And some have outrageous mandatory tips (Adventures by Disney is one example)

There are online travel fora populated with thousands of posters who tip by taping a candy to a card, or a dime, or hand out ramen, or other bizarre things as a gratuity. (Note that I've offered multiple unopened bottles of leftover water to rental car return staff, or car valets, but I don't consider that in the same league as writing a poem and afixing a candy to it as a 'tip')

I think that a handwritten note or picture from a child is charming, but it isn't quite so charming when an adult hands it out to another adult.

Tipping is so serious in the US, or more specifically New York, that Starbucks employees sued for the exclusive right of tips and in counter managers sued for sharing of tips.

I still believe that all service charges should be embedded into the price of (whatever). I think that if somebody depends upon tipping to make their living, than something is wrong. It should be more of an exceptional circumstance, made by exceptional or more than average service, as opposed to just 'expected'.

And tipping at fast food restaurants, where they don't come to your table? Ridiculous. Just a money grab.

Now that don't happen from me.

I think I am going to start a new movement, called the no-tipping movement. Here are the rules.

1. If you are in a state with no tip credit (meaning all staff are paid at least minimum wage by their employers) then you do not tip except for exceptional service.

2. If you are in a state with tip credits (meaning that employers can pay less than minimum wage with the difference to be made up in tips) then you tip like you normally do.

3. At the end of the year, you take the money you saved on tipping (18% of your restaurant purchases) and donate it to a charity of your choice.

Who is with me?

As much of an anti-tipper as I am, there are several areas where I agree with it. And, they are cases where the amount is codified (in a written document), and the people earn it over a longer period of service.

A prime example of this is in the cruise industry. The cruise lines usually hand-out envelopes towards the end of the cruise with suggested amounts per role (i.e. room host, server, assistant server). In this case, these people have served me and my mom tirelessly for an entire week, and the tip was requested in a respectful way that was documented.

In other words, it wasn't just some random person sticking their hand out, because they opened the door of your taxi when you arrived at a hotel. Or, as happened to me on the street in Argentina, getting shaken down when a random stranger opened our taxi door in the middle of a street for a tip because of 'service'.

I am all for paying people fairly who have earned it. But, tip jars in fast food restaurants is just poor taste. Even at 'Pret a Manger', where nobody even takes your order, you just pull it out of a cooler and take it to a cashier, there are pre-installed tip boxes for 'encouragement'.

Who am I tipping? Why? It's like the company feels they don't pay their people fairly, and now they want me to make up the gap. Ridiculous. What about people in other professions where they're not very well paid?

Do claims adjusters get tipped? What about a marketing analyst at a consumer good products company? Do you send a 'tip' to them? If tipping is supposed to be about 'taking care' of the people who take care of us, why should it be confined to only those people we can see? Don't all of us take care of somebody in some respect or another?

Do you tip the municipal worker who maintains the water system? What about the drillers on an oil rig on the North Slope? It may seem like these are extreme examples, but everybody does some sort of service, yet mainly those who work in food service or hospitality industries, or tourism seem to expect tips. And, there are many people who work just as hard if not harder doing more important jobs (firefighters, teachers, and, yes, even corporate white-collar employees) who do not expect 'tips'. And, no, just because you wear a suit, or are in a professional job does NOT mean that you are necessarily well-paid, or that your compensation reflects all the work you do.

So, I'm sick of being asked to tip everybody, when I feel that people should just earn a wage (hourly or salaried) like most other people. And, it's not even their fault. It's just a system, whereby companies may not want to pay people the fair amount, and pass on the costs directly to the customers. Ridiculous.

At the bar on many cruises, there is already a tip included.
'15% service charge'
Often, tips for housekeeping are covered too under a service charge.

But that's only part of the problem. In many places people are paid a proper wage, yet even then some people want to tip and insist on tipping, and tipping against the norm. We see it here on this thread.

No matter how many times some of us have said that tipping isn't necessary in certain places, people insist on tipping, and tipping too much.

Several posts in this thread have really annoyed me because of the tone the posters used towards the person receiving the tip. Then factor in the manner in which some people tip and it is very clear that no matter how much OP (and others) don't like the practice of tipping, it will remain a worldwide practice thanks to those posters.

(And again, I say this as a former server decades ago, and one who many times politely declined three times as told, and even then had an American angrily stuff a $100 in my bra more than once...)

Well, that is just plain disrespectful. I am actually against the norm in my own family. My brother has given servers $20 tips on restaurant bills less than $30 for average service. My mom will often give servers $10 for a $20 bill, because 'they work hard.'

I think there is a lack of appreciation for how hard many white-collar jobs are. We often work under far more strenuous conditions, often receiving verbal abuse, dealing with tremendous deadlines, and sometimes even working 17 hour days far from home, not seeing our own families for long periods of time. There is no union, and no punch-card. Just get the job done. And, the pay is decent, but none of us are retiring early. And, when you factor in that most professional jobs do not pay overtime, and we have to pay all of our taxes, the picture becomes more clear.

Well, depending on the insurance company, they're probably commissioned...

...which is really all a tip is: a commission where you, as the customer, get to determine how much of a commission the salesperson--the person who sold you their services--should earn.

Just spoke to a bartender at Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui (currently I'm in Maui).. and he said.. "I've seen you here before, welcome back".. we had a nice conversation, and he used to manage every Kea Lani restaurant and been at the hotel for 22 years.. even before the hotel became a Fairmont (12 years ago Kea Lani became the Fairmont).

He said he quit being a manager, and became a bartender.. cut his hours in half and gets 3 times the salary mostly on tips. He hasn't retired yet and enjoys being the bartender at the pool. Slipped me a complimentary snack, and two chocolate milkshakes for the kiddies, and I was on my way.

And in this case a tip is a bribe. I cannot go into Macy's, pay for a skirt, and give the clerk $10 and expect them to throw in a $60 cardigan at no extra charge.

But that happens quite a bit in certain places. There are reasons that companies do not permit their employees to accept tips/bribes in return for product.

I doubt that business owners in most other industries would be happy for their staff to give out freebies, and pocket the money from the customer instead of passing it back to the business owners. (I'm not talking about service recovery issues, but examples where someone boasts about being a big tipper, or hands over a folded bill for an upgrade) The latter happened recently next to me in Germany and the staff just laughed and gave it back.

It's the reason why so many high end places also tell their staff to decline tips (as in my case above), and why companies such as Disney do not permit their front desk to accept tips.

The 'automated on the bill' tip is to me one the most impersonal and rude ways to tip; most likely the tip will be pooled, and the employee will not have the personal thank you which a tip really should be.

Complimentary snacks are available to everyone with or without purchase at the pool bar at Fairmont Kea Lani. The snacks are stacked conveniently for everyone to grab off the counter. So no, the tip didn't cause the bartender to slip me a free snack.

What does the peanut gallery here think about this?

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