Our Tipping Culture Is Getting Insane!

_{Ann H.}

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These days, it is very possible that you would get a service done pay for it all, and would still be required to tip those that serve you. As in, it would be demanded from you, and even if you’ve paid for the service, if you refuse to tip the workers, it would affect how they would do the work for you.

If you are someone that lodges a lot in hotels, then you’ve probably come across these guys a lot. Because this is where they are more rampant. Everyone from cleaners to room service will demand tips, even though the service is fully paid for.

Now, I’m not saying tipping is bad, as a matter of fact, it is advised to do so. But all this works on the idea that tipping is a choice, and you choose to give it to the person. Because normally, the tip belongs to the staff that you give, not to the company. But the issue is raised when it becomes compulsory to tip. Is it still a tip or is it just extortion?

Some months back, I went to buy a router. Buying routers is the same as buying a new sim card because you’re literally buying a new sim. It goes with the same process, but with some added steps so you will activate the router and gain access to the internet.

_{Miguel Á. Padriñán}

I was directed to the operative that would register my sim, and even before starting, he let me know that I would drop something for him. I tried to wiggle out of it, telling him I had no money. But he was adamant, how can someone who was coming to buy a router not have money? And the funny thing, he was not trying to keep his voice down, his colleagues were hearing him clearly and they were acting as if nothing was wrong.

And by then, it was already too late because I had paid for the router and the seal of the pack had been broken. I couldn’t take it somewhere else to register when they could easily do it here. I insisted to the operative that I didn’t have any money to give and he grudgingly began the registration.

It didn’t work.

Before the router can be activated, the sim has to be registered. And you can only know the sim is registered by making a call with the sim. For more than an hour, I tried, but the registration was yet to reflect. And this was something that normally would have taken not even up to five minutes. When I got fed up, I went to the operative, he said it was network and I should wait. But once I offered to find him something, he offered to check the registration again. Not long after, the registration reflected.

Yeah, what a miracle!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t only with him. Because I had to tip the guy who set up the router for me and got it ready to use. By the time I was leaving there that day, I spent 2K extra than I had planned to do that day. And I was just pissed. That money didn’t come from my heart at all, I only did it because I had no choice. If I had known it was like that, I would have gone somewhere else. But all this was realized only after I had paid for the stuff. Smart guys!

_Pixabay

There are some establishments you’ll go to that ban tips because many times the staff get carried away. Tips are a privilege, and should never be a prerequisite. You are getting paid, it might be meager pay, but you are getting paid for the job. Tips are just a bonus, and there are ways to earn it which do not include extortion. Because that is simply how I see it.

Tipping culture is very important, I’ve heard stories of people who make even more than their salaries from tips alone. The truth is when you make customers happy and treat them right, it will be easier for them to leave a tip for you. You won’t even have to ask. Not you refusing to do the work they paid for or doing rubbish work just because they refused your request for a tip.

This idea has ruined tipping for many people because no one likes being told what to do. Especially with their money. People will give more if they believe it’s their idea than they will if they are compelled to do. It’s just logic for you.

So, my dear friends, what am I saying? Tipping is good, as a matter of fact, it is important because a lot of workers rely on it. But let’s call a spade a spade, tips are not wage or salary. So it is not necessary and the presence or absence of it should not affect the way we treat clients. Just do you, give your best and watch as the tips will keep pouring in.

You’ll probably be begging it to stop.

_{Lukas Rychvalsky}

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, I would love to know what you are thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

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