‘Coerced into tipping’? How Apps Are Changing the Culture of Tipping in SF
20th August 2018
In SF and other cities where Square is ubiquitous, not everyone is a fan.
“I hate when I’m prompted to tip on fast food restaurants. Even worse, before I even get my food,” Nando Albuquerque tweeted at Square last year. “Taking my money (plus tip) isn’t service. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I’m asking not to be coerced into tipping before receiving any service,” he went on. “I’m sure you can solve this, if you only accept it’s a problem.”
“Why can’t Square have a tip option that says, ‘it’s nothing personal, but I can’t give you 20% for handing me a pre-made sandwich,” Daniel Nigro asked on Twitter in May.
I solve the problem by not tipping. As a result, my wife insists on computing and adding a tip when we eat at restaurants.
Actually, that’s not true — I’ve given tips when the service I received was ‘above and beyond’ what I expected. But that’s awfully rare.
August 20th, 2018 at 08:56
Some of the attitude towards tipping may involve personal history. My wife had a job or two as a waitress and thinks that every server should get 20% for showing up. On the other hand, all the crappy jobs I had in my youth had no expectation for tipping. It was pretty rare to get a few extra bucks and always involved going well above and beyond the normal job level. Also, none of my jobs involved working in an air conditioned building, out of the weather, and with the chance of getting a free meal. I’ll happily subtract from the potential tip for slow service, bad food, rude behavior, etc. (That includes constant pestering while I’m trying to eat and waiters that try to pick up plates while I’m still eating off of them.) Wait staff should be very nice to the wife, as she has vetoed my tip decisions on many occasions.
I did work one night as a dishwasher, filling in for a guy in the dorm who had a hot date. The place didn’t share tips with the kitchen staff, but the waitresses brought us a constant supply of cold beers. I did too good of a job, and the owner threatened the guy who had the job with replacing him with me. He never asked me to fill in again. A job with free beers back in college days was something just short of magical.
On the other hand, going to dinner with my in-laws provides another perspective. They’re still sure that tipping levels haven’t changed since 1950. If they leave $2, it’s only because the service was extraordinary. If I ever plan to return to the restaurant – or avoid a lecture from the wife, I have to slip a few bucks of my own on the table. As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free meal.