To feel that tipping culture has got out of hand?

[LovelyTheresa]

Today, I was in a nice coffee shop to get a flat white to take away. I've been in this place before, with no issue. The (nice) barista pushed the card machine towards me, and said 'if you'd just like to add a tip then here are the options' there was a list of tip amounts from 5% up to 30% with 'no tip' as the bottom option. I was a little nonplussed so I added 10%, but I really thought that it was a bit cheeky. The coffee was expensive enough as it was, should staff really be soliciting tips for takeaway coffee? One doesn't tip McDonald's staff, so why is coffee the exception?

Agree it's out of control, very side note but has anyone noticed the do you want to donate to charity option at poundland? i like it I won't lie

I have been known to deduct the service charge if it’s underwhelming. that is the tip and it’s optional

never tip hairdressers or taxi’s just why?

stunned to hear this is now happening in take away shops

Same happened to me too - really don’t think I saw a no tip button !

I only tip in restaurants and even then I prefer when service is just added, which is pretty much just paying the bill.

I hate tipping culture - just pay staff properly / charge the right amount. It's a transaction, not a favour.

I agree with the PP who said that by participating in tipping you're helping businesses to keep paying shit wages.

That being said, tipping for exceptional, above and beyond service is OK (and I have done this) but should be at the givers discretion and not expected.

One isn't obliged to tip if one doesn't wish to.

One doesn't tip McDonald's staff...

Give it time...

There's also the issue of who actually gets the tip. That's a whole different thread as anyone who's worked hospitality will tell you.

I no longer tip.

With the cost of living crisis I can't afford to and I also think that employers should pay decent wages so that staff don't have to rely on tips.

Just don’t do it. I don’t tip in the UK, ever. I pay the service charge if it’s added to my bill but absolutely will not tip taxis or baristas or whatever. It’s bollocks and people who do it are giving the green light to all these people to try and milk more money out of us. Hairdressers already take the absolute piss with their costs, no way I’d tip.

I don't like the idea of tipping as a function of the service received, partly because it expects emotional labour from the waitstaff and partly because many things that are seen as bad service are actually due to bad decisions by the restaurant's management. In the UK I always pay the optional service charge as added. When I'm in the US I tip 20% every time. And elsewhere I don't tip at all. If I have a bad experience (which is rare, maybe I'm lucky or just less choosy than many people) I pay the bill, smile politely, and then don't go back.

The thing is, when you decide you're going out for a meal you have a budget in mind, and you've basically spent that when you sit down. When you order the £24 steak you know it's going to cost you £27 when the 12.5% service charge is added, and if you don't have £27 you order the pasta. By later withholding some or all of that extra £3 you are just giving yourself a CF discount because you can. If you were in a restaurant in Paris or Japan where the price you see is the price you pay, and the service was slow, would you call the manager over and ask for the single, all-inclusive price to be reduced? Probably not. It would have to be pretty disastrous service for me to do that, anyway.

I never tip. Nobody ever tipped me - or even thanked me for saving their lives come to think of it.

I only tip for exceptional service, not for someone doing the basics of their job ie making a coffee, taking an order, delivering food etc.
I worked in hospitality for years before anyone jumps at me.

I agree - I won't tip more than 10%. We don;t want to get into the US realm of 20%.

Yes I'm the same. But I won't add anything if I'm asked when I'm given the card machine as I'm never convinced that the staff who served me will get the tip and I always leave cash instead.

By later withholding some or all of that extra £3 you are just giving yourself a CF discount because you can. Service charges are optional, even if they deliberately make it a hassle for you to remove in the hope that you'll feel too awkward about it. It's not CF to pay the price on the bill and it's honestly deeply warped that you think it is, just because particular services have started adding an extra charge on top of their official prices. It's not CF to pay menu charges in a restaurant just as it's not CF to pay shelf prices in a shop.

What's CF is restaurants adding service charges in the first place. I think that's unacceptable and it should be made illegal under consumer protection.

I have never tipped when buying a takeaway coffee & have no intention of doing so. The cheek of the staff member soliciting tips would make me even more determined that they were not getting an extra penny.

Next month, the U.K. minimum wage will increase to £11.44 per hour. That is a fair & reasonable wage for unskilled service industry work. Tipping is therefore now unnecessary & obsolete so I no longer tip. And I say that as someone who did lots of bar work & waiting tables when I was a student.

That is breathtakingly cheeky. It would be a flat NO from me. I don't tip anyone, ever. People are paid their wages, and we have the minimum pay act in the UK that means no-one can be paid under a certain amount - shouldn't be anyway! Many of these people who expect tips, earn more than me.

Tipping is a quarter of a century out of date. No-one tips me in my average paid admin job, or the checkout workers, or the GP receptionists, or the staff in the pharmacy, butcher, post office, bakers, card shop, shoe shop, etc etc etc... So why should waiting staff, taxi drivers, and hairdressers be getting tips? Most people have fuck-all surplus money these days, and they can barely afford to pay for their everyday bills and food. Adding tips onto everything is ludicrous.

It's like when I go into various shops, I get asked 'would you like to add a charitable donation?' McDonalds does it. Add 5p, 25p, 50p, or £1. No I WOULDN'T like to 'donate' thanks. Where is this 'charitable donation' going to anyway?

Also, several charity shops are now asking you to 'round up' at the till for charity. I am already giving to charity by buying items from your bloody shop that you got given to you for free! FFS, do these people want blood?

@MuggedByReality

Next month, the U.K. minimum wage will increase to £11.44 per hour. That is a fair & reasonable wage for unskilled service industry work. Tipping is therefore now unnecessary & obsolete so I no longer tip. And I say that as someone who did lots of bar work & waiting tables when I was a student.

100% this! Pretty much what I was saying.

I stopped tipping when I started working in retail and nobody ever bloody tipped me 😂 struck me as really weird that we do it for some jobs and not others. I still feel inclined to tip hairdressers but that’s because I want them to like me seeing as they have more power over my happiness than someone in a bar or restaurant. I haven’t lately though because haircuts are expensive!

I presume traditionally you tipped staff in hotels etc in a sort of ‘Maxim de Winter on the Cote d’Azur’ kind of way so they remembered you and gave you good service, seems a bit pointless now.

I’ve got to be honest I rarely tip. I certainly would never leave a tip in the situation that you describe. Nor do I tip take away delivery drivers, taxi drivers or hairdressers. I do wonder if it is generational, as payments for taxi and take away happens on an app. I don’t carry cash so tipping isn’t possible in most situations.

I will tip at a restaurant (a proper one with table service), around 10% of the bill.

We are not America. We pay people a living wage and nobody tips me for doing my job. Why should some jobs arbitrarily get tipped?

I was in London with work last night and had dinner in a middle eastern restaurant not right in the centre, was somewhat shocked to have 12.5% added on as a standard tip to my bill.

Thing is I don't mind tipping but don't see why it has changed from 10%-12.5% over the past few years.

I used to tip takeaway drivers always religiously but I have stopped lately. It is already overpriced and you pay a delivery fee as well, so why do we have to give away more money.. they should tip me for using their service

It’s a complete fallacy ( industry created) that low wages equals the expectation to tip. In this country many people are on minimum wage but work in sectors where tipping isn’t the norm. Do you tip your security guards ? No of course you don’t. But they are usually on a minimum wage -is their service to you less valuable than a waiters? No of course it isn’t.

Happy to tip if I feel I have had excellent service but pubs are trying to do this now when u just buy a drink at the bar which I always decline
i am more comfortable tipping a waiter if I think it is going directly in their pocket rather than split amongst all of the staff

I've never tipped a delivery driver, it kind of explains why some of them linger at the door. I've already paid a delivery fee and I will be serving myself the food so don't understand the need.