For those of us in North America, we’ve all been to a cafe and ordered a beverage to go, only to be met with that familiar “Choose tip amount” prompt…
Then comes the dilemma: do I tip?
My gut reaction is to tip 12% and save face — “I don’t want to look like a cheapskate”. However, I have never been to this cafe before. Do I really need To Insure Prompt Service after filling my travel mug with joe? Yet, in the back of my head, I know that their employer is paying them as little as possible, guilting patrons like me into filling the gap in their wages.
I’d indignantly prefer to use my tips on the cafe I frequent, the baristas I know, or the times I choose to and not because I was asked. Perhaps withholding it and “voting with my money” for the business owner to pay their staff fairly instead is the best choice.
But they’re underpaid.
As you can tell my monologue, I have yet to find an answer to constantly being asked to tip in situations where I would not have of my own accord.
The employers pays a nominal wage (and guarantees a higher one, not that this is needed often) for the server to be present and also for light cleaning.
The bulk of a server’s compensation does not come from the employer, but directly from the consumer.
Instead of consumer paying the business for the server’s labor, and the business taking a cut before passing a set amount onto the server as wages; the server sells their labor directly to the consumer and gets the full amount without the business taking a cut. More of the money goes to servers under the tipping model, whole also giving more control to the consumer, while also lowering labor cost for the business. It’s a win for everyone involved. I call the tipping system “emergent” because it could probably not have been designed; only evolved to be as efficient as it is.