There was a discussion of my last post on 43Things.com, and I’ve had some additional thoughts since yesterday. Seems that tipping is a hot topic: some people resent it, and others have very strong feelings about tipping well.
First, silly me: I forgot that the Internet is an international phenomenon, and not all readers are eating and tipping in the States. My discussion of tipping had to do with tipping practices in the U.S. Travelers would do well to learn about local tipping practice, because attitudes and customs about tipping are quite different from one place to another! The practice of paying a lower wage and allowing tips to bring it up to minimum wage seems to be a U.S. phenomenon, however.
I found it interesting that in on- and offline conversations on the subject, people who cited experience in the restaurant industry in the U.S. were unanimously in favor of methodical tipping, and usually generous methodical tipping.
Some people suggested that it was odd to have tip jars in places like Starbucks. If there are any Starbucks employees (present or past) in the readership, I’d love to hear from you. Do Starbucks employees make minimum wage, or the truncated wage that assumes the tip jar will overflow? How is Starbucks different from other places in which consumers order and pay at the counter?
I have now had two individuals tell me that while the rule is in place that the employer must make up the difference between the hourly wage (in the U.S.) and the minimum wage if the tips are insufficient, they have worked in places where the rule was flaunted.
CMStone64’s thoughtful comment to the previous post suggests to me that one way to frame the whole issue is to talk about it in terms of relationships. As a consumer, I am in a relationship with the server. The server is also in relationship with her or his employer. The second relationship may be of indirect concern to me (I may choose to go elsewhere for dinner if I learn that labor practice at that restaurant is poor). But that primary relationship, the relationship between consumer and server, is one that it seems to me should be conducted with dignity and responsibilities on both sides. I am within my rights to protest if the service is poor, but the server is within his rights to expect to be paid for his work. Since the law is set up in such a way that he will not be paid for that work unless I tip, then I’m at fault if I tip insufficiently.
Or so it seems to me. Your thoughts?
