nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Why should we tip?

AyeGer

I came across a discussion on a different forum of an American waitress complaining about a tip she believed wasn’t enough. Lots of responses from other service industry workers with similar complaints.

It got me thinking that we are quite lucky in Ireland that tipping isn’t as expected as it is in America. Do we want to end up like the US where we are basically expected to tip service staff. Under-tip and be met with anger, tip the expected amount and be met with indifference. Over-tip and only then will any appreciation be shown.

They like me are employed by a company/organisation. I work hard and standards are expected of me. I don’t get tips or bonuses. What is it that I am missing, why should I tip someone working a different job no more difficult than mine. Should I be expected to supplement their wages because their employer doesn’t pay them what they believe they are worth. Even if their employer paid them well I think they'd still want a tip anyway.

Do you tip? If so why exactly?

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122472622#Comment_122472622

So they've already set up American-style tipping jobs in Ireland? That's nice.

The market sustains you with tips. Why wouldn't the market sustain you on the same pay you ultimately make (wage + tips)? If the customers ends up paying you your combined wage either way.

Pauliedragon

Maybe Mr pink has the right idea.😂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4sbYy0WdGQ

mfceiling

Read online somewhere of a guy using a self service till in the States. When he'd finished scanning his stuff and hit the pay button it asked him for a tip (those 3 boxes of 15% 20% 25%). A tip for the work he'd done himself.

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122474947#Comment_122474947

"Already"? Only about the last 70 to 100 years...

What was it I was saying about knowing little about one's own country and what goes on here...

The whole point is that it is a tip, a gratuity, - it is a reward for exceptional service.

I know someone who got nothing for an 8 day tour recently with people who earn more than our Taoiseach and who spent nearly a TDs annual salary on their 8 days here.. Obviously they didn't feel they got value in terms of his guiding and driving whilst here.

Another got €50 for 4 days, Someone else got 900. It has always been thus in this game.

I do better than almost anyone I know but i put massive effort into it and I'm blessed with a very good memory and the ability to pass on information in an engaging and apparently interesting fashion.

There's no big conspiracy, tipping has always been part of the tourist industry here, back to the 1700s.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122474327#Comment_122474327

They are begging for tips because without them they won't make a living wage. There has been enough documentaries on this topic. Between getting on the property ladder and the American dream it's one of the most deluded nations in the first world.

Pretty much most of Europe is round up to the next 5 or zero, which is OK as most are on a reasonable wage. Although I give a bit more in the UK these days as they are being hammered with the the cost of living.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496250#Comment_122496250

Sorry your logic makes no sense. The cost of living crisis affects everyone. So do you tip other people such as shop assistants, security guards, cleaners, etc who have also seen their cost of living go up?

[Deleted User]

Tipping a percentage of the bill is also a stupid calculation if you get one table who order the most expensive wine on the menu, and the table next to them ordering several of the cheapest drinks on the menu. Expensive wine table are expected to tip more for the waiter having to do far less work?

And what's the story with service charges that are automatically added for tables of 5 or 6 +? Is it infinitely more difficult than table of 4, that a mandatory charge is applied?

Tony EH

Tips, years ago, used to be a couple of pence that you left for the person serving you. In France, I remember it was a couple of Centimes or a Franc, maybe, left as "service". It wasn't expected, however, if the waiting was good you rewarded it with an extra few coins.

Nowadays, it's a mandatory "percentage" in some countries, because businesses are too bloody stingy to pay their staff properly. And I have to wonder, in the age of electronic payments, how much of that tipping percentage really goes to the staff.

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496381#Comment_122496381

Isn't it such an absolute drag that a few pence won't satisfy the greedy peasants anymore...

Back in my day, they knew their place.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496895#Comment_122496895

Just stop. You're being silly.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496134#Comment_122496134

I didnt know jobs that relied on tips were common in Ireland for 70-100 years.

In any case, you missed the point of the question. If the customers pay you well in the end, why wouldn't they pay it as a flat rate for the tour?

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496250#Comment_122496250

Thanks for explaining things that don't need explaining.

Sono

From reading this thread, some people are happy to tip and others are not, that's fine once you are happy with your decision who cares what others do, each to their own.

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122497103#Comment_122497103

Are you really unaware of why - after the several posts I've made explaining with examples of why people tip?

It's to reward excellent service.

Do you really think that all service is equal - particularly where there's an interaction time varying from 8 hours to around 100??

Are you totally unaware that about 60% of all employees in most industries either underperform or just about hit the minimum level? There's many reasons why, from addiction to basic brain bandwidth, to being demoralized, to not caring about the customer, to not caring about their job, to being near retirement.

If you just raise the renumeration rate, it's been shown over and over that performance isn't positively affected, that this rewards mediocrity and underperformance. The public sector provides ample proof of this.

There is literally no way of faurly measuring the performance in some industries as it's completely subjective. Tips on average are a very good way of measuring as well as improving service given.

But not if they are standard, included or mandatory. Thats just a raise and begets the same results as a wage raise - None.

Packrat

@Tony EH

You should have typed in bold if you're modding. Also you should have it in your profile header.

If you're not a mod, then thanks very much but I'll continue to post, and if my posts bother you,either report them or put me on ignore, or just scroll on.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122498559#Comment_122498559

Fair enough. I'll take your word for it.

I hope it's a payment model that doesn't spread. Let's keep it for the Americans. Squeeze them for what you can if that's how you do it.

If I see a price, that's pretty much what I expect to pay.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122498573#Comment_122498573

I'm not trying to mod you. But it doesn't make your remark any less silly.

This "Isn't it such an absolute drag that a few pence won't satisfy the greedy peasants anymore...Back in my day, they knew their place" is an incredibly silly thing to say in response to this "Tips, years ago, used to be a couple of pence that you left for the person serving you. In France, I remember it was a couple of Centimes or a Franc, maybe, left as "service". It wasn't expected, however, if the waiting was good you rewarded it with an extra few coins.

Pauliedragon

I tip most of the time unless the service is crap. I know first hand the **** and sometimes abuse hospitality workers put with and it's getting worse. If you don't want to tip dont. I don't see why people are bring America into it. It's a different country with different cultures. You'd swear with some of the posts here that someone held a gun to people until they leave a tip.

Potential-Monke

I used to as I previously worked in the area so appreciated the tips. But now, its too expensive as it without adding a tip on top. We're now paying nearly double the previous price and, for me at least, I see no improvement in quality or quantity to justify it. I get inflation, **** costs more, but as a result I'm probably never going to tip again, mainly due to the initial cost basically doubling for no additional benefit. And if a place tells me or has a sign saying tipping is mandatory, I won't go.

A local lad was heard giving out that his restaurant isn't doing well and hasn't for a while. He's still drives around in a car that shares the year with the current one. And will again next year. But he expects people to tip his min waged employees. Shame that the employees get the end of the stick though.

Actually heard of a restaurant in Portumna that the owner/manager takes all tips and uses them towards the yearly staff party.......... Needless to say I haven't been.

LambshankRedemption

I only found out this week why tipping in the US is needed so much. Minimum wage in the US hospitality area is $7.25( €6.60). And some places are allowed only pay $3 dollars an hour and let them get the rest in tips.

The minimum wage in Ireland is €12.70, almost double the US.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499097#Comment_122499097

People are bringing America into it because certain places are expecting a % tip and not just a few extra coins tagged onto the bill they've already paid. In America the standard is 20% on top of your bill, whereas in Ireland it has become 10% in a lot of places and some are expecting 20% now. 10% of, say, a 100 Euro bill is a pretty significant extra charge, especially if the waiter has only just done the very basic aspects of their job and 20% is even heftier as I'm sure you know.

And irrespective of the "shit" and "abuse" that hospitality workers may have to put up with, it shouldn't be incumbent on the customer to have augment the shitty wages that their job pays them with an extra mandatory % charge.

VG31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121974736#Comment_121974736

To me tipping is something that makes sense if a person goes above and beyond. To normalise it for no particular reasons seems daft; I thought this was only a custom in the states.

This is exactly how I see it. For example, if I spill my drink and they replace it for me or they give me something not on the menu or go beyond what's expected then I will tip. Just tipping for regular service seems ridiculous to me.

The arbitrary list of who you should and shouldn't tip also makes no sense. Why should waiters be tipped but not retail workers, cleaners or couriers? They are also low paid jobs.

Pauliedragon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499208#Comment_122499208

Nobody in Ireland is entitled to a tip. If the venue charge a service fee they add it on automatically and it has to go to the staff. It's a bit of a grey area.

The Helpful Engineer

When I worked in the US in the late 90's, I worked in a hotel in the morning and in a different place making/frying donuts in the afternoon/evening. Whenever I did room service in the hotel my tip was already included in the bill, which was added to their hotel bill and given to me separately, but everybody still tipped me extra cash. I always explained my tip was already included, but they still gave me the cash.

So I was double tipped in the hotel but received no tip for making the donuts, which was a much harder job.

It's a stupid system, that has gone too far over there a long time ago.

I think we have it right here, tip for good service but it's not mandatory. But it is creeping in more and more, I noticed when paying for coffee with a card, some places have it set up with a suggested tip option on the card machine.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122472622#Comment_122472622

If it's that bad you need to get another job.

Irish Aris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499404#Comment_122499404

Service fee is the first thing I check in a bill. Hasn't happened very often to me, just a couple of times.

I generally tip in restaurants as it is a thing in Greece, we're I'm originally from. But I tip the same way I did in Greece, round up to the nearest *5 or *0.

An example: On holidays in Greece at the moment. Yesterday 4 of us ate at a restaurant. Bill came to 96 euro, we rounded up to 100.

That whole thing with the predefined % - my opinion is: just ignore.

earlyevening

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499188#Comment_122499188

Federal minimum wage in tipped employment is $2.13 per hour. It is higher in some states.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped

BraveDonut

I generally tip 10% in restaurants. But, it really pisses me off when the server does not acknowledge that you have asked them to add it to the total on the card machine. I am not looking for any gushing level of appreciation - just a simple "Thank you". If they don't acknowledge - it makes me feel like saying - "actually no tip".

Do servers in Ireland always expect a tip now or do they see it as a 'bonus' ?

Anyone have an idea of how many people tip? 50%?

scudzilla

I went back to Wales last month to visit family, 4 of us went for a meal in a local restaurant, food was poor, service was shocking, asked for the bill and waitress said "a 10% Service charge has been added, that can be removed if you want", like it was an enititlement

Yeah, you do that, remove it please, the absolute look of shock on her face

Normally i've always given 10% but now i've rethunk i'm stopping tipping altogether

MayoAreMagic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122474300#Comment_122474300

Agreed. It is a load of nonsense, we dont use the same system that is in use in the USA, so tipping is completely redundant. When you factor in how most businesses are pulling every little trick they can to cut back on what they give you, to expect nothing but generosity coming the other way is a bit much. For example, many restaurants now give you a big starter with a smaller main because the auld bowl of soup etc is cheaper to produce than the steak dinner. So you fill up on the cheap part and get less in the expensive part. Surely that is part of the service also?