This has been a topic of great debate throughout our marriage. Jared is in my opinion overly generous with waiters, hairdressers, taxi drivers, sky cap at the airport. etc. He always gives them a tip. I view tipping as a way of thanking a person for doing a good job. I do not feel as though because they served me that automatically means I give them money. I do not feel as though I need to give them a paycheck in addition to what their employer pays them. Sometimes I would prefer to give them advice instead of a monetary tip (ie. you would have received a tip from me if it did not take you 20 minutes to take my order...). I think the practice of tipping is interesting. A professor from Cornell Michael Lynn has studied tipping for the last 20 years. Can you believe he studied this for 20 years??? Now you all know why I never pursued or want to pursue a doctoral program, I simply could not study the same topic for the rest of my mortal existence. I digress.. In his research Dr. Lynn found that the major reason people tip is to avoid social disapproval, it is not a reward for good service. As you can see he never asked me.
Over the years I have found that people use different methods to decide about tipping. I have divided them into groups.
Group A (Jared): No matter how bad the service is I will tip AT LEAST 15%.
Group B: 15% if he service is adequate 20% if the service is good
Group C: Outrageous tips ("we gave the waitress $1000 tip because we felt sorry for her--we have all read/heard those stories)
Group D: 15% if the service was good. If the service was bad nothing and I might leave a note depending on how bad my experience was.
My friend's dad is one of my hero. When he sits down at a table he writes down 15% on a piece of paper or napkin. Depending on the service he crosses out the number and either goes up or down. I wish I could be that bold. For me the biggest factor is I should never be thristy. In other words my Diet Coke should be free flowing.
So I did a little research. Found out that I am wrong in my opinion, but let's face it I am not going to change. I am not going to pay someone for poor service....EVER! I have other places that I want to spend my money. Oh and when my mom and Jared try to pay people in cash on the table after we have had a bad experience I have been known to take the money as we leave. In case you are interested here is the article.
So what is your opinion? Oh and before I forget the tip jars at the ice cream stand, Chinese restaurant, pizza place, I am sure by now you know my response to those things....
5 comments:
Laurie, I'm totally with you about not tipping for poor service. But still, I have to admit that I often tip for fear of social disapproval. But why? Why should I care if the lady who cut my hair thinks I'm cheap when really I just hate what she did to my hair? I do try to tip well if I get great service, but shouldn't service just be part of the job sometimes? (Although I do feel for waiters who depend on tips to supplement their $2.75/hr. wage.)
I agree with Vicky. I already pay so much for my mediocre haircut, but still I shell out an extra 5$ on top of her high price!
I vaguely seem to remember you snatching the cash tip from the table once. Maybe that wasn't you, but it sounded so familiar! Great post. Makes me think.
I'm worse than Jared. I tip 15% and 20% if it's great service. If they're really bad and if they're rude, I might only leave 10%. I'd probably still do 15 though. The sad thing is that I agree with you, yet I still over tip.
Good write up Laurie! I have to say that I am inclined to tip like your dad, but only once or twice have left a list (after being a waitress i can tell when the french fries have been left under a heat lamp) and once got a manager.
But it is a bit of social thing especially with hairdressers. It is face to face, not left on the table. And you are likely to return to them and have to see them again. I must say I always tip the 15% for a haircut, except for the last girl I went to in utah. She was fabulous. and the extra I gave her got me perks in scheduling with her and free samples and coupons.
I think I am a circumstantial tipper. I pay according to how much I think their service was worth. However, I never stiff. I will always give at least one dollar. I think I gave a waitress 50 cents once. Usually, if I do not get good service I do not return to the establishment. Laurie, I love, love your take on life. I am glad you are willing to be real in an unreal world.
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