OK – I need to get this off my chest and if in doing so I start an argument so be it, but in my view enough is enough. Let me start by saying I have zero problem with tipping for great or exceptional service, nor do I have a problem with tipping someone who goes out of their way to help me solve a problem or resolve an issue.
BUT (yes a BIG BUT) I am done with tipping outrageous amounts for someone who is just “doing their job”, the job they are being paid to do and the job that I expect them to do.
Now someone is going to say immediately that “these people” (yes I am generalising broadly at the moment) are lowly paid; my answer to that is that is not my problem. If employers are not willing or able to pay proper wages; or if employees are not able either individually or via a union to negotiate decent salaries, why do I have to cover the gap? Pay people well and they will work better, their level of service will improve, the customers will be more pleased and a tip – for great service – may well be forthcoming.
One of the derivations that I have for the word TIP is that it comes from an abbreviation that means “to insure promptness”, which means we will pay you a bit more if your serve us quickly, first, better or whatever and by that definition the tip was probably originally paid up front – or perhaps part of it was, with the rest later – to ensure that the service required was delivered. Not now, it is nothing more than an expectation, here is the price and the tips are extra; or in cruise line terms gratuities are not included so they WILL be added to your final bill. I hasten to add NOT on cruise lines that I travel with, and that is one of the reasons.
Let’s look at the word gratuities; this is a word that appears in upmarket restaurants, on five star hotel bills and on cruise ships. The word implies gratefulness, you are grateful for the service you have received and are prepared to reward for it; why, if it is only someone doing the job they are paid to do? I don’t get it; we don’t pay gratuities to our lawyers, doctors or dentists who all provide professional and very important services to us, nor do we pay gratuities to teachers who play a huge role in bringing up and educating our children. And we certainly do not pay gratuities to our military personnel, who perform great service and far, far too often make the ultimate sacrifice for us. We may well express our gratitude to all of these people in very different ways, but the services they perform for us are important, require great skill sets and are services we cannot possibly perform ourselves and we do not pay gratuities for them.
We are however expected to tip/pay gratuities to those who perform (shall we say) more lowly skilled services for us, some of which we could do ourselves but choose not to and others that we would like to do ourselves but simply cannot. Almost inevitably all of these services are in the hospitality, transport, tourism and travel industries. Even then there is a difference, we do not tip the airline pilot (we should he/she gets us back on the ground safely), or the ship’s captain (ditto he does a tricky job very well), or the hotel manager, or the chef – it is just not expected nor is it required. We are however expected to tip the underlings, the workers, the staff all of the ones who are simply not paid enough for the job that they do, and it is often not just expected but it is required; everyone knows that we will cover the gap and that leads to poor and inefficient customer service and poor business practices.
Why is that you ask, simple; if the service staff (I am generalising here again folks not singling out anyone in particular) know that they will get their tip/gratuity, irrespective of the level of service that they provide, then they will do the minimum that they have to do knowing that it will ultimately be enough. Yes – I do know that there are exceptions – there always are – but in general this is the truth. If the expectation is that the reward will be received irrespective, the level of commitment drops in direct proportion. It’s an economic fact!
I have just spent 30 hours in America, and it is that 30 hours that started me thinking along this track; and yes, before you ask, I do blame America and the tipping culture for the expansion of the problem. They did not invent the tip, but they sure polished it, buffed it and shined it up into what it is today. Examples you ask, let’s look at a couple or three that really caught my eye.
Example one: I believe that the expectation level now is a minimum of 20%, this is reinforced by the number of establishments with a 20% service fee already on the bill. Then to top it off there is still space to add a tip (gratuity at the Setai Miami Beach) when you pay the bill or an expectation of added cash in the hand.
Example two: The cab driver who picked us up from the Hilton Barbados, he was just waiting outside, and drove us to St Leonards Gap for 20 Barbadian Dollars, expected a tip, – why I ask? He sat in his cab when we got in, drove us to where we asked to go and sat in his cab when we got out, we had no luggage and there was nothing else he had to do but his job – which was to drive the cab, he did that, ok I guess, but when I did not tip he was not happy; someone tell me why he deserved and had an expectation of a tip. This was just one example of many transportation issues – where there was an expectation of a tip.
Example three: The waiting staff at the breakfast buffet at the Sheraton Miami Beach, a hotel that in our 18 odd hours there was almost (not quite) totally devoid of any degree of customer service. The server bought our coffee and when we asked refilled our coffee; she also cleaned our table before we sat down, that’s it, that’s all; but she had an expectation of a tip, over and above the service charge on the bill, why I ask again? What did he/she do for me that was out of the ordinary, what extra service did he/she provide? The answer none – in fact the waiting staff were much more interested in the Top Gear crew (TV Show with a motoring bent, just in case you are one of the only three people on earth who have not heard of it), including host Jeremy Clarkson and getting noticed by/photographed with them to worry too much about the customers.
Are there more, sure but you get the drift, everywhere there are service staff expecting and receiving tips for doing their job and nothing else, and because they know that the tip will be paid their performance suffered accordingly. Incidentally no-one got a tip from me in any of those examples or the 10/12 others over the last four days. Did I tip anyone you ask; yes indeed I did and I will tell you about them also.
I tipped Miguel the barman at the Sheraton Miami, because he did a tough and busy gig, with a smile, had a joke with us and went out of his way to get me the wine that I wanted. I tipped Gloria at the Waterfront Café in Barbados, because she was quick, friendly and offered a couple of suggestions. I tipped Anthony the cab driver, who brought us in from the airport, because he lifted and shifted our bags, and I will tip the one that takes us to the cruise terminal in an hour or so assuming he does the same thing.
I tipped Everton behind the bar at the Barbados Hilton, because he was friendly, told me a couple of stories and listened to a couple of mine and looked after us well. I also tipped hotel porters who lifted our bags because our bags were heavy, too heavy. So, as I said at the outset I am not opposed to tipping to reward performance, I am totally opposed to tipping people who are just doing their job. So where do we go from here?
My very firm view is that we should return to tips or gratuities being a reward for exceptional service and not simply an accepted thing or with service charges automatically added to any bill. In order to do that we also need to ensure that the workers who are performing the duties are adequately rewarded up front, but still need the tips as cream, that way the level of service will pick up as the level of expectation decreases. Now I admit – it’s radical, it is not a short term process; it would take a long time to get moving and will most likely never happen, but there you go, it’s a way forward.
In the interim my personal protest will continue, I will only tip for exceptional service and will not tip someone who is just doing their job. I will try to avoid, like the plague, establishments that automatically add a service fee, difficult in the US and some spots in Europe particularly I know but I will try. Where I cannot I will most certainly not tip unless the circumstances are extraordinary. More than that I will maintain the campaign that starts today for as long as possible or it takes, whichever comes first. I will at every opportunity expose poor customer service wherever I see it or hear of it.
Perhaps if enough of you join me – we may, just may, by default, achieve what is required to get back to true customer service and to tips and gratuities being a reward for effort and performance that is exceptional or at least above the norm. It’s worth a try, don’t you think!
Written by : Peter Watson
(Source: globaltravlmedia.com.au)
