I have no problem tipping.I love tipping for a job well done.
It’s part of American culture.However, I do have a problem being manipulated into it.America didn't just create a tipping culture.We’ve created a guilt culture coupled with technology.
Somewhere between the pandemic and the explosion of digital payment screens, saying "thank you" quietly became a financial obligation.What used to be a reward for exceptional service has turned into an expectation for simply completing a transaction.Is there anything more annoying than a takeout employee saying, "The computer just wants to ask you a question?" Guess what, it didn’t ask me how happy I was with the service but instead asked how much I wanted to leave for a tip.A person selects a custom tip amount on a Miller's Ale House ziosk at a table in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
(Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group)Today, whether you're buying a latte, picking up takeout, ordering frozen yogurt or grabbing a sandwich, you're often confronted with the same three oversized buttons:20%.25%.
30%.In one place, I saw four buttons of 18%, 20%, 22%, and 25%.Notice what's missing?Fifteen percent.Apparently, gratitude now starts at 18% where generosity used to end.Let's be clear.
This isn't about hardworking servers, bartenders or delivery drivers.Many depend on tips, and they deserve to be rewarded for outstanding service.WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS ARE CHANGING DINING AS CUSTOMERS EAT HALF THEIR MEALS, TAKE REST HOME, CELEBRITY CHEF SAYSThis is about businesses discovering that it's easier to ask customers to absorb higher labor costs than to honestly raise their prices.
And it’s easier to make it difficult for people to instantaneously opt out rather than quickly opt in.Instead of charging what something actually costs, they've outsourced the uncomfortable conversation to an iPad.The menu says one thing.The checkout screen says another.
That's not transparency.That's behavioral marketing.Even worse, tipping has esca...