HELLO JI!
KEEP CALM AND TIP ON
Most of us seem happy to tip when we are in expansive holiday mode. Or when we see the need. Why, then, are we so much less expansive when dining out? Image credit: LOUIS HANSEL on Unsplash.
We were at a restaurant recently when a large multigenerational group walked in. With children – including a toddler – they were obviously there for a family celebration.
Seated around tables that the restaurant staff hastily rearranged, a gentleman wondered aloud why restaurants tacked on a 15 or even 20 per cent gratuity to parties of six or more.
“We are already paying for a large number of people, right?” he said, looking round for consensus.
“I think it’s because the wait staff have to bring more dishes to the table and there’s more work setting and clearing up,” said a young girl, slightly hesitantly.
I was so tempted lean across with a high five. In this family at least, the younger generation would keep the older ones on track.
Tipping is a contentious issue. Pankaj Mehra, a dear family friend whom I have written about in the past for being, among many other things, the most generous of tippers I know, shared a column with me on tipping.
Alexander Hurst describes it as annoying and unfair in The Guardian.
“In the US, I was asked to tip after buying a single banana. To my horror, tip-creep is spreading in French bars and restaurants.”
To be fair, I might have found that weird, too. How would one even figure out how much to tip, and what would the accepted amount be for a bunch of bananas? Or a weekly grocery run?
Hurst writes that 15% has morphed into standard options of 20%, 25% and 30%, and tipping has popped up in takeouts, convenience stores and at self-checkouts.
Most of the discussion around tipping is from people who don’t want to gouge service industry workers, but they wonder if tipping is the way to ensure fair wages.
I recall the extreme gratitude with which tips are received at all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. We were a bit taken aback the first time it happened, but then noticed the sharp contrast between life outside and within resorts. The tour guide who made more money than a doctor in his country because he got tips. The waitress who came back with a rose for me one night. The girl “selling” cowrie shell bracelets in exchange for a bar of soap.
We saw other tourists had brought along cosmetics, stationery or candy for hotel staff and followed suit on our next trip.
In Athens, a member of the housekeeping team fashioned a heart with her fingers and said, “I love you” on receiving a tip.
You only have to watch Nandita Das’s Zwigato to learn how little food delivery persons make, and how hard they work to make it. Or, you could just chat with the person delivering your next order.
Most of us seem happy to tip when we are in expansive holiday mode. Or when we see the need. Why, then, are we so much less expansive when dining out? Why don’t we recognize the need of students working as waitstaff? A majority of them at the restaurants we frequent are international students who come from families much like ours.
Shagorika Easwar