I've been reading a lot of entries in a community lately. This community has been going for more than 10 years but one of the most common entries is a complaint on tipping.
Most countries don't have this practice and it's mostly common in the United States, to the best of my knowledge. Customers are asked to tip servers or waiters in restaurants, housekeeping staff in hotels, pizza delivery people and so on.
I've been to the United States and I find this practice confusing.
I also find it rather demoralising for the staff themselves as they are dependent on the goodwill of the person they are serving to make up for what they don't receive in wages.
Let's get one thing straight. I am not completely against the practice. However, as I said, it does confuse me, someone who has not travelled widely, as I have no idea who to tip or how much. Fortunately for me I had the help of wonderful staff in a hotel during my stay in Los Angeles who didn't make fun of me for never having stayed in a hotel by myself before or travelled further than Australia. I was a complete amateur and it showed but they were kind and helpful and if I could have tipped these staff (since they were on the desk) I would have.
So back to this community. The chief complaint of posters is that people don't tip enough. There are other customers who skip out without paying or expect their meal to be comped for some made-up reason, but that's for another post. From what I understand, the average gratuity is around 15% of the total bill.
If this practice were to stop, restaurants would have to pay their staff actual minimum wage. Currently, they get less than the minimum wage, which, depending on state, is I believe around $US7. I'm not sure what that is in $NZ but it's at least over $NZ10.
Okay, so if the wages are increased, then the cost will go up. So? Here in New Zealand, we pay up to $30 for meals in pubs/bars. The minimum we pay is around $15 and that's for a small meal or something entree sized.
I have to say I was shocked at the prices in the US. Even taking the conversion rate into account, I still found it less expensive than here. I ordered a Chicken Caesar Salad, lunch size, for around $US10. Firstly, the size of the meal was huge. I'd hate to think what the dinner size would be. Second, we'd be paying at least twice that here in NZ.
It's time restaurants and diners actually placed value on their staff by paying them decent wages, not expecting them to make up their wages with tips. It's unfair, especially when you consider that probably about 20% of customers turn out to be utter jerks who either don't tip or make the server jump through hoops for them, then still give them a lousy tip. The rest ... well, most probably don't leave enough in tips either.
These service people do a wonderful job in what can sometimes be very trying circumstances. They work hard, are often on their feet for anything up to twelve hours a day, and they do their best to greet their customers with a smile. They don't deserve abuse, they deserve praise. Working in such jobs shouldn't be a reason for you to look down on them or belittle them. They are not robots and are just trying to make a living like everyone else. You might be a CEO of a major corporation, but that is not a reason for you to treat a customer service person like they are lower than you. If you were to lose your job today, it might be you serving your replacement.
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