Tipping.

Yes I tip, most restaurants don't add gratuities still, and I make sure that it's cash as the waiter/waitress get it directly.
I tip hairdressers, beauticians etc and like others, dislike being with 'non tippers' maybe walk in their shoes for a while before making judgement!

Tipping in effect, that’s essentially a scam.

Culturally, in the US, the costumer in premises where tipping is seen as normal is essentially that you are an asshole depriving someone of their income if you don’ tip.

Given that, tips often work out to far more than the wage they should be being paid if their employer was paying it (and the wage they’d get in most other countries) it’s essentially extortion via emotional and societal manipulation.

How is that acceptable?

Sure, it might be a net negative for the service industry workers, I don’t know!

But being obligated to pay the wages of the workers ON TOP OF paying for the owner’s profits is OBSCENE.

Tips are designed to be just that, a tip. Something you give for good service.

Not a socially mandated TAX.

How is it okay for the consumer to be expected to DIRECTLY pay the wages of service staff? And how does this incentivise good service? It literally removes the entire purpose of tips as a concept, which is to incentivise good service.

I will always tip in a restaurant.
On cruises, some cruise lines expect you to pay a certain amount every day, known as crew appreciation money. Some remove it if you say you don't want it on your bill, and others make it very difficult not to pay it. Princess cruises were taking 16 US dollars every day for it. I feel that cruises are expensive anyway and if you haven't budgeted for that extra amount you could be in trouble. I want to be able to be in charge of who I tip and how much - I don't feel happy to be forced to pay a lot of money on top of the cost of my holiday.

He doesn't get a tip!

I don't live in London and paid £100 for a colour and cut. Don't have a blow dry because I don't like the way they do it.
My husband colours mine and our daughters now.

I was a waitress too as a student/schoolgirl albertina. Always got lots of tips - shared with everyone in the kitchen including pot-washers but not the chef.
It made all the difference to very poor wages.

In a past life I did a lot of waitressing and relied on tips. Pay in catering is poor still, I believe.

We were allowed to keep gifts up to an estimated value of £5 when I left (bottle of wine/box of chocolates/flowers sort of value) but we had to "log" it in a gift list.

This was in more than one job (housing association/charity/social care) - so I think it must have been fairly normal at that time.

Not really the sort of jobs you would think of "tipping" but it was really lovely to be appreciated - especially when some of my clients had so little.

I can't understand why we tip but I do. In my last job before retiring I would have been sacked had I accepted any form of tip/thank you.I had someone's family member who by way if a thank you had come to my office from 50 miles away leave me a calender with a picture of her beautiful garden on it. I was out, came back to find it and I had to go to our Legal Department to declare the gift. I had to send it back with a very apologetic letter. Why do we give people rewards for doing their job?

I don't tip, it's ridiculous. We all have or have had jobs, I worked in an office and of course we didn't get tips even though we gave a service. Surely this all went out with the ark when some people were very wealthy and others worked for them. If you are an ordinary person of any age in an ordinary job or receiving a pension it's silly to give someone a tip whose doing the same.

I don't tip. My hairdresser comes to the house, and waitresses are doing their jobs and get paid. No one ever gave me a tip for doing my work.

Where do you live maddyone, I can't believe you get colour, cut and blow dry for £45.!! Does the hairdresser come to you? I pay £54 just for a cut and blow dry and we don't live in London or the south east, just near the county town of a very rural county.
I do tip in restaurants if there's no service charge & the service & food warrant one. I certainly don't tip the bin men as we have a very long drive of about quarter of a mile and it's a real hassle to get the bins to the end of the drive. I can't afford to tip the hairdresser! We don't have a milkman or a paper boy and the postman leaves mail at the end of the drive.

We always tip waiting staff but if service is included we do check to see if it's passed on and if it isn't we add some extra cash=in-hand. We also tip hairdressers and taxi drivers, our window cleaner, our cleaner at Christmas and we used to tip our milkman too, but our local dairy has been taken over and they've stopped delivering to our area.

We tip. Those poor men who have to climb many stairs to make a delivery. We usually give enough for a pint.

I prefer to have the service tip added to the bill, and then it solves the problem. When I lived in Geneva it was always "service compris" in restaurants. In the UK I add 10% to the bill. I tip the hairdresser and taxis, and give Christmas gifts to the paper boy, postman and gardener. I actually find tipping embarrassing as it seems to indicate a servant/mistress situation. Once in America I was asked the the service had not been satisfactory as I only gave 10% (didn't know the rules there). Actually it wasn't satisfactory as he was very unpleasant, and one of our cups had lipstick on it.

Depending on the company I'm in, I'm about to try asking servers to remove the service charge. I will then tip whatever I fancy. Seems ridiculous that I should feel uncomfortable about this but the presumption really does annoy me.

Yes I always tip. Taxi drives, my great hairdresser, waiting staff in restaurants and window cleaner etc at Xmas. Not tipping is mean. I've been a waitess and worked at all sorts of underpaid jobs when I was a student. They almost always need the money and although I'm not rich , I can afford to recognise good service.

We nearly always tip, even in fairly modest surroundings. I can think of only a few occasions when we haven't - usually if service has been rude and unfriendly. Even if the food in a cafe or restaurant isn't really very good, we tip if the service has been pleasant.

We have often queried the addition service charge which is automatically added to the bill. Quite often it is not justified and is an unwelcome assumption that you want to tip for mediocre service. We always get it removed.

I tipped my carpet fitter - own business and it took longer than he expected.

Not really sure about the comment ' you tip a hairdresser etc but not a bus driver (Bluebell). A bus driver looks at a bus pass or just takes your money. People tip for personal 1-1 service. A waiter or hairdresser and the like spend more time on you/with you than just fleetingly taking your fare.. I tip for good service. Waiters, hairdresser dont always earn great wages. I have a great hairdresser so choose to tip her. It's also personal choice if you choose to tip or not.

Gundy

There are tight-fisted individuals (whether they can afford it or not) and generous people. So the whole idea of tipping is not even for the service industry.

If all trades were paid a fair and living wage there would be no need for tipping. But certain people will always tip in gratitude for a job well done.

I’m a generous tipper especially for waitstaff in restaurants. For hair salons, if the owner is your stylist I believe it is not necessary.
Cheers!
USA Gundy

This clearly sums up the difference between the USA and Britain. What is not understood is that the British do not need to tip (although many do) because we have employment laws which give protection to employees. One of those protections is the minimum wage. No one in Britain works for no pay and is expected to get by with tips. Nothing to do with being tight, it’s to do with proper legislation to protect workers.

Generally the answer is no - the minimum wage means that nobody should be relying on a tip for doing their job. I did, however, recently tip the hairdresser . The reason why is that everyone had put up prices due to other bills rising, BUT she had not as she feared losing customers. I don't think that is fair as she too has bills to pay.

I tip whether having a coffee or a meal, and also tip my hairdresser even though it’s her salon.

My brother in law (who I don’t always agree with!) said that he always tips a little more than the person is expecting as it makes a big difference to them, and very little difference to to him. And I follow his advice in this case.

I’m afraid that staff in this country (the UK) don’t always get tips if added into the bill if you pay by card, so I try to give cash for the tip.

While I’ve got some money, am happy to share it, I fully realise that not everyone feels the same and that some people simply can’t afford to tip.

🌷🌷🌷

NanaDana- I live in the states and I totally agree with you . Not only has everyone raised their prices of food but then the standard tip has gone up to 18%. My hairdresser cost went up $10 . It costs me $160 for a tint, cut and color and I’m expected to tip on that ? And the haircut takes a few minutes . I was a teacher and never got anything extra even when giving up my lunch to sit with my students and help them. This whole tipping has gotten out of hand .