RebootYourEngine
WMittens - arent all employees doing what they are being told to do by their employer? A waitress is told to take an order and put the food on the table, a hairdresser is told to cut a customers hair. I dont see the difference.
welliesandleaves
Are waitresses, hairdressers etc not also completing tasks for the ultimate benefit of their employer?
I don't really get the difference outlined. Yes, one jobs involves interacting on an individual basis with customers and another doesn't. But you don't, for instance, tip the assistant in a shoe shop who brings you out shoes to try on, or the guy in the phone shop who sorts you out with a new phone.
If you can't see the difference then I'm not sure I can explain it to you.
To start, it is very unlikely that you would tip for a product. A tip is provided for a service.
A shop assistant that brings you shoes to try on is not providing a service - they are providing a product, they're trying to make a sale. In a sales environment (possibly shoes, possibly not, I don't know) there may well be a bonus structure to better remunerate successful sales people; a phone shop, I'd imagine that's definitely the case.
In a restaurant, part of the reason to go is the experience, not having to cook, serve and wash up yourself. Most people can make a meal for themselves, very few people can make shoes for themselves (and if you say you can, I say cobblers). So you don't go to a restaurant because it's the only way to get fed, you go because you want nice food and good service. Disinterested, grumpy waiting staff and slow service can ruin the dining experience, so the promise of tips is to bribe the waiting staff to smile and be polite to you (cynically speaking). Seriously though, the level of attentiveness (which doesn't always mean bothering the diners, it may mean keeping an eye on them and identifying when they need service) can drastically change how much you enjoy the meal, even if the quality of the food is top notch.
A grumpy hairdresser who complains that they've got to wear sweaty gloves they don't like because you asked to have your hair coloured is not going to enhance the experience; a hairdresser who is pleasant can make the whole thing more enjoyable.
An example of tipping in Pizza Express and not in McDonalds was mentioned above - along similar lines, consider a buffet restaurant and a table service restaurant: you go up to a buffet, pick what you want and go back to your table; if you later want more food, you repeat that process. In a table service restaurant, waiting staff come to you with the food (having come to you to take your order) and may periodically check if you want anything else, or you may try to catch their attention if you need something.
A hotel porter who carries your bags to your room effectively does nothing for their employer (other than improve customer satisfaction), that is entirely something they've done for the customer.
A shelf stacker is not doing anything special for a customer - the shelves of a shop have to be stocked for the business to work. There is likely to be little interaction with a customer, unless they ask where the peanut butter (or whatever) is; even if they do interact, there's no real opportunity to pass a gratuity as tipping is usually done at point of payment. I suppose the likes of Argos would be closer to the idea of shopping as a service, but that is more the business model of the company than promoting it as a service to the customer. A personal shopper may receive a tip, as they are providing a service to the customer (although that may be more of a client relationship than customer relationship; I don't know, I've never had a personal shopper).
I'm not saying all service jobs should attract tips and I'm sure there's a large amount of historical convention at play (given how attitudes vary in different cultures).