Thread: Tipping has gotten out of hand.

The morning news today was reporting how 20 is the new 15 as in we now need to tip 20% instead of 15%.

Why is it everyone now expects a tip for doing their job? Because of all this tipping we now have waiters at average restaurants making the same or more than someone with a 4 year degree. I have a degree and I don't get tipped. Why do I need to pay someone $1 in the bathroom to hand me a paper towel or $50 to my mailman who is already paid way more than me. I'm fed up with it all.

Tipping has always been and will remain the customer's choice. There is no law requiring you to tip anyone or how much.

I tip 15% and there is no need to tip more because they are the only job that have inflation built right on in. They can raise prices and their tips are still 15% and none of else get our pay matched to inflation like that! I say if anything tips should be reduced to 10% because we are tipping way too much now and we can't afford it!

The sad thing is that customer service seems to have gone down 20% at most places too, so why is it they want me to thank them for it? The way I figure it, bringing me my food is why you get paid. Refilling my drink is also why you get paid. If you want a tip then you better do your job with a smile, damnit. I'm not expecting a free lap dance with my fajita, but you can at least act like you weren't sentenced to work at Chilli's for God's sake. I'm a very critical tipper and I've been known to tip very very well when I've felt the service deserved recognition. Most of the time I feel they have demonstrated all the skill and ability that I would expect a $5/hr job to demonstrate.

This is why i don't go out, and why I carry out my pizza. I don't get a tip, why the %#*& should you?

But have you noticed with takeout now they expect you to write in a tip on the credit card receipt or put out a tipping jar for you? I find the jar totally bizarre when it's a "carryout only" joint. Basically everyone is expecting something for nothing. I tip good when I eat at a restaurant but they do need to make an effort at their job; smile, polite, good service. I know it's not easy to plaster a fake smile on even when you are down in the dumps but you know I worked retail for years and I pulled it off seriously 100% of the time no matter what.....because my pay was based on commissions. If I could do and believe me being rosy goes against my grain, then there's no reason they can't do it too.

Yes, but why are we tipping for good customer service? Shouldn't that be a given? If they expect customers to come back, then shouldn't customer service be in the job description? Why are we tipping them extra for something that should come for free with the service? Do we tip the car salesman for throwing in the doors on the car we just bought? Do we tip our real estate agent for selling our house? Hell no! They get paid to do a job and we are the ones paying them. We don't need to tip them.

Actually, if you think about it, this tipping thing is everywhere. Have you ever paid a service fee to activate your cell phone? Ever paid a service fee at a bank? Ever paid some random service fee to your cable or satillite provider? These are just their ways of putting a freakin tip jar out there and forcing you to contribute. I've worked in industries that charged fees like that, only I didn't get to keep the 'service fee'. Why the hell not??? I provided the service, so why shouldn't I get the service fee??? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......