I dont care if its more expensive, food just is now, idc. Thats not the problem, the problem is that you make something optional, but actually its not optional. You choose to tip, but actually you cant choose to not tip. Thats the whole american freedom, its so backwards. Like there is more freedom in europe like that, if you want there is private health care if you want to pay, but also other options. Like, if you really want, you can tip in europe as well, but that would just be your generosity, not something expected. Just include the damn tips in your prices and sell shit at the actual “what you pay” price, not some honky “secret math problems” price.
The risky move is that you can absolutely just choose not to tip here, but you'll likely get terrible service or just outright denied service next time you go there
In California they also add “service fees” and “cost of living fees” with the letters description being “to provide adequate pay and insurance for employees. This is not a tip, please tip your server” and that exists so management can scrape off an additional 15% that goes into an “employee fund” which just means they take it and pocket it.
Like how about you just pay your employees and then if I think they did a superb job I will give them a little extra
They list those fees, like COL, healthcare, ect, to send a message. Usually to complain about a politician or law. I've been in a couple restaurants that had it listed and they name the governor and/or the law. They don't have to, they can put it in the price like everything else. If one of their vendors raises prices they don't and try to make a statement or list it as a separate cost. It's disrespectful to the employees too, like I didn't want to give my employees enough money to live but unfortunately I have to. I once brought it up to a waiter after getting a bill with added costs and you could tell she hated her boss for putting it on the menu. Made sure to give her cash tip. I don't eat at those restaurants anymore and will walk out as soon as I see it listed.
I still do that. Minimum wage here is like $18/hr. It’s not like the states where you can pay them $3/hr. I refuse to tip a minimum of 18% like so many machines insist on
I know you weren't asking me directly, but I genuinely believe its because of the corporate culture shift, trying to put more pressure on the customers to pay employees directly, thus having the employers pay less.
10-15% is a good tip. 25% feels like were fronting the employee wages on top of the service fees.
That's exactly what it is, most states still have the tipped wage set well below the federal minimum, and the companies operating them don't want to give that up.
That's something that's holding me back from visiting your country... that and the several ingredients that are allowed in your food that are banned in Europe.
We do increasingly have an "optional service charge" added automatically to the bill in a lot of restaurants though, which is done in the hope people are too British to ask for it to be removed.
Back in the day people didn't always set their own price if they worked in a shop, but thats a pretty dated practice now. Every artist I know today does set their own prices.
I always thought it was for the original tipping purpose. They did a good job and you want them to continue doing a good job on future pieces. I didn't realize there was an option to not tip an artist.
Tattoos are expensive as all get-out here too, most shops are owned by the artist doing the work.
So tipping is fucking insane. I don't get tattoos but 20% on a $700 tat is crazy work. If you don't tip them they won't work with you anymore though. Even though you almost spent a band at their place.
Went to Carvel a few times. Last two times they had a "how was our service, tip:" screen when I was paying..
Girl I watched you hold a button on a machine for 5 seconds and you want 10%+?
Man, this whole tipping thing is so crazy to.me, as a German.
I'm a bike mechanic and get paid very, very well for the work I do.
But I've now lost count of the amount of times that customers have tried to hand me a tip when I give them their bike back, that I would then tell them I didn't want because I get paid well.
I've now started taking the tips, but then saving all the money in my tool chest, and at the the end of every month, I donate it all to a local charity.
Im not against tipping im against tipping not be optional or the worker starves. If a business runs on tips its code for we underpay our staff and make it your problem and you will be happy with it and pay for our employee.
Hell some businesses illegally pocket the tips... I hate the culture thats formed around it but a nice bonus for a job well done I consider to be acceptable and appreciative if people can afford it, if its forced then its a problem.
I mean it is a totally different thing if the impulse comes from the customer for good service, instead of expecting a tip no matter what.
How many customers tip out of every 10 and how much? I don't think we're talking 20% but more like 10-20€. On the other hand some bikers are crazy when it comes to their bike. So curious if you allow the question.
Tattooists, barbers, hairdresses, taxi drivers, food delivery people, baristas, breakfast or sandwich (but not other fast food)
restaurant workers, servers at "sit down" restaurants, tour guides, bartenders, and (deep sigh) "budtenders".
Tattooists and hair people are usually self employed and so use the culture of tipping to trick people into thinking their services are cheaper than they are. Everyone else just works in a shitty industry that takes advantage of workers.
Not to mention the square card reader thing has it pop up on every service "its just gonna ask you a question then you can sign" fuck off im not tipping you 10% 500$ on my 5,000$ roof repair
Every Starbucks employee in my town looks super embarrassed whenever the tip question pops up on the reader. I don't think they like it any more than we do.
I know, I've had to ask people if they wanted to donate when I was a grocery clerk, and it was embarrassing because I didn't want to do it. Because it was unfair to the customers.
Has it ever fucking occurred to you that some people actually care about others?
That tip also goes to billing to redistribute however they want, and not to that employee automatically. Starbucks I've heard 2nd hand just do a tip pool which does make it back to the employees. Other chains... idk. I've heard that some employees don't ever see those tips.
“The first thing it’s going to ask you is for a tip, please don’t feel obligated that’s not a requirement at all, skip buttons on the bottom” it’s just part of my checkout script now because I feel like a beggar handing them my square with the tip screen staring at them.
Informing me that it will ask for a tip (instead of the very passive "it will ask you some questions") and telling me where the skip button is - is unironically the very type of service which increases the likelihood that I will tip.
I’ve learned not to just skip it for them, because some clients actually want to tip and get upset when I skip it, sometimes demanding I run it again just for a tip. So I’ve just started warning people and trying to make it as low pressure as I can.
I didn’t create the system of tipping or the culture in my industry (barber). I’m not really a big fan of it. I know some people who switched to a no tipping system, all of them switched back because they actually lost a good amount of business. Turns out that the sticker shock, even when you have a big text saying “no tipping allowed”, is enough to turn away clients. Even if it comes out to the same as your average tipped total, people price shop. It’s almost like making something $9.99 vs $10.00
Someone mentioned the credit card companies and processers get a percentage of every purchase, so THEY add the tipping screen in order to raise their profits.
In before the cosmetologists and tattoo artists say: But THeY hAvE tO pAY for THeir ChaiR!!!1
Last time I checked, most if not all licensed independent contractors in my State for those services aren’t making $2.17 an hour with the implications that tips are their “real” wage or salary.
In before the cosmetologists and tattoo artists say: But THeY hAvE tO pAY for THeir ChaiR!!!1
My response to that is: "Then they can price their services to cover the cost of paying for their chair." (Which is, in fact, what they've literally always done since forever anyway.)
I don’t understand tipping bartenders unless they are mixing you a fancy drink with a bunch of requests. If they’re just filling up a mug with beer idk why that deserves extra money
You just tip a dollar for the alcohol/soft drink mixes, 2 if you like them. Been a bartender for years and it's not totally expected but very appreciated. It also helps boost your morale when you've been working for 6 hours behind bar and have 2-3 hours of clean up ahead of you when the bar closes.
In the UK people will make an effort to be served in the order they arrived at the bar. If a bartender asks for your order but you know someone was there before you, most people tell the bartender to serve the other person first.
Tipping to skip the queue would be seen as really rude/crass
How bigs the bar?
Are you alone?
Are you required to prep for the openers?
Did someone throw up on the walls?
Do you have to count inventory by hand every night?
Alone, prepping after close and counting inventory every night (other than say a 10 item key line) is all stupid. Unless you're tiny it's never a best practice to close alone, prep work should be the time when you're open and less busy which is almost always the daytime and counting stock should be a weekly managerial job unless like I said it recording house vodka, tequila etc and then takes 10 minutes, not an actual stocktake.
Cleaning sick off the walls is standard fair, though you should do that when it happens, not after
There’s a dive bar in my city I used to love going to, but hate now. And one of the reasons is the shitty ass bartenders. They expect you to tip after every drink you order and will comment on it. The drinks are $3 and they’re getting shitty because you don’t tip them $1. Also I’m 98% sure one of them stole my phone the last night I went there and then kicked me out when I started looking for it
I only tip budtenders if they've actually helped me with something other than just handing me the cartridge I asked for. Like, if I have questions, need them to actually serve me up some flower and open a few jars, whatever. Now I'm wondering if my local budtenders hate me even though I think of myself as a super low maintenance customer with simple needs. Man, this system sucks.
Unless they waited on me at my table (took my order, brought me my food, and bussed my table), then it makes zero difference what type of food or meal I’m eating. If I have to stand up to order at a counter or have to bus my own table, I’m not tipping a dime
I went to pay for an HVAC tech who came out to fix an issue and he had a POS system and said “it’s gonna ask you a question.” Fuck. You. Never using them again.
You can't do anything in that town without someone trying to wait on you with the expectation you will tip them for their service. We couldn't even walk out the front of the hotel and flag down a cab. The valet had to do it for us and we were expected to tip him every time.
Ok that's an unfair portrayal of the hair industry. Most hairstylists are not self employed. I work for a commision salon and although my haircuts are 72$ (cheap for my salon and area, if you can believe it) I only make around 18$ per haircut. That's with commision and a 12 dollar "service fee" my salon tacks on top. So I really do depend on tips to survive. Yes, it is shitty and predatory. No, my salon is not uniquely evil, it's actually considered one of the better salons for workers rights in my city.
If you are a self employed stylist with a full book, then you can afford to charge higher prices and not accept tips. Which a lot of stylists do, which is awesome! But when you are building your books, you are probably already charging just at or below what you need to keep the lights on and also attract new clients, so tips really do go a long way.
Tattoo artists in Canada ask for tips too. Granted I've only dealt with two, but they both had tip options on their POS system. Friends have told me their artists ask the same. The tipping culture of the USA is and always has been in full effect in Canada.
Now it is. It used to be restricted to people who have you customized attention like servers in restaurants, bellhops, valets, etc.; people who dealt with your body like hairdressers, nail tech, and waxers (and tattoo artists, probably; they also are giving you custom service); and sometimes service people for your home like housekeepers and landscapers. But now, people have put an electronic tip request for literally every transaction, like grabbing a muffin from a convenience store.
I've never really understood even those professions needed tips. I get that the bellhop provides you a customised service and that the hairdresser has to get really close to you to do their job. But in both instances they can't actually provide the service they're hired to so without doing that, so I don't understand why that should make a tip necessary. It's not like they went above and beyond and did more than what they were already getting paid to do.
It’s because they typically have to pay a portion of what they get as payment to the actual shop for “booth/chair rental” it’s pretty dumb, but on paper, the less you charge, the less you have to pay. So they set their price low and then the extra tip goes straight to them instead of the shop.
I would be cool with this answer if the prices of tattoos in general haven’t also skyrocketed in price.
I remember when you’d find someone who was just passionate about tattooing and they’d charge a couple hundred, and I’d gladly tip them 100%. Now you get someone who doesn’t even enjoy tattooing, just does it for the money, they have outrageous additional rules and fees and then after charging you a grand for a mediocre tattoo they expect a 50% tip.
Edit; My real issue is that tips used to be a sign of good work, now that they’re expected the quality of work and customer service sucks.
They're competing with other people who set prices based on the expectation of getting tips. If their prices look higher they'll get less business, even if the "real" price after tipping is the same.
Right, doesn’t change that as an industry those two should just collectively stop expecting a tip, and the people using those services should collectively stop paying them.
Every tattoo artist I know doesn't expect tips and has even said so on their pages. I'm sure they're out there, but in my experience it's not the norm. They appreciate tips for sure, but they will straight up say they will give you the price they think the work deserves and anything past that is appreciated but not at all expected
Yeah, tattooers are a very wide range of people. I've met all types from sensitive introverted art school grads with fancy private studios to grungy biker dudes blasting flash on drunk tourists and taking an awful lot of "cigarette breaks." And everything in between.
Pretty much. Tipping a tattoo artist, hair stylist, manicurist, obviously wait staff and delivery drivers has always been a thing. But now it’s even non service related stuff. Why am I tipping when I’m just picking up my to go order or at a retail store?? It’s getting worse.
Omg YES! The hibachi place argued with me last week because I wasn't leaving a tip for an online order I made for pick-up.
I like Lins, but I'm never going back.
Where I’m at, the cook in front of you hibachi will charge 18% gratuity on all take-out. If you go to an “express”, basically a Chinese take-out place but hibachi, they don’t automatically charge a tip.
For some reason tattoos and all types of salons expect tips too yeah. It's getting more common across the board but restaurants, tattoos, and salons have always done it.
Yeah its for alot of stuff not everything but way more then it should be. I have no problem tipping a tattoo artist if their work is incredible and I intend on getting more done by them but tats are already so fucking expensive that it makes it real hard sometimes
I tipped my tattoo artist $50 once for a short sesssion and he still said something about the amount. Asshole owned his own studio and was independent so it’s not like his commissions were touched by anyone else at all
I wanted to so bad because it was not a complex design whatsoever and he ripped it straight off google, I just needed a basic cover up. I bet they only hassle and shakedown people they think will take it. And I did, aside from just finding a new artist
US, I’ve tipped $100 for a really good tattoo before and the artist was a woman (harsh industry for them) who was on commission and I heard that was just a basic tip for tattoos but I won’t be repeating mistakes. Part of what keeps tipping culture so endemic here is the workers who want those tips. When we need to stand up for being correctly compensated
I’m not even 30 and I remember when I felt lucky to get anything at all for food delivery tips and holidays like the super bowl were the worst. Everyone suddenly became super tight on their change. Not their fault Pizza Hut at the time was getting away with paying drivers $4 an hour for deliveries though. Competition paying their workers more per hour was the only thing that forced Pizza Hut to do the same
Tipping for tattoos isnt new, and predates most other tipping you see here. It was expected when I was a young man in the 90s, and probably even before then.
Tbf I hate tipping culture but I will say out of anyone I’ve tipped in my life, I’ve never had an issue tipping my tattoo artist. Dude is putting a lot of time and effort into something that’s going to be on my body for the rest of my life. I happily tipped my artist like 35$ to 50$ for a 300$ tattoo
You’re assuming every artist is hoping for a tip. My guy made it very clear tips are not expected at all but very appreciated and I appreciate the work he does.
That's fine too. They would then have cheaper tattoos than everyone else. Also you can still tip whenever the fuck you want. People are complaining about the awkward semi mandatory tip from people. That wouldn't stop you from tipping whoever whatever you want.
Most of them are Independent artist that rent the space and give a percentage of their tattoo money to the landlord so they make less than they charge...
If they charge more, the percentage they give will increase also
Tip goes in their pocket
Hey that's totally fine with me if the impulse comes from a happy customer. The thing that bugs me about US tipping culture is that it is expected and some even say not an option to say no if you want to visit the same restaurant again.
EU tipping culture is like if you want to give a tip fine but it is never expected.
tipping shouldnt be required to anyone. they signed up for a job so they should just shut up and do the job. if a business cant keep their doors open because of paying a livable wage than they should not be in business.
That's what all these businesses are trying to do. You can't pay anyone for just doing their fucking job and simply just for the job they did. Every MFer wants something extra and gets mad at you for not paying more.
I only tip if its a service job that gets bare minimum pay and they wait on me. Otherwise I’m only tipping if they are exceptionally professional or nice.
If anything it is being expanded. I'm personally in the "not tipping people isn't fixing the issue and you should tip well if it's expected" camp, but I do hate tipping culture. It used to be that you would tip for specific things like being in a restaurant where you have a waiter. Now if you go to a coffee shop or a Subway to get a sandwich, the register will ask you for a tip.
Just be an adult and make the decision you easily can and not tip. Who cares and over time if tips dwindle to much to make the job worth it on current pay then guess what the culture collapses.
But so many are so so so scared of not tipping, so pathetic.
Tipping culture on tattoos has always existed going back to the biker day. My wife’s a body piercer. They aren’t looking for “25%”. They’re just saying throw me a $20 or a $50 to let me know you appreciate my work. A lot of artists are on a split with their shop. So they actually get to keep the whole tip rather than half or 40% of what you paid for that tattoo.
I'm not american so I'm a little confused. I thought tipping was for waiters and such because they're not paid minimum wage. Independants like tattoo artists put their own prices so why tip? Or why not include that in the price like taxes?
I just bought a 430 exhaust on the internet while checking out and one of the question was “Show your appreciation to (store name)” and a bunch of tipping options…
No, it’s completely arbitrary. We don’t tip our mail man or our garbage man or our Amazon delivery driver or our pest control service or our doctor our our vet. But we do tip our waiter and our barber and our food delivery guy and (I guess?) our tattoo artist.
Tipping can be MOSTLY avoided in the US, if you are a little careful. I haven't paid out a tip in years, and I'm not stiffing workers to do it. I just don't eat out, and I go to a barber shop that has a no tipping policy.
The only time I am happy to tip is when I see musicians playing live. If I see a local musician playing, I drop a few dollars. I want to encourage them. A little art in public view is good for all of us.
Restaurants, hair/nail salons, catering, vendors at fairs, massage studios, etc. Even mortgage companies and utilities are asking for tips now. It's fuckin ridiculous
I have a tip jar at my desk. I work in an office where 95% of the people only come into the office because they work there. Very few outside clients come in.
I put it up as a joke like 5 years ago. Since then, I've made about $4. but $1 of that was me putting in a starter dollar, so I guess I've made $3 in tips.
It didn't used to be. Just for hair, food service, and odd situations where it feels appropriate. Like I'd occasionally help people haul heavy shit to their cars when I worked in antiques, and it wasn't common but wasn't uncommon for them to hand me an extra $2-5. Tattoos I've heard of but only have the one and my wife handle payment since it was a gift.
But the last could years it's gotten absurd and everywhere. A large part I think is from payment processors. They take 2-5% for credit and debit transactions so the more the base price the more they get. So I think they are implementing it as standard on a lot of the new card readers. I've seen several new businesses that do not tip have it come up during checkout and they have to manually say "no" every time because of the software
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u/I3adIVIonkey 9h ago
Tipping culture in the US is actually for every service rendered?