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Tipping when prompted: yay or nay? (self.asksolarpunk)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by toaster to c/asksolarpunk

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For those of us in North America, we've all been to a cafe and ordered a beverage to go, only to be met with that familiar "Choose tip amount" prompt...

Then comes the dilemma: do I tip?

My gut reaction is to tip 12% and save face — "I don't want to look like a cheapskate". However, I have never been to this cafe before. Do I really need To Insure Prompt Service after filling my travel mug with joe? Yet, in the back of my head, I know that their employer is paying them as little as possible, guilting patrons like me into filling the gap in their wages.

I'd indignantly prefer to use my tips on the cafe I frequent, the baristas I know, or the times I choose to and not because I was asked. Perhaps withholding it and "voting with my money" for the business owner to pay their staff fairly instead is the best choice.

But they're underpaid.

As you can tell my monologue, I have yet to find an answer to constantly being asked to tip in situations where I would not have of my own accord.

Would you tip?

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[–] cerement 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

a tip is a reward AFTER the service is provided, it has nothing to do with “to insure prompt service” (that’s a bribe)

the real problem (in the US) is that employers can pay service industry workers below minimum wage with the expectation that they will make up the difference with tips which creates a manipulative workplace where the incentive is to do anything to ensure tips regardless of quality of service

and the automated “Choose tip amount” can be straight up predatory – owners will leave that option in even when there is no service provided (ex. purely retail establishments) with the expectation that you will feel guilty – and since it is not service related, that “gratuity” goes straight into the owner’s pocket, the workers will never see a penny of it