Sorry another tipping question - I know I’ve asked others

[Mischievous Daisy]

I had zerorez clean my upstairs carpet and bathroom tile floors. After the “over sized“ Room charge and other up charges the bill ended up being upwards of $400. When I paid the guy who cleaned it (it took maybe a Hour and a half total time) there was a line for tip (not just a part of the payment software). It was very uncomfortable and I felt like I had already paid a premium amount for the cleaning but I tipped due to feeling so awkward.

Those moments are indeed awkward!

 

[fla4fun]

One thing to remember is that a lot of companies buy an off the shelf point of sale system, that probably has the tipping already built in. Unless they have an in house IT department, they probably don’t have a clue how to turn the tipping off.

I tip generously when dining in a restaurant, but there are certainly people in other positions sticking their hands out who are already adequately compensated for their job and aren’t providing what I consider an above and beyond service. Having the option to tip doesn’t mean I need to. I take it on a case by case basis.

 

[EACarlson]

I get the option being there, and it is baked into many of the card processing solutions that they use by default. But turn option off or at least set the default to 0. I was at an Imagine Dragons concert last summer, bought a t-shirt and the vendor charged me a 15% tip that I never authorized. If I wasn't 6'3" and could see the total and made a deal out of it, that would have been an additional $6 on top a $40 t shirt for my son. I wonder how often that works for them.

 

[ronandannette]

One thing to remember is that a lot of companies buy an off the shelf point of sale system, that probably has the tipping already built in. Unless they have an in house IT department, they probably don’t have a clue how to turn the tipping off.

I tip generously when dining in a restaurant, but there are certainly people in other positions sticking their hands out who are already adequately compensated for their job and aren’t providing what I consider an above and beyond service. Having the option to tip doesn’t mean I need to. I take it on a case by case basis.

Maybe not, but somebody in customer support at the company they bought it from does, and you can sure bet if the machine had some other glitch, the merchant would be calling to get it fixed.

 

[fla4fun]

Maybe not, but somebody in customer support at the company they bought it from does, and you can sure bet if the machine had some other glitch, the merchant would be calling to get it fixed.

True. However, I can also imagine someone saying “I am not paying for a maintenance/service call for something we don’t use anyway.”

On my last job, we had two different point of sale systems installed over the years. Once the system was installed and the initial testing was complete, any adjustments were at an additional cost. The thing is, the people testing it weren’t the front line people who would be using it, so it was easier for things that didn’t affect the data we did need to slide by. I remember several occasions where one day someone on the retail level would say “Hey! Why is this showing up on my screen?” only to find that it had always been there, but wasn’t something we used/needed. Often it was triggered by a transaction type we didn’t do very often, since it is difficult to think of every possible scenario while testing. Most of the time, whatever the thing was would just remain there rather than our company paying to have it hidden/removed. Occasionally it would be removed or corrected when a larger update had to be done.

Of course, there will be some companies who just shrug their shoulders and figure if people want to tip, they can, and other companies are actively pursuing that income. I hope that it’s going directly to the employee in these cases, although we will never know for sure. A lot of times it’s split in some way, with the employee receiving very little of the money. That is why I consider each case individually, outside of the traditional tipping like restaurants, and why I tip cash instead of cc.

 

[Mischievous Daisy]

One thing to remember is that a lot of companies buy an off the shelf point of sale system, that probably has the tipping already built in. Unless they have an in house IT department, they probably don’t have a clue how to turn the tipping off.

I tip generously when dining in a restaurant, but there are certainly people in other positions sticking their hands out who are already adequately compensated for their job and aren’t providing what I consider an above and beyond service. Having the option to tip doesn’t mean I need to. I take it on a case by case basis.

Love this!

 

[disykat]

I posted about this here before, but my worst example of this is at crumbl cookie. The cookies there cost almost 5 bucks for one cookie and then a tipping option of $1, $2, $3 etc. shows up. Like I'm seriously going to tip someone anything for handing me a cookie, much less well over 20%! I get that maybe some people buy 20 cookies and it might take more than a minute to put them in the box, but seriously?

I do tip when expected, but I've always thought of tipping as being for personalized service, etc. not just the bare minimum tasks. (Like baking cookies at a cookie bakery?) The employer should be paying for the basic job where customer service is minimal.

In my career choices I've always done way more personalized customer service than the bare minimum for no tip, so it's really hard to find any justification for tipping a 3 second interaction where I ordered and paid at a kiosk and they are asking me to prepay a tip for someone who will literally hand me a cookie!

 

[mom2rtk]

I've been to Crumbl Cookie. You even ring yourself up. No chance am I tipping a single penny.

I tip at places that pay a tipped wage (less than minimum wage) and if someone goes above and beyond. Barring that, I have no issue saying no.

 

[Mischievous Daisy]

I posted about this here before, but my worst example of this is at crumbl cookie. The cookies there cost almost 5 bucks for one cookie and then a tipping option of $1, $2, $3 etc. shows up. Like I'm seriously going to tip someone anything for handing me a cookie, much less well over 20%! I get that maybe some people buy 20 cookies and it might take more than a minute to put them in the box, but seriously?

I do tip when expected, but I've always thought of tipping as being for personalized service, etc. not just the bare minimum tasks. (Like baking cookies at a cookie bakery?) The employer should be paying for the basic job where customer service is minimal.

In my career choices I've always done way more personalized customer service than the bare minimum for no tip, so it's really hard to find any justification for tipping a 3 second interaction where I ordered and paid at a kiosk and they are asking me to prepay a tip for someone who will literally hand me a cookie!

THIS ^^^
I cannot tell you how hard I've struggled with this. It is much different now than when I was younger and you only tipped at a restaurant where you ordered and wait staff brought your food to the table. I am well past retirement age and I still work full time. (I love what I do) But this whole tipping for take out or counter staff is crazy and new. But I have always done it at our local donut place, getting pizza, etc. So, I decided to break the habit and it was so difficult for me not to tip the drive through person who handed me my pizza. When summer comes, I'm going to really work hard to not tip at our beach donut shop, and all the local clam shacks.
I will continue to tip for restaurant service and for anyone delivering to my house, including appliances, beds, etc. They put their back into their work and I always appreciate it. I also tip at the dude ranch we go to every year in the Adirondacks, but you tip there at the end of your trip and it is spread out among all the staff including the barn staff.
Even my granddaughter told me I tip too much, lol!

 

[disney-inspired]

Oh no, I haven't and will never tip a person for processing my retail purchase. To me, that is absurd. You are being paid to stand there and most likely at minimum wage, if not more. Now if this person provided an extra service - assisting with shopping (I've never experienced this but have heard of it) then I could see it being an option but in regular retail, nope.

 

[disykat]

I live in a state with no tip wage so everyone gets at least minimum wage, yet the tipping expectations here are the same. My husband tips way too much IMO. I have waited tables before, so I tend to look around and tip more/less based on not only what they are doing but how many tables they are turning each hour.

It's hard when I know they're going to be making over twice what I make. (And yes, I know how to figure in back of house tipping etc.) I'll tip more when they are REALLY hustling and doing a great job of it, and I'll tip more when we're the only table and I know they're not going to be getting many tips that hour/shift. My DH acts amazed when I calculate bills, number of tables, etc. and tell him how much they're probably making for that hour, but still can't ever bring himself to tip less than 20% for anything. I sometimes tip less than him, but still probably too much IMO.

I have a friend who had a good job, and whose husband had a great job, but she still worked a few weekend evening shifts a month at an upscale restaurant where she knew the owners because she had the opportunity and the money was just too good to pass up.

 

[CamillaF]

I live in an area where even tipped employees are paid min wage and min wage is $18.69/hour. This makes food at restaurants costly. Which makes a 20% tip very nice. It's not uncommon for wait staff to make 6 figures. It's an expensive city so I understand the need to make so much. But the problem is that in order to pay the chef a decent wage above min they have to raise the food prices which raise the tip that raises the waitstaff wage, and now the back of the house want to make more so their take home is comparable. It's a vicious cycle. So now restaurants are getting rid of tips and having "service charges" that are divided among all staff. That's one way of getting rid of tips.

 

[Skippy918]

I've been to Crumbl Cookie. You even ring yourself up. No chance am I tipping a single penny.

I tip at places that pay a tipped wage (less than minimum wage) and if someone goes above and beyond. Barring that, I have no issue saying no.

Same. I’ve even seen the tip line added at those frozen yogurt places where you serve yourself. I mean, really?

 

[Skippy918]

I live in an area where even tipped employees are paid min wage and min wage is $18.69/hour. This makes food at restaurants costly. Which makes a 20% tip very nice. It's not uncommon for wait staff to make 6 figures. It's an expensive city so I understand the need to make so much. But the problem is that in order to pay the chef a decent wage above min they have to raise the food prices which raise the tip that raises the waitstaff wage, and now the back of the house want to make more so their take home is comparable. It's a vicious cycle. So now restaurants are getting rid of tips and having "service charges" that are divided among all staff. That's one way of getting rid of tips.

So tipping isn’t optional at these places then? Or is it cause it’s so engrained in our culture it’s expected anyway?

 

[disykat]

So tipping isn’t optional at these places then? Or is it cause it’s so engrained in our culture it’s expected anyway?

Yes, tip is optional everywhere. Yes, it's engrained and expected. If you are with a large party, etc. it's automatically put on the bill, (I think at 18% generally?) so clearly tipping is still expected!

 

[CamillaF]

So tipping isn’t optional at these places then? Or is it cause it’s so engrained in our culture it’s expected anyway?

You can always add 20% tip on top of tge 18% service charge

 

[CamillaF]

You can always add 20% tip on top of tge 18% service charge

To be clear it's not expected at those places but some people leave it anyways.

 

[sam_gordon]

I posted about this here before, but my worst example of this is at crumbl cookie. The cookies there cost almost 5 bucks for one cookie and then a tipping option of $1, $2, $3 etc. shows up. Like I'm seriously going to tip someone anything for handing me a cookie, much less well over 20%! I get that maybe some people buy 20 cookies and it might take more than a minute to put them in the box, but seriously?

I've got a better one...

DW and I went to a nearby arena to see Jeff Dunham. It's been a lot of years since we've been to a show, but we went to our normal parking lot (one block away, easy in/easy out). We had cash, then when we pulled in, found out the attendant takes cards only (hand held scanner). There was a tip option! I wanted to cheap out, but felt bad when the attendant is holding the scanner and ended up tipping $2 on a $20 parking charge. Keep in mind, she really did NOTHING except collect our money.

 

[disykat]

What it really seems to be is a "your job stinks and I feel bad for you" tax. Problem is that many of us have done way worse jobs and weren't tipped, so it's just irritating!

 

[mrodgers]

My daughter doing Doordash routinely gets $15 tips for delivering an $8 Subway sandwich.

She delivered a Gatorade and 3 Subway cookies once. Again, a $15 tip.

Latest one she said she picked up a single donut. They said, "You know, this is like just 1 donut, right?" She just shrugged her shoulders.

Knocked on the door and a lady opens it, "What, this is for me?" Then like an 8 year old girl comes racing out of the hallway, "It's Mine!" and flies back to her bedroom. Daughter just laughed and said, "Please don't leave me a tip for that. I don't need a tip." and laughed back to her car leaving mom yelling at her kid, "I told you not to order any more donuts on Doordash!"