[rangerelf]

"Tipping" absolutely is a kind of bribe.

Let's take police officers in México, for México, for example. One needs to pay bribes to get anything done. On the other hand, they have almost zero job protection, have absolutely crappy salaries, most of the time have to buy their own uniforms, their own gas for the police cars, and so forth. And on top of that, they have to contribute to "upwards bribes", so they can keep their jobs.

It might not be identical to the situation of a water at a café, but jeez, does it rhyme with it.

Tipping should be banned. Waitstaff at a restaurant should be considered like any other employee. Tipping someone because they went "above and beyond" should be considered as an insult, because it's literally a bribe, "I'll give you something extra for your trouble".

Alas, it's a bit too idealistic of me to expect that to happen.

[maximinus_thrax]

> "Tipping" absolutely is a kind of bribe.

No, it is not. Legally, per the SCOTUS, it is definitely not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_v._United_States

[gibbitz]

Yet in the US we don't tip teachers.

[seanmcdirmid]

Yet? It’s always awkward at the end of the school year when we are asked to prepare gifts for the teachers. Like, how do you do that without it appearing as a bribe/entitlement?

[unethical_ban]

No. The definition of bribe applies to instances where law or merit are overridden by money or favors.

[beaglesss]

Many cases it's not to override law per se as it is to make someone care to follow the law and issue your paperwork.

US law actually carved out businesses can "bribe" foreign governments for access to services to entice foreign government worker execute their laws.

[rangerelf]

It's not, or at least not always.

Most of the time it's to get them to actually do their job; shitty pay, bad or nonexistent oversight, corruption (or just "bribes") in higher levels too, conditionally applied rules, etc...

That creates a de-facto auction for their time and service, you (and what you're adding on top) vs. everyone else (and what they are adding on top). There's an unofficial "price list" depending on how quick and thorough you want things to be done.

"Tipping culture" easily slides into "bribing culture" when it becomes an expectation, regardless of what the Supreme Court says about it.