Mandatory Tipping, The Way the Wind Blows

Are tips mandatory? Today, Restaurants demand mandatory tipping and call it the cost of doing business. Blame Covid, blame the Great Resignation, the rise in the minimum wage, blame whatever: Tipping today can be demanded in the most unlikely places. To understand when to tip, read this blog!

Here are factors to consider when deciding to tip:

• Tipping at Places Without Service
• How emotions affect tipping
• Considering What the Law Says
• Tipping Vs Wages
• Tipping Fatigue

Tipping at Places Without Service

A tip screen may pop up when you use a plastic card to pay at your local Subway store. If You pay cash, you’ll likely never see the tip solicitation, but if you use plastic or pay with your phone, it’s on the credit card swipe screen. Of course, you can press the “skip” button, so it’s not mandatory, but it’s tough not to tip when a page appears on the credit card swipe screen. Subway people are food industry workers, creating sandwiches as “artists,” after all. It’s a service!

As a rule, you should know that those tips go to servers. In the case of places without service, like sub shops, the tips go to employees, “artists,” or team members.

People need clarification about tipping at sandwich shops where wait people never appear on the floor. Still, this type of tipping occurred since factors like Covid came along. It’s considered normal how business is done. In addition, demands for a higher minimum wage and the Great Resignation have created new pressures for establishments to encourage tipping in places where it’s never been customary.

It’s for the employees. It might not be very ethical if they have to share such tips with management.

Temper, Temper

Believe it or not, failure to tip may cause your server to not serve you. As such, you should offer a gratuity. Clearly, failing to perform is not in an establishment’s manual. It’s likely done by indignant servers. The more instances in which workers get tipped, the more impatient they grow with people who don’t tip. Food delivery people routinely snub orders where the tip is “$0”, and waitresses complain if today’s base tip of 20% is not strictly observed. The consumer can always walk.

As a customer, you must confront two realities: The Covid World frowns on face-to-face interactions that generally result in decent tips, and workers, in general, feel under-appreciated and unrewarded when they’re not tipped. A tip expresses respect and appreciation, and workers like to feel pride in their work. Not serving a customer is what happens to a curmudgeon. Today, normal behavior is to suck it up: Pay the tip.

Tipping May or May Not a Matter of Law

Some states ensure that servers receive the minimum wage. An employer uses tips to bridge the gap between hourly and minimum wages. In those instances, the establishment may present tipping as mandatory, expected behavior. As a rule, pay the tip.

Then again, some offended consumers want to feel the force of law behind their refusal to tip. Of course, tipping is not mandatory in the United States. There are no laws enforcing mandatory tipping either. It doesn’t fall on the customer as much as the employer to guarantee minimum wage workers receive a minimum wage. But customers sometimes believe the law does not require they tip servers.

A Two-Edged Sword

So as a custom, your tip is voluntary. Still, suppose you need to tip someone — the waiter, food delivery driver, or whoever feels free to demand a tip. In that case, you may be confronted with righteous indignation or even a refusal of service. So, be advised: Tipping is a two-edged sword: You don’t have to tip, but you don’t have to get served!

Tipping in Lieu of Wages

Tipping has always been part of American life; most people are prepared to pay the tip. Research has revealed that in labor issues throughout history,  the tipping practice took on a life of its own and was used as a substitution for slave wages. Slave wages are really the issue, even today.

Historically, it’s true that employers lower the wages of wait staff and allow their tips to be their staff’s compensation. That creates a world where a food delivery person loses money completing an order. In that case, doing a job doesn’t result in payment. Do you want your server’s effort to go unrewarded because you don’t tip, regardless of the mundane service? Studies have been done that suggest servers are rarely tipped for doing a good or excellent job. For instance, women get tipped for being “hot” or in some way attractive. 

Tipping Fatigue

“Tipping fatigue,” (attribute) the confusion that results when everything demands a tip, combined with utter doubt over normative behavior in tipping, can be approached with critical thinking. Suppose you’re in an establishment where tipping is pushed as “automatic” or mandatory. In that case, the employer is probably bridging the gap between a set and a minimum wage. You should tip.

With the perfect storm of Covid, the rise in the minimum wage, and the Great Resignation, it’s understandable that customers might get confused. And the further wit that tipping is done for good service rather than arbitrary reasons also contributes to the confusion over “automatic” tipping. To contradict any selfish motives you may harbor, it’s probably best to tip where it seems acceptable. If it’s suggested that it’s mandatory, tip the server, but do so at your discretion.

So, in the end, when should you tip? Try these suggestions.

• If a tip is solicited or included in the charge, your should tip
• If a tip is customary in the establishment you’re visiting, be prepared to tip.
• If you may not get service, it’s best to tip

– Daniel Erickson

If you liked this article, please sign up below for my newsletter: