This article is a response to the recent Reader’s Digest article on Yahoo Shine, ‘Are You Tipping Correctly?’
To tip or not to tip has always attracted debate but it appears more frequently, and fervently, in recent years due to tighter purse strings in the current economy. On one hand servers in the restaurant industry claim they need tipping in order to make a living. While on the other hand many customers say it is an outdated practice that needs to be abolished. Unless you have never eaten in a full service restaurant it is highly unlikely you do not have an opinion on the subject. As a customer who previously worked a tip position here is my perspective on some of the common questions that arise during the tip debate as well as a workable solution:
“What is the proper amount to tip?”
As a child, grown-ups told me you always tip the wait staff 10%. Later in life my older sisters waited and they told me it was customary to give 15%. But in the past few years servers increasingly claim customers should tip 20%. The common argument for these increases is inflation, food costs more now so you should pay more. But if tipping is a percentage of the meal cost, the tip will increase as food prices rise, so why is the percentage rising? Not only that, but now servers claim you should tip on the amount of tax as well, not just the cost of the meal itself. Some people point to this as a sign of greed on the part of the servers. For the sake of diplomacy, let’s say that this is just one of the many examples concerning the lack of understanding when it comes to tipping. It is highly unlikely we will ever get a consensus on this since people who receive tips will say the amount should be higher and those who pay tips will say it should be lower.
“Is it ever OK to not tip?”
This question raises even more ire than whether or not to eliminate tipping. Customers claim they should not feel obligated to tip if they receive bad service. Servers claim denying a tip is unfair because it might not be the server’s fault (e.g., if the cook messed up the order), plus it hurts other employees who the servers must share their tips with, such as busboys and expediters. These self-contradicting arguments undermine the logic of the servers’ claims. To explain, if the cook messes up the order it is still the servers responsibility to ensure they deliver the proper order to the customer. And the truth is, we all know there are times servers turn in the wrong order (I seriously doubt I am the only one it has ever happened to). Now, in considering the issue of fairness towards tip sharing employees, if busboys and others share in the tips when service is good then they should share in the blame (and loss of tip) when the service is bad. This is the fundamental principal of teamwork, you all succeed together or you fail together.
A suggestion put forth in the aforementioned article is “to talk to the manager and say, ‘I had very poor service, but I’m leaving a tip anyway.’” This is a good way to guarantee you will continue to receive poor service. If there is no penalty for not providing good service there will be no incentive for the attitude/behavior to improve. And due to the low wage paid it is difficult enough for restaurant managers to find enough people willing to do the job as it is, let alone find replacements to be able to fire people just because some customers complain. Truth is, if you still left a tip you are telling the manager that it was not bad enough to prevent you from returning, so it is highly unlikely they will do anything about it.
A common suggestion I have always heard for this scenario is to leave a small tip, like less than a dollar. If you leave nothing the server could just claim you were a cheapskate who stiffed them on the tip. Leaving an insultingly small tip makes it clear you were dissatisfied with the service. Now in all fairness, there will always be some people who will whine and fabricate a complaint as an excuse to not leave a tip. Based on my experience (and what others tell me of theirs) the majority of people leave a fair tip when service is good, and a lot still do even when there are problems. To be clear, I recommend this only for the most egregious of situations. Such as mistakes wrong with the order and they do nothing to try and make it right, blatantly unprofessional/abusive attitude from the staff, etc. And by all means, take into account the atmosphere in the restaurant if you are considering not leaving a tip. If a server could not check up on you every 5-7 minutes because of a packed house or they were short handed, then they would deserve a little more slack than if it is a slow night and they are just lazy.
“Why don’t we get rid of tipping?”
Again, servers claim they need tips to make a living because many restaurants still do not pay minimum wage, let alone a livable wage. While some large chain restaurants now pay servers a decent wage, many, along with most small independent restaurants, still pay only a few dollars per hour expecting the wait staff to make up the difference in tips. On the pro side of the debate for tip elimination people point out that tipping is not customary in most other countries, it is not their responsibility to pay the server’s wage, or that tips are not given to other customer service personnel, such as salespeople in a department store, bank tellers, etc.
The most common argument put forth from the anti-elimination side is that it would cause an exorbitant increase in the cost of the meal. I have seen commenters put forth claims from 50% to more than doubling the cost of the meal. But this does not stand up to the scrutiny of common sense. If a 20% tip rate, which is what most servers claim is fair, allows servers to make a living then increasing food prices 20% would replace the eliminated tips. The only difference in cost would be a slight increase in the tax paid, but since some servers say the tax amount should be tipped as well this would result in no difference in cost to the customer. The only difference would be the customer would now pay the entire amount to the restaurant versus the current method of making a payment to the restaurant and another payment directly to the server. From a taxpayer standpoint this would also now prevent servers from not reporting all of their income to the IRS, since it would now all be paid to them from the restaurant on their paycheck as opposed to cash tips.
Eliminating, or rather ‘shifting’, tips to the price of the meal would enable the restaurant to pay the server a livable wage. Even more importantly, the server would now have a stable income they can count on versus the wild swings they can currently experience. And as anyone who has had to stretch a dollar knows, it is a lot easier to budget your money and pay your bills when you know how much you will have each week/month.
Some commentators claim that eliminating tipping will reduce the quality of service. It can just as easily be claimed that the entitlement attitude servers have towards receiving tips has led to the erosion of customer service in the restaurant industry. Why should they work hard and put forth even a modicum of effort when they know they will get a tip regardless of their performance?
Maybe eliminating tipping will make some servers believe they no longer have to work hard since they will get paid either way. But by paying a real wage, the restaurant will have a larger pool of applicants willing to work for them they can draw from to replace servers who give bad service.
So many questions, what is the answer?
Eliminating tipping without replacing that portion of the servers’ income would not only result in severe economic hardship for the servers, it would likely result in the mass quitting of servers nationwide. The clear solution is to eliminate tipping by customers and increasing the wages servers receive from the restaurant. This will result in higher meal prices, but as previously demonstrated, not a higher cost to the customer. The obvious advantages to eliminating tipping are stable wages for servers, less confusion for customers about how much to leave (if at all), less cost fluctuation and less tax evasion.
There are two main obstacles to eliminating tipping, will and awareness. Restaurant owners are not willing to raise prices, even during a good economy, because they fear it will drive customers to the competition. And unless customers are made aware of the change, they will balk at the increased prices. Unless a concerted national effort is put forth to get all restaurants to participate and customers are made aware that tipping is no longer necessary (because restaurant employees are paid normal wages) the tipping behavior will continue. Customers will tip because it is what they have always done, and habits are hard to change.
The National Restaurant Association is the industry trade group representing over 380,000 of the 960,000 restaurant locations in America. If you truly believe it is time for tipping to be replaced by real, livable wages for restaurant employees then that is where you should direct your voices. Start an online petition, email campaign, or contact them on their website.