Poll of the Day > Do you feel guilty about tipping 25 cents?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Do you feel MORE guilty about not?

My bank offers a program when you pay for anything with debit where you can auto-tip 25 cents to any tip enabled vendor... not only is it automatic, but they will match the tip (terms and conditions apply)

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So, now you auto-tip... but, like, the duders would see this influx of 25 cent tips; not sure if would hurt feelings or if good cuz they wouldn't have gotten a tip anyways since not America

Tipping has gotten extremely wacky and I don't understand it anymore. The original idea (pay someone a little extra if they did a particularly good job) is long gone. Now you pay extra to support the person you're interacting with. It's not that many/most of them don't need the extra, but it's disconnected from anything you can judge during the interaction.

In this age of everyone leaving jobs that don't pay enough (good for them) I almost want to say we should stop tipping in entirety so that restaurants have to compete for help and fully pay people what it's worth to do their job rather than rely on...whatever it is we're now doing with tipping. The cost of food would raise by 18-whatever percent, but at least things would make logical sense again. The transition would suck for everyone involved so it won't happen. But I think it should happen.

If nothing else I won't be tempted to get my pizza delivered simply because I'm tipping the person giving me the food either way so they might as well do the extra work to deliver it. (Even though I'd gladly drive a mile to save a few bucks and get my pizza faster)

As for the 25-cent thing...I'm the wrong person to ask. I don't get it.

The only time I'd tip that low is if I'm putting change in a tip jar.

I never feel guilty about not tipping.

Mr. Pink doesn't believe in tipping.

https://youtu.be/V4sbYy0WdGQ

Putting a quarter out on the table can be viewed as insulting especially on say a $50 bill. Having an online transaction that automatically puts 25 cents into their account with a notice probably seems fine.

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Huh? What kind of stupid shit?

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Yes, this kind of garbage is getting out of hand.

Tipping as a whole is stupid, a company should pay their staff wages not the consumer.

Also tipping based on the cost of a meal is even worse, if i order a steak for 10$ it takes the same amount of work to cook it as a 50$, so why am i tipping more when im already paying more for the actual food ?

Kotenks posted...

it's gotten to the point where you're expected to tip even if you pick it up yourself from places.

Never heard of this.

PMarth2002 posted...

The only time I'd tip that low is if I'm putting change in a tip jar.

The only time I'd tip that low is if the service was terrible and I'm leaving a handful of pennies as a deliberate and blatant fuck you.



wpot posted...

Tipping has gotten extremely wacky and I don't understand it anymore. The original idea (pay someone a little extra if they did a particularly good job) is long gone. Now you pay extra to support the person you're interacting with.

The real problem is that it borders on extortion now. You're not rewarding someone for excellent service, you're told what you're expected to tip regardless of service, then have to worry about whether or not they're spitting in your food or posting your receipt on the Internet to complain about you if you don't tip to their expectations.

And that's not counting places where gratuity is automatically factored into your bill regardless of your consent.

At this point we'd be much better off if we just went like the rest of the world and dropped tipping entirely, and just raised prices and pay scale to compensate. It's not like tipping is serving any meaningful or useful purpose at this point anyway.

Yeah; Id feel guiltier giving just a 25-cent tip than none at all, at least for decent service. I feel that a 25-cent tip may be construed as a direct insult; something done maliciously, whereas no tip at all might be somebody just forgetting, or being a non-tipper.

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That was my point. There is now some expectation of tipping at the pizza place even if I pick it up myself, which I generally prefer to do because it's faster. I'm not completely opposed - I generally add a bit - but I have no idea who I'm paying or even what it's for (if that's part of the equation) if I use the electronic payment.

In the case of the topic: is there a low wage individual person getting the money, or is the 25 cents just going to some owner or IT department? How would you know? How do I know that a 2 dollar tip I give the pizza place during an electronic order is going to an employee who needs it and not the owner? Why is this related to food? Why don't we tip teachers? Or mail carriers? Or cashiers?

Big picture: I sure hope the current shortage of employees is forcing employers to pay the "right" wage. Here's hoping we don't start tipping for so many random things that that becomes the established way people are compensated...in a very random way.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

At this point we'd be much better off if we just went like the rest of the world and dropped tipping entirely, and just raised prices and pay scale to compensate. It's not like tipping is serving any meaningful or useful purpose at this point anyway.

Yes, this.

I don't like interact in life in a way that generates a use case in which I have to tip a person, bujt when I did, I would always tip 20-25%.

I understand the ridiculousness of modern tipping culture, but also know it isn't the fault of the person you are tipping (at least not in the restaurant or delivery sense) so punishing them by not tipping is just going to get them in trouble or fired. That said, I also understand that it is just going to hasten the automation and eventual removal of the "human"element of the service industry by doing away with tips altogether and forcing the price to be included in the cost of the service. It is not an easy solution and I doubt it would be 100% "fixed" in any of our lifetimes.

^ Certainly agreed: in practical terms the custom is too engrained in American culture to remove and this is almost certainly an impossible problem to solve (particularly given our current political climate). I also wouldn't stop PERSONALLY tipping in order to theoretically affect some sort of change.

I'm just complaining about the unrealistic way things should be like a good internet message board poster. :)

As for automation, that's inevitable. I don't believe it's the job of government to stop automation (at least so long as it's doing whatever the job is appropriately) but I would argue that government DOES have a role in thinking ahead to what low-skilled people should be doing after we no longer need clerks/waiters/etc. Reform schooling towards what citizens will need in 2050, differentiate schooling such that the goal is no longer trying to make everyone the same, increase re-training or apprenticeship opportunities, define a minimum living standard (beyond just a minimum wage), etc.

See my above comment about the unrealistic way things should be. :)

KJ StErOiDs posted...

Yeah; Id feel guiltier giving just a 25-cent tip than none at all, at least for decent service. I feel that a 25-cent tip may be construed as a direct insult; something done maliciously, whereas no tip at all might be somebody just forgetting, or being a non-tipper.

Why would even a small tip be a insult though? Maybe it's because I don't understand the tipping culture but a tip for me is something because you've done a good job. It's not a guarantee and you shouldn't expect it. I do admit though the only time I've ever paid tips was when I went to Gdask. Ten zoty here and there ontop of my bill was sufficient despite it only amounting to around a 2 tip. It was however extra money for them as they don't need tips to get a normal wage.