Washington: To tip, or not to tip? It’s a dilemma many Americans face about whether or not to leave a tip, as the tradition of tipping is deeply ingrained in the culture — but is it necessary when shopping for groceries or buying flowers?
“Either way, you feel guilty,” said Matt Scotland, 41, in downtown Washington, salad and fruit juice in hand.
In the United States, tipping in restaurants is not a topic of discussion. A gratuity of around 15 to 20 percent of the cost of the meal is mandatory, as it often makes up the bulk of a waiter’s salary.
But a sandwich to go? For Scotland, outside of restaurants, the answer is generally no. Unless the employees are “super nice”, or he’s feeling particularly generous.
But no solution is perfect. If he tips, he may feel “guilty or angry or upset in some way” about spending more money.
And if he leaves nothing, he feels “guilty” to the employees.
“It’s not a great system,” he sighs.
The dilemma is relatively new. Tipping is spreading into more and more areas of life, driving up bills in businesses where it was never expected before.
In response, experts warn of the risk of “tip fatigue,” a scenario in which overworked and inflation-stricken Americans no longer know where to tip, or how much. .
And this trend is likely to lead to a debate on increasingly critical compensation systems in the hospitality industry.
‘crime’
According to Deepyan Biswas, a marketing professor at the University of South Florida, the expansion is largely due to “digital kiosks,” the electronic checkouts that have become ubiquitous in recent years.
On the screens where customers pay their bills, companies can add a number of options, including tips. In order not to cough, the customer must deliberately click the “No Tip” button.
“It hurts a lot of people. They don’t want to do it,” says Biswas. “Companies use the guilt factor.”
This strategy works for Hannah Cuban, 30, who admits she “tips more than I ever have.”
The lawyer says the constant request for gratuity for the server “feels a bit too much pressure”.
And digital kiosks sometimes tip as much as 30 percent of the total, even higher than the usual rate.
As a result, “trying to figure out, when to tip, when not to tip, what’s an appropriate tip, is it 20 percent like usual now? I don’t know. And so I think I Constantly Googling. When should I tip,” Cuban said.
She can smile about the whole thing, but she said she has “friends who are pretty upset.”
Biswas worries that if Americans feel they have to tip everyone, there will be less for those who really need it most, like restaurant wait staff.
‘revolution’
For Saru Jayaraman, president of the One Fair Wage Association, which advocates for “fair” pay for waiters, talking about tip fatigue is “missing the point.”
“If we’re sick of constant tipping, join the movement to end the minimum wage for tipped workers,” he suggested.
The pandemic, by reducing the number of people eating out, exposed the fragility of the compensation system for waiters, in which their employers pay less than the legal minimum wage.
While Americans have since returned to restaurants, the sector — known for its stressful working conditions — still struggles to recruit.
Jayaraman said the industry is going through “a revolution” as its employees are “quitting en masse”.
“Workers are saying, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore,'” he said.
And things are changing. The capital, Washington, joined several states in November in enacting a minimum wage, even for employees who are paid with tips.
“As long as there is a minimum wage for some, other industries will want to have the same free labor that the restaurant industry has,” Jayaraman added.