[ljp_206]

It's unbelievable to me how popular complaining about tipping is now, and probably all because a handful of POS systems that are quite common have an option to show default tip percentages. It's like we're running a social experiment about whether people would complain if daily presented with a "Would you like to slightly socially and financially inconvenience yourself? Y/N" screen. Turns out yes, thousands of words would be spilled on the topic.

Don't get me wrong, if you sell greeting cards or whatever and use a POS system that has a tip screen, I find that silly, and yeah, we should have a broader discussion about tipping culture. But all of this getting up in arms seems like solely an exercise in dropping coins into the outrage media machine. Just hit the other button.

[rogual]

To me it feels more like "How would you like to slightly inconvenience yourself?"

[ ] Socially [ ] Financially

Just advertise the price and I'll decide whether to buy or not. Then I'll pay you the price that you advertised. If you configure your POS terminal to make it awkward, I probably won't want to come back.

(Culture note: Not American)

[stjohnswarts]

People are complaining because they are trying to make it commonplace for everything. Don't give in is what I tell my friends. The only way you create change is to make a bit of noise.

[ljp_206]

Sure, it's becoming commonplace. Does that stop people from voting with their fingers? What noise needs to be made to stop what? I'm really trying to understand. I think I am kind of starting to get it, I have been assuming people are just upset that there is a social pressure to tip. The fact that this pressure now takes place on a touchscreen is nothing new.

Employees are going to want their employer to have a 'give me more money' button at the end of every purchase, and this is just currently in vogue because of touchscreen point of sale systems. I have plenty of neurotic millennial tendencies, but I usually only see older generations complain about the tip screen. If I don't think I should tip for buying a candy bar then I won't. Is there a concern that all transactions will require something that will eventually become more than a tip, like some required fee? Is it so upsetting to be presented with the number 25%? Please help me understand.

[at-w]

Are you okay with retail store workers asking you for a tip for pointing you to the right aisle? What about your doctor asking for a tip after a checkup? What about a relative that asks you for money every time they see you, and decides to "suggest" amounts? What about simple panhandling?

In all of those cases, you clearly have the ability to simply say no. At the same time, any socially aware person is likely to resent being pressured for money.

Your argument would make sense if tipping was something done for exceptional service. It makes less sense when it is essentially universal and implicitly risks worse service in the future at best. Even at restaurants, tipping disproportionately rewards the people who have arguably the least difficult job and does so in an empirically discriminatory way that has almost no relationship to service quality whatsoever (https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/71781).

[ljp_206]

I find this to be a bit of a slippery slope argument (not to mention that I think tying panhandling to tipping to be a shaky comparison at best), but it is socially compelling, and is indeed an outcome that I do not want to come to pass, for many reasons. Thank you for providing something to help me understand the argument and concerns.

To "tip" my hand completely, I think my original comment was born out of a frustration that so many social problems will be complained about by a HN-type crowd as some vague social ill that cannot be solved by 'taking our (tipping) business elsewhere.' Sometimes it seems like these complaints only suggest that nothing can be done except 'make noise' about tipping or else it might become something our family members will do. As the author of the featured article points out, facing down the fact that many wait staff need tips to make a real living on top of minimum wage is definitely a big problem, but to me, it's a more concrete problem than 'I'm mad I have to tip because I bought chapstick.' There is a time and place for venting about the screwy society we live in but I hope we continue to talk about changing tipping culture and paying people properly.

[throwaway5959]

Some people have such easy lives that this is all they have to complain about. It’s as simple as that. They’ve never served food, they’ve never made minimum wage. They’re just out of touch with how most people live/survive.

[stjohnswarts]

I served tables and washed dishes and ran cash registers while getting my EE degree. When I was running a cash register, I didn't ask for a tip when I rung someone up for a coffee or twinkie. I did get tips as wait staff because that's been a tradition for 100+ years in the USA. Don't assume when someone says something that you don't like that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.