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Economist: Hat Tip to Proper Tipping

By Jaime Woo

People work hard for their money, but they don’t make their money work hard for them. It’s time to fix that. Economist whips your income into shape with smart, practical advice.

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We’d still tip, dammit! Photo by Mute*


People get feisty over the idea of tipping. Some feel that tips are misleading: if wages are so low as to require tips, why not raise wages and bake in the extra cost instead, to make the service tariff on customers more transparent? Others see tips as empowering the customer in an almost-Darwinian manner, financially shoring up those workers who provide better service. (A discussion among friends from a few weeks ago on the matter—which gave inspiration to this column—remains unresolved.) Luckily, there is etiquette behind tipping that removes some of the ambiguity, and, in this economy, knowing when (and how much) to tip is part of being smart with your money.


Louise Fox, a trained and certified expert in etiquette, notes that tipping is situational. “It depends on where you are: there’s a greater expectation in a larger city like Toronto than in a small town in the middle of Manitoba.” For this city, the normal range for tips is between fifteen to twenty per cent before tax—in a higher-end establishment, twenty per cent is the norm, while in more casual places, as low as ten per cent could do.

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A little change can do us all some good. Photo by Alexa Clark.

In a restaurant, for the record, it’s always rude to give nothing. Poor service isn’t necessarily a waiter’s fault: it could easily stem from management’s decision to understaff or from a slow kitchen, so Fox warns of wielding the tip too sharply. (At the same time, we once left $1.30 on a dinner tab—ten per cent, still—for a waitress who ignored us after we mentioned we didn’t want alcohol.)
It’s important to remember that you’re not tipping someone for doing their job, but for them going above and beyond the norm: “It depends on the relationship with the person,” says Fox. For a stylist or barber, for instance, an acceptable gratuity is five to ten dollars, but if he or she provides extra services (“or you use them as a psychologist,” adds Fox), then a bigger tip is in order. But remember: “You are not expected to tip more than you can afford.”
There are also legitimate times to not tip. Some professionals, such as registered massage therapists, do not expect gratuities and it’s also understood that the owners of an establishment are not tipped, because they set the prices and are not paid service wages.
Fox also offers that tips don’t have to be financial. Since part of tipping is expressing gratitude, kind words can make workers in thankless jobs feel better. You could also give someone a small gift or provide a recommendation to their boss in lieu of a monetary gratuity. “It’s about rewarding and motivating the person,” she says. In an economy of rising unemployment, providing a worker with proof of a job well done could end up worth much, much more.

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Comments

  • http://null bigdaddyhame

    which is it, “it’s always rude to give nothing” or, “you’re not tipping someone for doing their job, but for them going above and beyond the norm”?
    I look forward to all the ‘sense of entitlement’-enfused comments from current and former servers.
    n.b. I used to be a waiter. Tips have to be earned, not expected.

  • http://null jen_in_toronto

    I’ve been to several RMTs that accept tips. Especially in a spa setting, it’s expected, much the same as an esthetician or a hairdresser.

  • http://undefined bigdaddyhame

    A little bird once told me it’s standard procedure at the local Rub & Tug to say “keep the tip.” when full release has been achieved.

  • Val Dodge

    How is it that I’m “not tipping someone for doing their job, but for them going above and beyond the norm,” yet every table in the restaurant is still expected to tip 15-20% to every server every time? Tipping hasn’t been about rewarding good service for a long time; it’s an increasingly grating social obligation that’s worming its way into more and more corners of society. The convenience store in my building has a tip jar. Gee, thanks for letting me pick those Skittles off the shelf and pay with exact change. Here’s a little something for you.
    Tips are like System Access Fees: they allow the establishment to advertise a lower price, knowing full well that I’ll have to pony up the extra expense. But tips go to the servers not the restaurant, you say? Bull. My tips allow restaurateurs to pay staff less than a living wage knowing that I’ll make it up for them. Either way, it’s money in the owner’s pocket.
    (For the record, I tip around 20% the vast majority of the time. I’m not cheap, but I do object to the phony social convention that justifies the requirement. The only things that bug me more as contrived phoniness are encores at concerts.)

  • http://undefined Gloria

    Five to ten dollars for hairstylists? My mom’s being ripped off for more than twenty years!
    Then again, she mostly takes care of families and the sweetest old ladies and charges less than $20 for most haircuts, so she rarely “expects” a tip and has been happy accepting $2 or 10%.
    (Seriously, it blew my mind when I learned what some people pay for their haircuts.)

  • http://null Loozrboy

    I hate the social ambiguity of tipping etiquette… I have enough to worry about without trying to keep track of what’s “expected” tip-wise in what circumstance. I guess the rules for restaurants are well-known enough, but really, am I supposed to be tipping $5 on a $13 haircut? That doesn’t sound right. Do me a favour, world, if you want $18 for a haircut just charge $18, and give me back my $2 change from a 20. I can do without the guesswork.
    That having been said, I disagree with the article’s suggestion that you should tip less in “lower end” restaurants. Those are the types of places where I expect the wait staff are run off their feet for little pay, and on a $12 tab the difference between a 15% and 25% tip isn’t going to break the bank.

  • http://null Cobalt

    Ha, I just paid $13 bucks for a haircut at Topcuts near the Greyhound this past weekend and tipped $4, which I thought was an adequate tip to leave.
    I had a whole mess of hair going in but for the most part all the dresser had to do was clear cut the bulk of it with the clippers, leaving a little on top as per my request. Took about 15mins and I was outta there.

  • http://null FLIPster

    This may not be relevant today, but TIP means “To Insure Promptness”. So tipping is more than expressing gratitude, it’s encouraging them to improve their service.

  • David Topping

    Standardized tipping saves your life and your time: tip 15–20% (or whatever range you like), regardless of the kind of service. Food, hair, taxi, etc. Problem solved! Obviously tipping $10 on a $13 haircut is above and beyond what’s expected or necessary, but not so if the haircut was $50.

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie
  • http://null Skippy the Magical Racegoat

    The only reason people tip, including myself, is either because they’re afraid people will think they’re cheap, or because they want others to believe they’re generous.
    If we’re not going to raise servers’ wages across the board, I’d be happy to just pay a standard 17.5 percent service fee on top of the bill and be done with it. If the service is exceptional, you can slip the server a couple of bucks at the end of the night. If the service is horrendous, you should be able to complain to a manager and have them waive the fee.
    In Europe and some parts of the States, this kind of thing is already happening. As the global economy crumbles, perhaps others will decide that this decadent cultural aberration has had its moment and move on.

  • http://null rek

    If the server took my order, brought my food, and that was pretty much the only interaction we had, I don’t feel compelled to tip all that well. Tipping is for service, not the bare minimum interpretation of the job. It’s not their fault if they’re the only server in a 20-table room, but it’s not my fault either and all of those tables will be tipping, and the next 20 tables will be tipping, and every table until their shift is over.
    I only consider the pre-tax amount when figuring out the tip.

  • http://null JonathanS

    In a restaurant, for the record, it’s always rude to give nothing. Poor service isn’t necessarily a waiter’s fault: it could easily stem from management’s decision to understaff or from a slow kitchen, so Fox warns of wielding the tip too sharply.
    It’s not necessarily the waiter’s fault if they’re arseholes, or throw the food on the table, or snarl at you, or not only get your order wrong but argue with you about it? No, I think there’s a distinction to be made which was left ambiguous in this article.

  • http://null misskitty_79

    It’s not necessarily the waiter’s fault if they’re arseholes, or throw the food on the table, or snarl at you, or not only get your order wrong but argue with you about it?
    But, JonathanS, the article’s author never said a thing about whether or not the server was surly or rude. Obviously, in that sort of a situation, it’s entirely acceptable to not bother tipping, or worse, leave the worst insult possible, a penny on the table. This makes a louder statement than no tip, since it lets the server know that you’re not one of those “uneducated boobs” who doesn’t know any better.

  • http://undefined Pan Von Sol

    A douche bag waiter and a stressed out waiter are two completely different things. The stressed waiter will apologize when things go wrong, while the douche will simply continue to suck. It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is or how terrible the mistake made, good customer service goes a long way and for me, will always ensure the tip remains adequate.

  • http://null John Duncan

    When did it creep up from 15% to 17.5% default?
    And why should it be a separate fee on top of the bill?
    That’s like the phone/cableco habit of advertising $20 plans and then applying an additional $9 “system access fee” on top.
    How about we just include all the charges, both server-paying & taxes, in the price quoted?

  • http://null Gloria

    Etymology rule of thumb: It is always safest to assume a word did NOT develop as an acronym unless it’s a very modern term or concept.

  • http://undefined Skippy the Magical Racegoat

    I could get jiggy with it either way. Hell, I’d prefer if they included taxes in the price too. I figure adding a “tip” on top of the bill wouldn’t lead to much sticker shock among our tip-paying populace, but either way.
    The actual percentage isn’t that important. I just came up with 18% because it’s what the average waitress gets, provided she’s good-looking and draws a degrading smiley face on the bill.

  • http://null Rachel Lissner

    Either way, in North America, when people see meals for $10, most likely that is not what they’re going to pay – people should plan accordingly that a $10 meal and realize that with tax, tip, and maybe a beverage, they’re looking more at $15-18.
    One thing I like about being abroad is that most have a set standard for tipping: services (hair, nails, taxis) don’t receive tips, waiters do and there tends to be an acceptable national percentage. Simple.

  • http://null leonardbast

    Tyrannosaurus Rek: You’re awfully stingy for a socialist, especially considering that waitstaff are often only barely scraping out a livable income.

  • http://null Bev Rage

    I’m an RMT and the owner of the clinic where I practice and I am often tipped very generously. I”ve tried refusing the tips, telling my clients that A) I’m the owner and B) I’d rather they saved up their tips and came for an extra massage, as I’d make the same amount of money in the end, and they’d get an extra treatment…but my lovely clients insist that I take the money. I don’t know if this is just an example of how hard wired we are to automatically tip, or if it’s simply expressing thanks but I feel kind of sleazy taking the money when I own the place. Just doesn’t seem right. I try to make myself feel better about it by putting the money aside and taking my staff out for a nice dinner twice a year.
    I’m not sure what RMTs who work in spas make, but most who work in clinics or chiropractic offices either rent the room, and keep the full amount of the treatment, or earn a percent of the cost of treatment ( usually 65%). The bottom line is that it is not necessary to tip RMTs…we consider ourselves to be health professionals, and a tip is not expected. Although we will not be insulted if you tip us, you should never feel that it is something you HAVE to do and an RMT will NEVER feel upset or disgruntled if they don’t receive a tip.