it be factored in as a likely subsidy to an employee’s income. Governments too need to ensure that a fair wage is being paid to workers in service industries.
Tipping will probably continue to be a moral and corporate grey area and one that many struggle with in either context. Though regardless of the solution, someone is probably always losing out.
