Life, Economics
Tipping Needs a Reset
Do sanitation workers be tipped?
Are you going to Portugal this summer? Not in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the presidency in November but because it is a beautiful country with friendly people and good food. Portugal is also a country where tipping is not expected.
Dare I say that not tipping is a good thing without being called cheap or selfish? Restaurant workers deserve a living wage, but should they live with the uncertainty of tipping? For some restaurant workers, a week of bad weather means a sharp drop in income. That’s not fair.
I leave large tips when I eat in a restaurant on a slow day. Knowing that the staff may earn less than the minimum wage if too few customers show up, I compensate by doubling and sometimes tripling my tip. But when I do so, I think, “Things should not be this way.”
Recently, several friends have raised the subject of tipping in restaurants. One friend surprised me by admitting she doesn’t leave tips unless the service is exceptional. Another set a hard limit on tips at 15 percent. “I have had enough,” he explained, “When restaurants started printing suggested tips on the bottom of credit card slips, it was a tipping point.”
