Technology makes tipping easier — but tips should be eliminated
Posted by: in General News
One of the things I find most shocking about Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and the iPod Touch is the sheer number of applications that do nothing but help people calculate tips. There were almost a dozen the last time I checked.
While I’ve never found tipping to be mathematically challenging, I’ve always opposed it as a custom.
Yes, I realize that waiters count on tips and I tip religiously. I just wish restaurants would revamp the entire system.
I was, thus, happy to see a story in the NY Times Magazine about a San Diego restaurant that is trying to ditch the tip.
When he opened the Linkery, Porter stated, he hoped his employees would become as emotionally invested in the venture as he was, sharing a sense of purpose and joy in their work. Now that vision seemed hopelessly naïve. “Here I was, winging it as an owner, running into these frustrations, which all boiled down to money,” Porter told me this summer. “I felt there had to be a better way.” After much thought, Porter arrived at a possible solution, which he presented to his staff on that November afternoon. “How do you feel about eliminating tipping?” he asked them.
Why would anyone want to ditch the tip? Read on…
In surveys, the overwhelming number of Americans say they like tipping because it gives them some control over how much they spend and gives waiters an incentive to try harder.
Neither one of those statements seems accurate.
Few diners vary their tips much more than five percentage points no matter what sort of service they receive.
When was the last time you punished a lousy waiter by tipping nothing? How about less than five percent? Don’t lie. If you’re like most people, you haven’t.
As for the notion that waiters work harder when customers have discretion over the service payment, it’s wrong, according to Michael Lynn, a Cornell professor of consumer behavior and marketing who says there’s only a 2 percent correlation.
Indeed, some research recommends diners tip toward the top of their personal scales when servers are aloof rather than friendly. Why? Some urge to prove we’re good people who don’t deserve their scorn, apparently.
If this interests you, see This American Life, Episode 245,
Act Two. Does Niceness Pay?
In which we conduct a little scientific experiment — on tape, with hidden microphones — about whether niceness pays. We wire two waitresses with hidden microphones. They’re superfriendly to half their tables; and aloof to the other half. They analyze their tips to see which generates more profits. Thanks to owners Jason Hammel and Lea Tshilds and the staff at the Lula Cafe in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. (10 minutes)
And then there’s the whole percentage thing. Why should the tip have any bearing on what diners spend? It’s as much work for the waiter to lug chicken as lobster.
Worse, the current tip system leaves waiters overpaid compared to other restaurant employees because many says actually forbid the splitting of tips among waiters and kitchen staff.
That’s just insane. Given the relative importance — and the relative difficulty — of waiting and cooking, the worst paid cook in any restaurant should make more than the best paid waiter.
No, I’m not arguing that good service is either easy or unimportant, but it’s neither as difficult nor as important as good cooking.
The restaurant profiled in Times story forbids tips but it levies an 18 percent service charge on all bills and it shares that money with the kitchen staff.
I like that superior than tipping, but I’d like to see a restaurant go all the way and add the full fee (and sales tax) into the cost of the menu items. I’d like to be able to go into a restaurant and figure out my bill simply by adding up the cost of all the things I order.
Then no one would need software that helped them calculate tips and no one would walk out of a restaurant having paid 25 to 30 percent more than the price list (i.e. the menu) indicates.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Entries (RSS)