Tipping culture

Not just the barber at the saloon who gives you a haircut, the cab driver who drops you where you need to go, the waiter at the restaurant who gets you your food, but countless others who rely on tips to make ends meet…only because the minimum wages they earn are not adequate.  This, I feel, is unfair for the person on the receiving end.

Working for loose change – a waiter collects tip left by a patron

To be clear, the additional financial overage I have to bear with regards to tipping least bothers me personally.  I generally tip according to the level of service received in line with the established/expected norms around tipping.  However, if I think from the receiver’s perspective who thanks  you on receiving the tip – sometimes with a slight bow which actually bothers me – I feel the tipping culture is just not fair if we want to build a classless society.  Or at least not let the class divisions make themselves apparent in such transactions.  It is like today’s society has acknowledged and is comfortable with the fact that there are have-mores and there are have-nots, and has instituted this workaround.  Chances are if you are reading this blog, you have tipped but have never been tipped. Imagine how you would feel if you were on the receiving end and working hard all the time for someone’s loose change.

The alternate argument in favor of tipping is that it acts as an incentive for the service provider to provide good service.  In other industries, the incentives for good performance are given out as bonuses by the employer.  In the services industry where the service personnel has close contact with the customer, the responsibility for rewarding good service has been passed on to the customer who can be the best judge of the service instance.  This may sound fair, but the logic breaks for me because the providers rely on these tips and gratuities to make ends meet, whereas a lousy worker in many other industries can get by in life without the need for any bonuses.

The bottom line is that I strongly believe the tipping culture should be eradicated.  Pay scales should be increased, and in turn the pricing of all the services where tipping is expected should be increased as well.  Mechanisms used in other industries to to reward good and penalize bad performance can easily be adopted by such services industries as well.

Disclaimer: my views on this subject, though leaning against tipping, are not hard and fast.  I would love to hear your views below.