A Homeless Blog

Tipping Story

When dining at a sit-down restaurant in the US, it is almost always a must to tip the waiter (or waitress) at least 15% of the price you pay for the meal. Such "custom" has been on my mind since years ago. To me, it didn't seem quite right.

Many times, the waiter doesn't treat you extremely well...and you might feel that he doesn't deserve 15%...BUT, you feel that you have to give the 15% anyway. Anybody, who had been living in the US for a while, would know what I am talking about.

Is it fair? ..that we feel so obligated to pay for the gratuity we did not receive. I've asked many people from many countries...none of them has such custom. It has led me to believe that the US is the only country with the 15-percent-minimum tipping custom. So...I discussed my feelings toward the matter with several friends and got the following conclusion:

Background - A restaurant owner often pays a very small wage to a waiter, knowing that the waiter will get more from gratuities. The waiter knows or expects that he will get some more income from tipping. And, that compensates the small wage he receives.

Assuming that every customer (must) always pay 15% gratuity, the amount of income that the waiter receives each day depends on the number of customers. More customer means more money. Less customer means little money. Note that, more or less customer, the waiter spends the same amount of time working.

As for the owner, he always receive the amount according to the price. If a dish of Pad-Thai costs $5 (assuming it's a total cost including everything) to make and priced at $9, he will always get $4 for each dish he sold...regardless of how many customer walk in that day.

From these assumptions, it seems that some (or a good chunk) of the business risk is transferred from the restaurant owner to the waiter. Is the waiter treated unfairly? The answer I get is, "No, not really." The waiter took the job knowing that this would happen. He was willing to take the risk. It's the best he could do in the situation.

It seems that the 15-percent (socially/customarily required) tipping is not an incentive to good services from waiters at all. It is merely a tool for risk sharing between the restaurant owner and his employees. So, I guess the good services I received sometimes are more from the heart of the waiters/waitresses than from the tipping incentive. Now...up to this point, I wonder. Why do we have to tip a waiter so much for the quality services not induced by the tipping itself?

posted by Bikku @ 2:02 PM