To think we should all stop tipping now?

[MuggedByReality]

Tomorrow the minimum wage increases to £11.44 per hour. That’s an increase of 9.8%. It also increased by 9.7% last year. Inflation is currently 4.5%.

This is obviously a very good thing for millions of workers in low paid employment across the country and, whatever else the government has got wrong, it deserves credit for pushing through such large increases.

The minimum wage is now set at a level at which it provides fair & reasonable pay for unskilled service industry work. Therefore tipping such workers is no longer necessary or appropriate, so I won’t be tipping anyone anywhere from now on. AIBU?

I was not rude- but if you want to take it that way, no skin off my nose.

Stop? I've never started!

The Tories always linked higher wages to lower public services. I think it's a central tenet of monetarism. Provide less but provide higher means to buy. Although it won' provide that, in most examples.

I don't tip in the UK as I work as a TA and so I don't feel the need to top up anyone else's wages over my own low pay. I feel it's down to the employer to pay a reasonable wage and if you can't then you have no business running a business, really. A lot of people on higher wages tip certain jobs as it's ingrained over "it's just what you do" when there's no need. I'd love to hear more stories of people not expecting tips getting them over people who feel entitled to them!

When I visit my partner in the USA, I tip but I bloody hate it as overall the service in the US is crap relative to the tips they get as they just expect it. Not all, obviously and there's great service, too but there's a pattern. It's expected to tip people 15 to 20% even over "self service" buffet and them being rude and yanking me up from my seat to pay at the till before we got finished with our plate of food lol. Apparently, systems in the US mean everyone gets min wage there now these days, too overall but forced tipping still ingrained there.

I don't buy into the "Oh if you can afford a meal, you can afford to tip". NO! A lot of people saved up money to have that meal and afford it. Let's stop enabling the tight wads at the top of the wealth chain and shaming people with less money. Pay your own workers a decent wage so no one has to rely on tips!

Thank you

I've always thought it strange to tip some people and not others. Why tip a waitress but not a customer service assistant, when they all earn roughly the same amount? My understanding is that American wages are so low that the tips are essential to bring wages up to a reasonable amount, but that isn't the case here. So, I only tip if I think someone has gone above and beyond. As someone on little more than minimum wage myself, a treat meal out is a push without the pressure to add an extra 15% to the bill.

I am definitely mindful of how much I tip anyway but I will be even more careful as NMW continues to increase while most people's wages remain stagnant. What also annoys me is when I go out with some people and they assume everyone will want to tip and try and tell people how much to give!

And so many restaurants now include a service charge-I'm not tipping on top of that. I was at a bar in London recently, we found our seats, picked up a menu from the bar, went back to the bar and waited in line to order, then waited for our drinks to be made. And they had the audacity to add a service charge! What service? I did it all myself!

overall the service in the US is crap relative to the tips they get as they just expect it

This was absolutely my experience when I went to the US.

I never complain about restaurant food but I went to one place and it was so bad. Stone cold and undercooked. Totally inedible. I told the waiter and he literally stood there and shrugged his shoulders! Then walked off 😲 I couldn't believe it. That has never happened to me anywhere else. So I didn't tip. I don't care what their expectation is. I'd already paid for a meal I couldn't eat. No way was I going to tip on top of that.

I've also been to Japan where you absolutely must not tip. They see it as an insult. And their service is always amazing.