Jonathan Gold and I will never be friends.
The savvy food critic who writes for the LA Weekly is an avowed and unapologetic tipper.
His recent column, Top Ten Tips for Tipping is not only hard to say, the subject itself is completely indigestible. “The idea that a tip is optional, or variable, is a useful fiction, even when the soup goes tumbling into your lap,” Gold writes.
Gold then lists 10 possible and sometimes nightmarish scenarios, where despite an alarming lack of service, diners are expected to cough up a 20 per cent tip.
Granted, Gold writes as an American for Americans in America, where tipping has long been part of the establishment. But it’s comforting to note that even THEY argue about tipping.
For good reason. According to this piece in the New York Post, around October last year an 18-20 per cent tip became mandatory at many of New York’s more upmarket bars. Order a bottle of wine for $35 and you could expect to see an extra $7 added to the bill.
Six months on, the practice has spread. Now even the most humble of the Big Apple’s restaurants are permitted to add 20 per cent to the bill, so long as the policy is clearly stated on the menu.
Not surprisingly many diners are finding this hard to swallow. For a start, 20 per cent is a ten per cent more than Americans were used to forking out in tips, even five years ago. A fact that will sting just that bit more when they find out why.
Gulliver, The Economist’s business traveller’s blog says it’s the humble and unknowing tourist that should take the blame:
“Foreign drinkers who don’t understand America’s tipping culture and leave without paying extra for service… bars are forcing customers to pay rather more than they might expect.”
No need for us to feel guilty about it though; British travellers recently nominated “tipping anxiety” as their number one travel bugbear. But we don’t get off entirely scot free - there are some excellent lessons to be learned here.
Firstly tipping is inefficient because it doesn’t guarantee a service boost. It’s also very quick to rise once it’s secured a place in the social fabric.
Lydia Slater, a British blogger for The Independent, has already noticed a creeping effect with everyone from the girl who washes your hair at the hairdressers to the guy who delivers a pizza expecting a bit extra.
All excellent reasons to hold true to our reputation as the world’s stingiest tippers. McCrindle Researchers found that just eight per cent of us tip on a regular basis and at the first sign of economic downturn, it’s one of the first things out the door.
Wages play a big part in this discussion. The average Aussie waitperson earns between $15-$20 per hour; while in America it’s more like $US8.
The Australian mindset is based on service. If it’s good then the person deserves a tip as a reward. It’s not an automatic reflex, or worse, an imposed extra fee.
Taxis are a good example. If the driver knows where to take you, doesn’t ask too many questions and takes the shortest route, then you don’t think twice about throwing him an extra couple of dollars on your way out the door. If his cab stinks like kebabs and he drives like a blind man, he gets nothing.
For the sake of an affordable lifestyle, let’s hope we stay that way.
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