Used to be that people who made tips (e.g., waiters, waitresses, and bartenders) earned a sub-minimum wage that would in theory be made up for with tips, but not anymore. The guy makes $15/hr making coffee, and he thinks people should tip???
The 38-year-old earns about $400 a month in tips, which provides a helpful supplement to his $15 hourly wage as a barista at Philadelphia café located inside a restaurant. Most of those tips come from consumers who order coffee drinks or interact with the café for other things, such as carryout orders. The gratuity helps cover his monthly rent and eases some of his burdens while he attends graduate school and juggles his job.
Schenker says it’s hard to sympathize with consumers who are able to afford pricey coffee drinks but complain about tipping. And he often feels demoralized when people don’t leave behind anything extra — especially if they’re regulars.
“Tipping is about making sure the people who are performing that service for you are getting paid what they’re owed,” said Schenker, who’s been working in the service industry for roughly 18 years.
Tipping is out of control.
I am mildly in favor of tip jars all over the place.
ReplyDelete“It makes you feel bad. You feel like you have to do it because they’re asking you to do it,”
It doesn't make me feel bad. I might feel mildly irked, but that is balanced by the happy thought that people who don't know how they are expected to behave will tip just because they were asked.
Nobody minds state lotteries as a tax on stupid people. Superfluous tip jars are a tax on awkward people.
I am happy to tip waiters, bartenders, the girl who cuts my hair and even the server who merely brings drinks at a Chinese buffet. I'm not tipping anyone who hands me carryout food or scoops my ice cream.