Thursday, June 08, 2006

"How much..

Tip should I add?"
I simply get completely annoyed with this presumptous question. I have faced this question from cab drivers, restaurants, dry cleaners!! So, what is this whole habit of Tipping?
TIPS: To Insure Prompt Service?
Tips have always been a debated topic with numbers swirling around them. How much? Percentage? Required? I don't agree at all.
I would TIP a person providing me a service only when I genuinely feel good about the service provided to me. But nowadays, there is so much of pressure on just that certain percentage of bill going to put a smile on the waitress' face that it takes the whole pleasure out of giving out the TIP. Don't forget the grumpy looks you get when you tip badly. Sometimes, cab drivers have been so rude as to openly express their unhappiness with the little extra that you put on their receipt. In my support, hey! that guy did not help me with my bag while I was struggling with it, he did not open the door while I figured which of my ten fingers is free to do that..So why should I extend my thanks to him? Thanks for what? Helping me understand that I can use my little finger in my left hand to open the door of the cab? Don't even get me started on waitresses at some restaurants..
I do a service job too and I don't get any tip and neither can I frown for that. Some people seriously need to understand that the service they are providing is their job and bonus would be given only when performing over expectations, not just meeting it.

6 comments:

Siva Chidambaram said...

hey you have me in full support, i had this freaking cabman in NYC literaly cheesing me off for the bad tip. He really screwed my whole day, and was just about to miss my flight... to hell with tips...

Anonymous said...

I dont know about cab drivers, but it is true that the waiters/waitresses here do not even get paid the federal minimum and all their income is almost entirely dependent on the tip you give them, that s why it is not a choice but almost a must.

For your service you get paid "atleast" a $60,000 a year( I am quoting a minimum) so you cannot really compare yourself with someone who does not even get a federal minimum.

and by the way I am not one of them that is into one of these 'tips-expecting' jobs. I am just another desi just like you, just thought I'd let you know what I thought!

Amrutha Ragavan said...

->anonymous: I don't have anything against tips. It is just that I am strongly against the concept of a "minimum tip". I shudn't have to tip just because it is a "must" (I don't agree that it is a must in the first place).

Amrutha Ragavan said...

->anonymous: And yes! It definitely wud be lovely to get the kind of "minimum" money that you had mentioned for the service I provide. :)

Anonymous said...

You need not sympathize but you definitely can try empathizing. Imagine if you were someone whose income pretty much IS the TIP! well anyway, I am not trying to offend you or anything, I was just posting my thought.

Well even if its not the minimum I mentioned, I assume it is definitely way higher than what they earn. That was just a ballpark number.

Sriram said...

watch Reservoir dogs and listen to the onversation at the Breakfast table in the restraunt at the beginiing of the movie...