Is it just me or does anybody else out there think that tipping needs to finally be done away with??? I just don’t get it. You go out to a nice restaurant, enjoy an already rather expensive meal, receive the check and are automatically expected to add somewhere around 15-20% more than the actual meal cost. Doesn’t this seem a bit silly? I mean why don’t they just charge us the 15-20% more to begin with and cut out the unneeded hassle…?I realize, of course, that the “idea” behind the tip makes sense. It’s supposed to be an additional reward for the wait staff on a job well done. Note that – “a job well done.” I’m wondering when it was decided that this apparently unnecessary causality was removed from this equation. Was there a meeting that I wasn’t invited to…? Why am I now expected to leave a tip regardless of service quality? Aren’t we just taking one more step toward mediocrity being expected in this society … not only expected but rewarded?
“But these waiters and waitresses rely on receiving tips for their livelihood” … “their pay is insignificant for survival without the added income from the tips” … “the tip is actually taken as a given when the wages for these positions are decided” … “you’re a complete asshole if you don’t tip regardless of the quality of service you received” … “the wait staff needs the tips to survive.”
I’ve heard it all before although I’m really beginning to wonder why I should care. I’ve worked very hard to earn the income I currently receive and nobody is expected to be throwing any more money my way regardless of my performance. The only thing that I can guarantee is that my income, in complete, will cease to exist if I don’t do my job well enough. As a matter of fact, my income always has the possibility of vanishing completely due to a myriad of scenarios in which I have absolutely no control over – it’s called life. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the people that serve me at restaurants? Is this a pity thing???
You see I’m of the opinion that the people that wait on me in restaurants are just that – people. I have no ill-founded sense of superiority over them nor do I believe that they are any better than I. They are getting paid to do their job which just so happens to be serving me and my guests food and drink. That’s all. Why is it my responsibility to cover the inadequacy in income that their employers have agreed to pay? They took the job. If the pay scale agreed to was insufficient, they had every right to ask for more or look elsewhere.
Over in Germany they’ve already addressed this. Gratuity (as well as taxes, for that matter) is already included in the prices on the menu. It sure as hell makes things quite a bit simpler. Yeah, the prices seem a bit steep at first, but that’s all that is expected to be paid. When you receive your bill at the end of the meal, the total amount due is precisely the amount shown – nothing extra is expected. Not that you couldn’t add on a tip if you felt the service worthy enough, it just isn’t expected. I guess over there they pay their wait staffs sufficiently for survival. And as a bonus, there are quite a few Americans visiting…
The reason I say this is because we Americans have been so well programmed to automatically add on a tip that the whole idea of not doing so seems so wrong to us that, even in places where tips actually are optional, not leaving one just feels a bit dirty – so much so that Jon was constantly giving me shit for not leaving tips when I was over there. Even after pointing out to him on several menus where it clearly stated (in German, of course) that gratuity was included, he always added approximately 15% to his bills. Maybe that’s why the German waiters were always so glad to see Americans…?
What I propose is that we adopt the same system here that they use in Germany. And you might think I’m a bit silly proposing that the prices for meals be raised in restaurants, but I’m not. I’m proposing that the “actual” prices for meals be displayed on the menus. We could then do away with this whole nonsense of tipping. The extra income to the restaurants can be used to pay the wait staffs fairly and the whole unnecessary tipping routine can go the way of the dodos…
Just a thought…
bis später,
Coriolis
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