When in doubt, overtip – from Excellent Advice for Living
This is close to my heart, since I spent a lot of time in college and after working as a waiter and bartender.
In the US we have a culture of 15-20% of tipping at restaurants. There are also guidelines for people handling your baggage, valets, etc. In the EU/Asia, often tipping isn’t a common thing, but that is changing a bit. I’m less familiar there, so this is my US view.
I like to tip for service, but I also know that many people in restaurants get a very low wage. When I started working as a waiter, I got US$2.01/hour. When I stopped, I was still getting $2.01/hr. In that time, the minimum wage went from $3.35 to $5.25. The reason my wage stayed low is that it was assumed I made tips that raised me to the minimum or higher.
My view is that if I can’t tip, I don’t go out. I tip 15% as the service for someone bringing me food and drinks. Even if the service isn’t great, the person deserves to be paid for their work and they aren’t really getting that from the establishment.
If they do a good job and are pleasant, I usually tip 20%. If they’re great I go higher.
However, if I’m not sure, or maybe I realize I might not be in a good mood or distracted, I overtip. Especially for breakfast service.
It’s a few dollars for me, but it makes a big difference to someone else’s life.
Note: The current post-pandemic world where every counter service place adds tips also annoys me. I think most of these people are being paid minimum wage and I don’t often tip, but I do when people are pleasant. Or I appreciate their being there. I always tip at the airport counters because those people are driving a long way and I really, really appreciate they are open at 6m for my early flights.
I’ve been posting New Words on Fridays from a book I was reading, however, a friend thought they were a little depressing. They should be as they are obscure sorrows. I like them because they make me think.
To counter-balance those, I’m adding in thoughts on advice, mostly from Kevin Kelley’s book. You can read all these posts under the advice tag.