At a gathering of friends, lively exchanges of views and opinions on the topics of the day, whether it is politics, oil revenues, tax laws or the impacts of social media, are a guaranteed part of the proceedings. It is not often that the subject of our everyday decisions or choices which could go to improving our fellow man’s lot in life is examined.
The theme of tipping, for instance, is never discussed. Yes, the act of giving some money to someone who has provided a service, as a reflection of our appreciation for their performance, is avoided like the plague.
The act of tipping seems to be on the wane in our society, another one of the vanishing courtesies, along with the way motorists drive on our roadways. How many of us thought of tipping the person who delivers our mail, the newspaper vendor and the garbage collector, to mention a few, over the recent holiday season? Unfortunately, as a society which now ambles around, buried in our iPhones, we have forgotten these ‘invisible’ persons who provide vital services in our day to day well-being.
There appears to be a clear line of demarcation between the tippers and the non-tippers, with little or no middle ground existing. The former advocate that we have a right to acknowledge excellent work with a gratuity whilst the argument advanced by the latter group is that they are paid to do a job and there is no reason to compensate them any further. The fact that workers in service industries, such as restaurants and hotels, are low income workers and tips are crucial to making ends meet, appears to be of no consequence to the non-tippers.
In most developed societies tipping is ingrained and one is expected to follow suit when one migrates to them. Business people meeting for lunch or dinner for the first time with potential clients will often pay closer attention to the person’s tipping style rather than to the way he/she conducts themselves with the cutlery. Likewise, young ladies on dates with potential suitors are reminded by their parents that tipping is one area where the young man’s true inner self is often revealed.
The late Australian media magnate, Kerry Packer, was a notoriously extravagant tipper. Tales of his largesse include million dollar tips for each of the ambulance drivers and the EMS workers who revived him after his heart had stopped beating during a polo match in Australia. After another match in England, Packer wrote a cheque for 100,128 pounds after the publican had prepared a meal for Packer’s polo team who had arrived after the pub’s kitchen had closed for the evening. The meal had cost 128 pounds. High end restaurants in North America will automatically add a gratuity to the bill, ranging from ten to fifteen percent, thus circumventing the parsimonious spender of depriving the wait staff of a tip.
Should tipping be compulsory? At the end of the day everyone is entitled to spend their hard earned money in the best way they see fit, and if some of us elect not to tip that’s our personal choice. To the tippers, recipients of the smiles and Thank You’s from the appreciative beneficiaries, keep on tipping.
