In the United States, diners have been tipping their servers for more than a century. It’s a time-honored practice that’s as American as, well, baseball and apple pie.
Tipping was originally intended as an incentive for rewarding and encouraging servers to provide exemplary service. Unfortunately, that now seems to be the exception rather than the rule, thanks to restaurateurs who have unilaterally stripped that valuable power from their customers.
For example, one of my biggest pet peeves with respect to tipping is the “mandatory gratuity” (talk about an oxymoron) that most sit-down restaurants routinely tack onto bills for large parties.
On the other side of the spectrum, and just as irritating, are restaurants like Sushi Yasuda that institute a no-tipping policy.
In both cases, otherwise well-meaning restaurant owners have meddled with the dynamic between diners and servers, thereby disrupting an extremely reliable control mechanism that customers depend on to help minimize the risk of an unsavory dining experience.
When properly administered, tips provide accurate performance feedback to the server, which is why restaurants that implement a mandatory-gratuity or no-tipping policy — regardless of the level of service — end up doing everyone a big disservice.
Think about it. Why would any server go out of his way to give excellent service when he knows he’ll be getting the same pay regardless of whether he busts his hump or takes it relatively easy by doing just enough to meet the minimum standards?
One of Sushi Yasuda’s co-owners said that the restaurant had decided to go with a no-tipping policy because that’s how it’s done in Japan.
The trouble is, this isn’t Japan, folks; it’s America. Like it or not, when it comes to dining out, tipping is the custom here — and for good reason.
Photo Credit: Ethan Prater
(This is a repost of my op-ed piece that was published in the New York Times.)
This article is so offensive. First of all, most restaurants dont institute mandatory tipping policies anymore because of a change in the tax code which would force customers to get taxed on the mandatory tip. Second, the idea that servers only are capable of doing a good job because of tips is patently absurd. If there were no tips, and instead was a decent wage and benefits and sick days, servers would do a good job for the same reason that I do a good job: I like my job and don’t want to get fired. The implication that all servers are miserable, incompetent losers who hate their jobs and can’t do anything better with their lives is a really terrible one, and your bias towards servers shows every time you write a piece about them. If you like going out to eat, someone has to have the pleasure of bringing you your food, so maybe have a little respect for them as human beings who deserve fair pay for the work they do.
“The implication that all servers are miserable, incompetent losers who hate their jobs and can’t do anything better with their lives is a really terrible one, and your bias towards servers shows every time you write a piece about them.”
That’s quite a leap, Samantha. That’s NOT what I implied. At all.
And the argument isn’t servers “only” do a good job because of tips. By your own admission, those who truly enjoy their work — and there are a lot of them — do a good job anyway (and will reap higher tips, on average, than servers who don’t)!
Thanks for your comments.
I wonder if the food cost at the no-tipping restaurant reflects the policy and how much it raises the price, if at all.
That said, I don’t agree that poorer service is an automatic response to the lack of tip.
Although I do tip in response to performance, I believe there’s some data that suggests many people tend to tip consistently regardless of the level of service. That means that in the absence of actual knowledge of the customer’s tipping intentions, servers who only perform their duties in anticipation of a particular tip will use other indicators to estimate what tip they might get and discriminate accordingly: race, sex, age. Others will continue to perform their job well without making distinctions. We have all kinds.
And in other countries where tipping isn’t the norm I’ve received the same range of service quality: excellent down through indifferent or terrible, just as I do here. I’m skeptical that we would only see a meets-the-minimum standard across the board here if no tipping caught on. After all, change can happen and be a net neutral, or positive, even here in America. 😉
I personally would love for all forms of tipping to be eliminated and have them paid like everyone else with benefits. I would gladly pay more for the goods/services to offset this. They can be disciplined just like anyone else for poor performance and complaints.
The problem is that there has to be consistency, and the tipping policy that we have is so ingrained in society that I just don’t see it being turned around. You’re always going to have establishments with the current rules, and if you try to introduce a second option, there’s going to be confusion. I think in theory eliminating tipping makes sense as long as the servers aren’t left with less, but in practice, I just never see it able to happen.
I completely disagree with you.
Most people tip regardless of service because they know severs get paid around $3 an hour. Servers depend on us to make a living, while restaurants jack up the prices of pasta so they owners can get rich. The difference of getting 10 or 20% tip is not the reason why some servers are better than others. It all has to do with their work ethic. Just like some people are better at my job than others – and we all get paid the same. If servers were to get paid a decent livable wage they would still provide good service because it is their job and their job ethics that are on the line.
And the argument that food would cost more if restaurants pay their employees a decent wage is complete bull because that’s how it is in most of the world and the food there doesn’t cost more… it is in fact cheaper sometimes. The profit margins will be less for owners, but that’s not a good reason to pay employees less. If it was, then we should pay everybody less so that the owners of all companies could have bigger margins.
Thanks for your comments, Aldo. I respect your opinion. However, two concerns I have:
1. Who gets to decide what a “decent livable wage” is? (I’m also curious about the term “livable wage.” For example, is it based upon the lifestyle of a teenager, a single adult, or a family man or woman who has to support multiple children — and if so, how many children?)
2. Who gets to decide how much profit margin a business owner can earn?
The free market already decides that! The alternative is to turn over those decisions to government bureaucrats who supposedly know better than the servers who freely accept those jobs and the restaurant owners who risk their own capital to start a business.
It’s not just the increase in wages that a company has to absorb. The amount of Social Security that an employer is required to pay on wages goes up. The higher wages will lead to the cost of his contributions to unemployment insurance to increase. The amount of Federal and state taxes the employer must remit each month will increase. These all piled on at one time could cause a cash flow problem, thus higher prices are almost certain to be necessary. It’s not always as simple as some people think it is.
You should check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_vivC7c_1k
The restaurants in my area where “no tipping” is implemented are places that tend to pay servers a decent hourly wage. Having a way to consistently predict your take-home pay seems preferable to me to being subject to the whim of your customers, who may tip well or not for any number of reasons that are not always connected to the server’s performance. As for performance evaluations, I’m sure their bosses can give them feedback on a regular basis like people do in other jobs …
Looking at it from a customer’s perspective, why does a no-tipping policy and higher wages have to be mutually exclusive? Food for thought. (pun intended) 😉
I completely disagree. No tipping policy is basically clear and transparent prices on the whole restaurant experience.
I can make a rational decision to award business to a restaurant based on its food and its customer service and the entire gamut. There is no need to need to tip the farmer, tip the chef, tip the usher, tip the dishwasher separately. All those are the cost of business.
What is next? Tip the guy who sets the restaurant’s thermostat at a temperature that is very cozy for you? With 20% for outstanding cozy?
Or tip the dishwasher 15% for clean spoons and 20% for outstanding sparkly clean?
We’re getting dangerously close to that point already, Kyron!
I think this sushi bar owner has it right and may not be the best example to illustrate your point about American restaurants. I live in Japan and completely understand the owner’s attempt to provide Japanese tenor. In Japan, there is no tipping for any service. Period. Service is a commodity and is what is being “sold,” so service itself is a big deal. Sushi chefs are professionals who are insulted by the idea of tips. In many countries in Asia, excellent service is the only goal–the be all and end all of the dining experience they provide, which includes serving perfectly fresh, properly prepared and attractively arranged food. In the US we have many places where tipping is not expected –employees at McDonald’s, KFC and other fast food places do not expect tips and we live with that model because it seems to make sense in that context. Similarly, I see the point of providing a truly Japanese experience at a Japanese-style sushi bar by posting a no tipping sign. In the interest of free enterprise, I say, allow the owner to determine whether the tipping model is right for his or her business.
I do give tips if the serving is excellent, But if not, I don’t. Yea, I agree it’s America but we have a choice to make. It depends on the people. Most of the time, I tip because that’s our custom and part of the culture.
I dislike mandatory tipping. I don’t get it why I am I required to tip if I receive a good service. Shouldn’t good customer service be the standard?
1. “For example, one of my biggest pet peeves with respect to tipping is the
Karen, I think most of your comment got gobbled up when you submitted it.
Ok I have to opine here. 30 year vet of the business and still bartend on weekends after the great recession hit. If tipping goes away your restaurant experiences will go in the toilet. Trust me they will. I appreciate the fact my income depends on one person, me and me alone. I’m a professional and take my job very seriously. I work in a pub where the average age is nearly half of mine and you know what? I earn their respect, treat them well and they tip well for it. My fellow servers do so as well. I’m surprised this tipping issue is so hot button and people feel so strongly against it. We are just trying to Mae a living like everyone else and to those that look down on us keep in mind customer service work is more than a job, it’s a jail sentence sometimes.