Now don’t get me wrong I’m a pro tipper. I worked in the restaurant world for the better part of a decade and I’m all for it. However I’ve noticed tipping options popping up at businesses all over that until recently didn’t have it. As an example this past weekend during the heat dome I was sweatin my you know whats off and I was like “Yunno a blizzard from Dairy Queen right now would be awesome.” So I went and got one. When I went to pay with my card there was a tipping option that came up that I couldn’t op out of so I had to put $0.00. I left having a combination of feelings about it. Was I being cheap? Am I in the wrong? Am I being an old grump about it? But it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because Vancouver and British Columbia are already so expensive to live in and was this just a retaliation to inflation?
I’ve seen tipping options on credit and debit machines at all different types of businesses slowly make their way into our lives as well and I’m just trying to check myself if I’m getting annoyed and put off by it because I either don’t agree with it, I’m not staying up to date with the times or if it’s because there isn’t an option not too and I have to put in zero dollars or finally if I’m turning into all old crusty Scrooge character. I’m all for tipping when there’s been great customer service and hospitality but I don’t think that translates into every business venture.
Tips are how servers and bartenders make their money and lots of people don’t know if they don’t tip at restaurants the server actually has to pay out of their own pocket to cover the tip out to the back of house. It’s kind of crazy how the entire system has turned into the customer having to cover employees pay and it’s become commonplace to have the percentage options start at 20% then 25% and even in some cases 30%.
I almost always tip 20% but where’s the line? Yes you don’t have to tip but there’s this feeling of being confident in your performance to request a 30% tip and then coming across entitled. Restaurants are notoriously ruthless in pay and how servers are treated so there either has to be a complete overhaul on server pay (which by the way there is such a thing as server pay and it’s below minimum wage) and they need to be payed a livable hourly rate because if not it’s almost as if their livelihood is in the hands of the customers.
But either way I’m never going to tip for a blizzard at Dairy Queen.
Rant over.
– Jeremy