Tips lower social expectations $1 at a time

By Atticus MorrisThe Guardsman

During a recent visit to McDonald’s, a gentleman, with lidless eyes that spoke volumes about his recreational habits, opened the door for me before I could get to it.

Since I find this kind of ploy infinitely more annoying than someone simply asking for money, I bristled. Surely he was expecting some manner of compensation for the deed.

But it made me think: Other than lacking the official consent of McDonald’s, how was this man any different than, say, a guy in a posh bathroom who expects tips when he dispenses towels to customers?

In no way am I opposed to recognizing satisfactory service through tipping, but gratuity should always be optional.

The custom of tipping is ingrained in our service-oriented economy, it’s a multimillion dollar business. But the rationale for when and why to do it, is not as simple or as solid as some would have us believe.

There is no hard rule about who to tip; it’s a practice that has arbitrarily become social norm in certain situations.

In a restaurant, servers and bartenders receive tips, but not cooks and dishwashers (well at least not directly from me).

The logic is: you should tip someone who is performing a direct service for you—hairdresser, taxi driver, house keeper, etc.

But then, why not tip your pharmacist, doctor or congressional representative (provided you’re pleased with the service of course)?

Maybe, as some suggest, this is because people in these professions do pretty well financially.  But surely flight attendants, bank tellers and grocery store cashiers could use a little extra cash.

In restaurants and bars tipping has been institutionalized. Gratuity is supposed to be a means with which the customer can leverage service, but in reality “voluntary” additional compensation is the norm unless the service was exceptionally poor. Thus 20 percent of the bill is expected even for merely adequate service.

At bars, it’s even worse. Gratuity is implicitly mandated, regardless of the quality of the service —just try getting a second drink after not leaving a tip for that can of PBR the bartender took forever to open and hand to you. Think about that for a moment: It’s basically a service tax.

At this point, opinions diverge sharply and the issue becomes contentious. Bartenders and servers make the bulk of their money through tips and so are justifiably concerned with receiving them.

It’s no different than the commission earned on a sale in any other business, they argue.
But a car salesman wouldn’t expect a $1500 tip from the person he just sold a car to; his commission comes from the dealership.

Should I feel guilty or cheap for not wanting to tip a car sales man after I already spent money on a car? No.

Employers are responsible for paying their employees a decent living, it’s the reason a minimum wage rate was established. I doesn’t mean I can’t tip as well if I feel it’s warranted.

In many states, restaurants get away with paying servers well below minimum wage, in anticipation of “voluntary tips.” This is wrong!

I’ve even heard servers grumble about the way they are taxed; saying they could theoretically end up “paying” to wait on someone if the tip they receive isn’t large enough. This illustrates beautifully the absurdity of this scheme for compensation.

Most of us are perfectly willing to part with money voluntarily if we feel it’s merited, but we resent being coerced, even tacitly. This is a basic facet of human nature. It’s one of the reasons the idea of communism doesn’t work on a scale larger than community.

It’s not that I shouldn’t have to tip, although some people certainly feel that way—just ask any server why they generally don’t like waiting on people from other countries.

Employees should be paid a decent living wage, so that I can choose whether or not to tip, without being made to feel guilty or cheap.