TrojanHorse

how come you are starting another tipping thread>?
i hate tipping as much as anyone but sheesh

QueenOfCoach

If the service is dreadful, then you ask to speak to a manager, tell that person that the service was dreadful and then leave no tip. I totally agree. I've done just that, a few times, in the past. In the best of circs, the manager will thank me sincerely for bringing the dreadful service to their attention and comp the entire meal.

pinniped

Yeah, but this only works in bars you go to regularly and you have to develop a rep as a ridiculously good tipper over time. (There's one other type of establishment where it probably works too but that's another thread.)

In the end, I"m not sure if it pays off. I used to party with a guy who basically built up this rep at our local watering hole. Sure, when I was hanging out with him we drank a lot of free shots. But at the end of the day, I'm not sure what the point was...other than to transfer some income from the bar owner to the bartenders. I suppose that could be an altruistic goal...

Random side topic: I think it's funny how people tip differently at a gaming table (craps, blackjack, whatever) depending on whether they're winning. The expected value of every gambling event is the same, the dealers process the events identically whether you win or lose, the dealers are not attempting to impart any kind of nonrandom effect on the events, and the "service" is identical regardless of whether you win or lose. Therefore, shouldn't you tip an identical portion of your expected value from every wager, regardless of the outcome?

QueenOfCoach

I know. I'm tired of it, too.

Tipping culture in America: It's the way it is. Get used to it.

djs

Wait a second, you mean just because it's my first trip to Vegas I'm actually not entitled to a free upgrade to First Class?

carlorossi3

Hehe. When I was 21, I was a busboy in Tahoe City at a place called Rosie's Cafe. As you can imagine, busboys hear things that the waiter/waitress might not. What I heard was, "Oh my God, she's (the waitress) sticking her fingers up her nose!" And sure enough, their waitress was having a runny nose day, and was sticking her fingers up there. But neglecting to do it out of public view. The dining party left the credit card slip with an accented zero in the tip area. The waitress didn't understand, of course, and when they made their quick exit, she tried to chase them with no luck. I certainly wasn't going to tell her why they stiffed her. But I learned something about customer service that day!

carlorossi3

Right or wrong, people believe in luck. Our economy might be based on this truism, so be careful.

Analise

Nobody in the US forces you to tip. Where do you go where it is rigid? Tipping is at your discretion for services rendered. 15% is expensive?

If someone berates you for not tipping, you report that to their manager. At least in NYC, often people do not know that waiters are to be tipped for providing good or better than good service. If someone does not, typically a waiter will come by and ask if everything is all right as there was no tip and what could be done better. A bad waiter will berate you, I suppose, and thus not warrant a tip.

We tip for services rendered and tipping provides incentive for the server to go above and beyond to provide excellent service. If they do, they get a better tip. Pure financial incentive to provide service makes perfect sense. If you do more, you should earn more. ^ Tipping encourages better service.

If you decide to travel in the US, tipping is very much expected at restaurants, for hotel maids, porters, manicurists, hairdressers, barbers.... If you find this offensive, stay home. This is our culture and is to be respected as you would expect tourists from other nations to respect YOUR culture.

As for why this isn't done in other nations, I guess you have never travelled much in Canada.

LondonElite

A truly insightful, productive statement.

User Name

Alas, any productive conversation on the relative merits of tipping or, as in the OP's case, a seemingly genuine enquiry in an attempt to understand what underpins the US model is always met by the usual brainless comments.

LondonElite

There is no proven cause and effect to substantiate this. Read, for example, the New Yorker article referenced earlier.

I can only deduce from this statement that you have never once been to Japan, most parts of the rest of Asia, Australia, and most of western Europe. As has been said on this thread and others, service in tipping cultures is not noticeably better (and in some cases worse), than in non-tipping cultures.

Look, I tip more when in the US than I would elsewhere, but I don't pretend for a second that it has anything to do with the quality of the service. Let's call it what it is, a wage-replacement scheme.

LarryJ

I've been to Asia, Japan (Fussa and Tachikawa) and Singapore.

The Japanese do provide excellent, if very formal, customer service. In Singapore I've seen everything from enthusiastically friendly (an Indian girl wearing a jester hat at the TGI Fridays on Orchard!) to mostly indifferent. What stood out to me was that in both countries, the server didn't check in with us nearly as often as they do in the US so drinks weren't refilled as quickly and you'd often have to wait longer to make a request. I have no idea if that is in any way related to the expectation of a tip.

To someone who has spent their life in the US, it is difficult to leave without adding a tip. It feels like you're being cheap.

LondonElite

You've already left it!

User Name

Well done for identifying this. This is an indicator that you need to pause, think, and then comply with local customs.

frankmu

This NPR's Planet Money podcast explains that tipping does not improve service, but we do it because of social pressure. We feel sorry for the server, therefore we give them a tip to make them feel better. Interesting explanation.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/...289/why-we-tip