The Tipping Point
We Brits have a terrible reputation when it comes to tipping. Though I think we get a bad rap. Really, we just have the right approach to it. Here’s our stance; a tip should be given when someone has gone above and beyond the call of duty or done their job exceptionally well.
Living in New York, I came to realize that tipping is expected and you should tip, basically, everyone you come in contact with, outside your circle of friends, on a daily basis.
And it’s horse turd!
I particularly hate that I’m expected to tip cab drivers. It’s their job to drive people from A to B and soon as they turn the meter on, they’re getting paid to do just that. There’s no special service involved. It’s not like you’re in a stretch limo, chilling in a Jacuzzi while some Adonis sucks on your toes (now that deserves a tip). No, you’re in a New York City cab, which has probably been vomited, defecated and fornicated on more times than you wish to know. Shoot, they should pay you to get in the damn thing.
I worked at a popular midtown hotel as the hostess at the restaurant to make some extra cash while freelancing. One night, the barman had a bitch fit when some (British) customers left without leaving a tip.
“But I served them all these drinks and talked to them!” he cried.
Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that your job? You get paid an hourly rate for that, no? You filled out an application knowing the said hourly rate was crappy, didn’t you? Then stop your whining, bitch! You don’t get a tip just for showing up to work.
The same goes for the doorman. Bitching every time someone didn’t kick him a couple of bucks for opening the door or carrying their suitcase. I’m perfectly capable of opening the door myself and carrying my own bag. Just because you filled out an application to do it, doesn’t mean I owe you shit.
In the restaurant, people would try to tip me for hanging their coats or showing them to their table. I thought it was stupid. One guy tried to tip me $20 for hanging his coat up. I gave it back. I hadn’t hung the coat in a special way or dry cleaned it while he ate, so what exactly warranted giving me $20? (Yeah, I accepted a $100 tip when the mafia dined there, but I earned that!)
One thing I think people who work in the service industry in New York fail to understand is that tipping is still, technically, optional.
Once, some friends and I went for brunch at a spot downtown. Our waitress was particularly unimpressive; moody, impatient and not that great at her job. I know you can’t bring you’re A-game all the time, but if you want a tip, it’s a good idea that you do. But, because they all assume they’re getting a tip, quality of service doesn’t seem to matter all that much.
At the end of the meal, we paid and reluctantly left a tip. As we were leaving, the waitress followed us out and did probably the rudest of rude things ever done; informed us that we had not tipped enough. In what universe is it even acceptable to say that? Especially when you’ve been given crappy service. We pooled a few more pennies together just to get her off our backs and never went back there again.
Back in England, people are slowly coming around to the idea that it’s probably a good idea to tip in certain situations and it’s become more of a custom, but we are yet to reach the New York standards of ridiculousness on the tipping front.
So, if you’re ever in London and a cabby takes you from one end of the city to the other, via Wales and expects a tip, British custom dictates that you should laugh in his face.
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Tags: cab drivers, mafia, new york, rude waitresses, the brits, tipping
