Quote:
Originally Posted by polly
And that sentence is an excellent reason for everyone in the UK to stop tipping immediately!! We have followed the US far too much and usually it has been to our detriment.
Another reason for not tipping is; do we believe that service staff should be reliant on charity for their survival? They are working and should be treated like any other workers, given a decent wage and some self respect.
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I should think that service staff should be reliant on giving good service for their survival. Good service = bigger tips. No worker should be "given" anything, it should be earned. My mate the waiter earned approximately $7 an hour from his wage, and probably $50 an hour from his tips. Ask ANY food service employee in the US whether they would prefer the English or the US system and a guarantee you they would prefer the latter. I worked for a short time in the limo business, and still tell stories about $1000 tips on two separate occasions that I worked REALLY REALLY hard to get.
Having lived in both Accrington and the US for about equal amounts of time, and come back to visit on a regular basis, there are many things that suck about the US, but their service culture isn't one of them. What I would give for the NHS, the UK education system and some critical thinking capability in the USA. However, don't assume that everything that comes from the USA sucks.
It took my dyed in the wool Lancastrian dad forever to get the tipping system. Its just different, and part of the culture, but would take generations to be adopted in the UK, and would die in the process as no-one would work in food service because they would simply make minimum wage.
At the end of the day, eating out in the US is cheaper, because workers aren't "given" a wage, they get the opportunity to earn a tip by offering good service. Tip comes from the acronym - "To Insure Promptness".