"Wasted Space" on this website - was meant to refer to so many more important issues to be discussed here rather than this. I have never seen this in a "cashier" situation like i.e. grocery, drug store etc. Only ever seen in restaurants or coffee shops or stores selling food items from behind the counter. It just seems to me this is much ado about nothing to get folks riled up about nonsense. There are more important issues out there.

Extortion - not even close. No threat, no pressure, no use of position/authority to extract financial gain. In all cases it is an option to be selected or ignored. A tip is strictly voluntary and to be given or not at the your discretion. If you feel it does not merit a tip, don't tip. No pressure, just common sense.

SPSHOOTER

quote:

Extortion - not even close.

I'm afraid you aren't nearly paranoid or aware enough of how food service can work, especially in current environment and staffing.

Ok, in past years, back when happiness and joy were permitted, you tipped a 'service' i.e. hair salon, waitstaff, etc.

IF you are just picking up a carry out pizza, no need to tip.

BUT then covid, the lockdown, and resulting madness occurred.

THEN it became necessary to tip because they were willing to get out of the safety of the house to work fastfood, keep the gas station open etc. So society was encouraged to tip to thank them for 'going above and beyond' and putting their lives and families at risk to provide services (note: not a service) to us.

NOW we have this crap fest of greedy MF's that want a tip for existing. The blow back is wrong and sometimes misplaced. I pick up a pizza, I do not tip. But if I pick up a meal from Logans I do tip, because they took time to put together rolls, butter, etc. packaged it all up AND were not waiting tables while doing so. I tip at restaurants, for hair cuts etc. But the guys selling trinkets in the kiosk at the mall.

Yeah thats a big no for me.

p.s. I used to tip at Starbucks (via the app) until I found out they make $19 an hour.

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:

BUT then covid, the lockdown, and resulting madness occurred.

This tipping craze began long before Covid.

I remember going to the 'Renaissance Festival' in Sterling Forest, NY back in the '80s and was subjected to 'extreme pressure' to provide a tip for food I purchased from the concession stand. The food that was already RIDICULOUSLY overpriced, and no, I did not provide a tip for my bottled beverage and hastily assembled sausage sub!

quote:

Originally posted by SPSHOOTER:
"Wasted Space" on this website - was meant to refer to so many more important issues to be discussed here rather than this

Are you under impression that the forum is full? This thread is not pushing other issues off the edge. There is room for this issue, other issues, all sorts of stuff.

The best indicator that a subject is "wasted space" as you put it is when you see me close threads on the subject. When a thread is open, it means members are welcome- and even encouraged- to comment.

quote:

If you feel it does not merit a tip, don't tip. No pressure, just common sense.

Forgive me, but you are kidding yourself. When someone face-to-face with you asks you for a tip or a donation, there is inherent social pressure. When you're at the grocery store checkout and the cashier asks if you would like to make a donation to this or that cause or charity, this is a mild form of social pressure and you know how you feel when you decline.

With this "tip" horse shit, it's more pronounced, because the "charity" is standing right there. Come on. Let's be honest. Without any doubt at all, there is pressure being applied. One moment, you're buying a bag of potato chips and the next moment, you're Simon Legree.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:

BUT then covid, the lockdown, and resulting madness occurred.

This tipping craze began long before Covid.

I will not disagree, but it sure did throw a big can of gas on it.

When asked to "round up" or otherwise donate at a check-out register, a friend of mine replies "I gave at the office."

He has been retired for many years.

quote:

Originally posted by SPSHOOTER:
Extortion - not even close. No threat, no pressure

Yeah Fucking Right! Wife called in a to go order on my way home from an appointment for me to pick up yesterday. I get there and pay....then the visible eye roll when I decline a tip. Girl walks off without giving me my food, at which point I just grab for my food behind the counter. She came hauling ass back then and I'm fairly certain she got my point. If you don't believe these people put you on a shit list and make you wait, you're a fool.

Also, reading back over a few of your other posts in this thread, I don't think you seem to understand, so I'll clarify.

THERE IS NO REASON TO ASK FOR A TIP IF THERE WAS NO SERVICE which means that a self checkout kiosk (regardless of whether you can skip the prompt or not) should even ask for a tip. Same goes for TO-GO orders. Please don't use the "programming" excuse either because this shit is written into the Point of Sale software specifically at the request of the customer.

I just booked a hotel on Kayak and the third party site asked for a tip. WTF? What did they do? I did the searching and booking, paid in advance. Un-effing-real.

Just don't tip where you think it's coercive bullshit. Vote with your feet. We never went back after trying a few new places that were engaged in that particular asshattery. It's never the whole story. Most places are just a bit too expensive and their product not worth the freight. But this tip crap has made the choice to bail the grossly obvious course of action.

My wife and I specifically patronized a handful of businesses during the covid nonsense. No chains, all local. One pizza place that we are just out of their delivery radius, we pick up our pizza. We never will tip to pick up food. If we think you need more help, we order more or more often.

Ran one of my cars through an automated car wash a few days ago because it had been sitting unused for several months and was really nasty, AND my water hose is busted so I couldn't clean it at home. Paid with my credit card and the bloody thing asked for a tip!

A freaking tip at an AUTOMATED car wash where the people do nothing?!? It just really pissed me off! These days, if it's not a sit-down meal where a server tends to me, NO tip is paid at all!

Americans say they have no idea how to tip anymore, and it’s leaving them confused and irritated Gratuity is a new game.

By Chloe Berger

Nov 11, 2023 01:30 PM4 min. readView original
One of America’s favorite customs right now is complaining about an old custom with new wheels: tipping. Similar to the “what’s the deal with airplanes” Jerry Seinfeld bit, griping about how tipping has “become out of control” is somewhat of an easy crowd pleaser.

And you don’t need a Seinfeld type of tight five to understand that the post-pandemic landscape of tipping is a new reality that not many consumers are stoked about. During lockdown, many people left extra gratuity to support frontline workers and the restaurants that were shutting down. Aided by automated tablet screens, such heightened tipping—for everywhere from counter services like bakeries to self-checkout kiosks—has stuck three years later. Whatever the source of tipping’s ascent, one thing many Americans can agree on is that we’re dealing with a new tipping culture.

For one, tipping has become more prevalent—a whopping 72% of adults report that it’s “expected in more places today than it was five years ago,” per a Pew Research survey of almost 12,000 U.S. adults released this week. Since so many people feel like a lot has changed in less than a decade, they’re naturally pretty confused. Only 34% say it’s “extremely or very” easy to know if you should tip and slightly less (33%) report confidence in knowing how much to tip.

They’re also frustrated with the automated tablets that suggest three different tip options when checking out (with some preset to 20% as the minimum option). More Americans are against (40%) than for (24%) this practice. And automatic service charges tacked onto bills especially evoke ire, as 72% of respondents oppose them. It’s all led to some tipping out of guilt and an exhaustion at the ubiquitousness of the practice, known colloquially as “tip fatigue.”

Inflation has made tipping a mess
It might be easy to blame the blue screens, but there’s something larger afoot creating this new tipping culture. Part of it stems from the Great Resignation’s labor shortage, as many workers in the oft-overworked and underpaid service and hospitality industries made the most of a strong labor market and looked for better-paying gigs. Companies suddenly had to make their offers more competitive; Chipotle bumped up wages and Dig made their hours more flexible. Even so, wage stagnation remains the issue it has been for decades, with tipped workers bearing the brunt heavily—employers are required to only pay $2.13 per hour in direct wages if tips equals federal minimum wage. Without any federal involvement, the minimum pay remains woefully low at $7.25 an hour—the same as it has been for the past 14 years and not enough to get by, especially with today’s inflation.

That same inflation is partly what’s prevented employers from offering higher wages; they’ve been shelling out more for expensive goods and trying to keep price points low for customers. Because they can’t always pay up to make a job competitive and livable, they rely on customers’ tips to compensate. “The wage workers are receiving isn’t sufficient,” Sean Jung, a professor at Boston University, told NPR. “So now everybody is using this very weird way to increase wages while maintaining the same menu price.”

But consumers are equally hampered by inflation, and so they’re less able or willing to tip extra. After weathering a couple of volatile years, many Americans are still feeling financially anxious and pessimistic about the economy, even if the cost of living has ebbed some. The most economically vulnerable generations are less prone to tipping, as a Bankrate survey shows that 83% of baby boomers always tip compared to 35% of Gen Zers.

“Inflation and general economic unease seem to be making Americans stingier with their tipping habits, yet we’re confronted with more invitations to tip than ever,” Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior industry analyst, wrote in the report. “It’s a fascinating issue with few clear answers. There is one apparent certainty, though: Tipping doesn’t seem likely to leave American society anytime soon.”

So if tipping isn’t going away and our federal government continues to not increase the minimum wage, the question remains: What are our new rules? People remain divided, per Pew, as 21% view tipping as a choice, 29% view it as an obligation, and 49% see it as situational. While tipping is a given at restaurants (92% always or often add gratuity), people start to diverge when it comes to food delivery (76%), getting a taxi (61%), buying coffee (25%), or eating at a fast casual restaurant (12%).

No one seems to give a tip on tipping after all.

Link

There's a restaurant near me that not only 'suggests' an appropriate tip on the bill, but also adds a mandatory 6% on the bill to 'provide our kitchen staff a living wage'.


Yep, that's right. I am apparently responsible for paying their kitchen staff's wages, not their actual employer.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
There's a restaurant near me that not only 'suggests' an appropriate tip on the bill, but also adds a mandatory 6% on the bill to 'provide our kitchen staff a living wage'.


Yep, that's right. I am apparently responsible for paying their kitchen staff's wages, not their actual employer.

Shit! At that point I would stop eating there.

So this morning I had a meeting at work and decided to stop on my way and get a dozen donuts from this local donut shop that has amazing, delicious donuts.

Even the sweet little old ladies there are pulling this shit now!

The lady holds up the handheld payment terminal for me to insert my card and asks "Would you like to add a tip?" Lady, you took 25 seconds to put 12 donuts that now cost 18 bucks in a box...I answer "No".

But immediately feel guilty and bad afterward which is exactly what this is set up to do; guilt people into tipping.

I'm telling you, I think it's coming. I think the backlash is going to be so great against all of this someday soon that Congress will have hearings and it's going to come to light that the credit card companies are all colluding to activate this "feature" for a "fee" and they are getting a cut of these tip profits. The whole system seems corrupt.

At a local bakery I ask for a loaf of bread and for handing me a loaf they want a tip. I decline.

My wife and I went to a fast food chain place last week. We go to the counter, place our order and pay, to which we are asked to tip when we pay. I declined and we proceeded to wait an inordinate amount of time for our food to come out. Several customers who came in after us received food long before we did.

I asked to see the manager, made my complaint about slow service and was told, customers who tip are prioritized over those who don’t. This place just lost a customer, as we won’t be back.

Sign on the door of this place said they were hiring, starting pay, $19 an hour.

Screw tipping someone making $19 an hour for making sandwiches or running a register.

If a tip is needed for everyone to do their job, has it turned into a bribe?