Tonight I was with a friend for a few drinks. When I handed the bartender a $20 and said "Thank you" he knew I didn't expect change.
There is much to be said for a tipping culture. Every bartender and waitress has to assume, "I'm going to get a really good tip" and act accordingly.
In the Emirates and Nepal I frequently got little to no service at a bar. At the Hilton (where we lived for two months) we had to call the waiter over to make a new order.
The reason for the lack of service was not surprising: most bar patrons don't tip. There's no incentive to ask customers if they want more drinks if all it means for me is more work.
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With no ice machines in the Hilton I started ordering a bucket to be delivered each night. At first the bucket would come an hour or two after the call. After the wait staff realized that I paid 5 dirhams per night the time for the delivery shrunk to less than five minutes.
Moral of the story: Tipping/incentives matter.
Exactly. Why do you think that you were one of the few Coe students that Joanne and Inez would wait on quickly? You tipped.
ReplyDeleteYes, tipping was an incentive for me to work harder - but to me, I just wanted to stay busy. I'm one of those who feel that if you have a job you should do it to the best of your ability - unfortunately something that has been lost in recent years. People have become less loyal to their employers and visa versa. It seems to kind of be a vicious cycle.
I also have been known to tip terribly if I have gotten especially poor service. I make sure to leave SOMETHING - I want them to know their service was crappy. If you don't tip, it is easy to brush off as they forgot or they are the "type" who doesn't tip anyone.