Mark Furstenberg on Tipping

[porcupine]

interesting blog post

[DonRocks]

interesting blog post

Yes, and I could write a 10,000-word reply.

My answer: raise your prices 20% (or whatever), pass it dollar-for-dollar onto the staff, and put up signs saying exactly what you did. People don't mind paying more if they know where their money is going. I just had a Jambon Beurre (or whatever your version is called), and gasped when I saw it was $10. But then, it was so big I could barely finish it. Would I have paid $12 for that knowing that $2 would be going directly to the staff? Absolutely.

Tipping for counter service *is* vulgar. Your choice of words was absolutely the correct one. If customers insist on tipping, it's because society has taught them to robotically do so. You can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution (which you're being right now).

If you institute tipping, why shouldn't the cashiers at Safeway?

 

The Swiss Bakery in Burke is your example. Go there and see how they do it. They don't say "The owner doesn't permit tipping"; there's a line - clearly written - on the receipt that says "We do not accept tips." That will solve your problem. They're busy all the time, and they don't have an issue with people force-feeding their employees money because of the way the situation is presented to the customer.

The Italian Store doesn't even make people sign their credit card receipts for bills less than $25. You hand them the card, and they hand it right back with the receipt - transaction done.

[DaveO]

I enjoyed the piece and how he approached it and struggled with it from many perspectives, let alone his final paragraph.  Good luck with the decision moving forward.

A change, if he makes it, is not cast in stone.  Best of luck to the author, the employees and the business.

[dcs]

I tip on takeout.  I tip in coffee shops.  I tip the newspaper delivery guy.  If I stay in a hotel, I tip the housekeeping.  Cut my hair?  I'll give you a tip.  I could go on.  These are not easy jobs that definitely make my life easier.  They are not all that well remunerated.  What is a few dollars here or there?  It probably means more to the recipient than your opportunity cost to use it elsewhere.  You cannot take it with you.   

[DonRocks]

I tip on takeout.  I tip in coffee shops.  I tip the newspaper delivery guy.  If I stay in a hotel, I tip the housekeeping.  Cut my hair?  I'll give you a tip.  I could go on.  These are not easy jobs that definitely make my life easier.  They are not all that well remunerated.  What is a few dollars here or there?  It probably means more to the recipient than your opportunity cost to use it elsewhere.  You cannot take it with you.   

Despite what I wrote, I'm a good tipper as well. Nevertheless, I want society to move away from tip-based to wage-based. As a consumer, it's the exact same amount out of my pocket if I tip 20% or if prices are raised 20% (tax notwithstanding), so it's not a matter of "being cheap." (I'm not saying you were thinking I was, but I want to make sure everyone knows I"m not!)

This morning, I tipped a cab driver $15 on a $6 fare ($21 total). Truth.

Anecdote: about two weeks ago, I was walking into Pie-Tanza at about 9 PM. I overheard a server, who was getting ready to leave, talking to her friend at precisely the wrong moment for her (right moment for me). She said that she'd worked a full lunch shift, and after tipping out, she had made $275 at lunch and $175 at dinner. I don't feel as sorry for servers and bartenders as a lot of people do because I know how much money they make - sometimes, it's a *lot*. Dishwashers, AGMs, line cooks, and busers/runners are the ones who need to make more money (I've said this numerous times here before, and have been saying the same thing for years - I don't want to drone on about it in this thread, but wanted to make the point that just because you're anti-tipping doesn't mean you're cheap - people should have pride in their work, and shouldn't need to be tipped to offer good service. I'm for a fundamental change in how our service economy works at the macro level; in the meantime, I will continue to tip well and protest against the system.)

[The Hersch]

Don, that's absolutely right. I hate the tipping system and think it's a horrible arrangement for both workers and customers, but as things stand now we're stuck with it, and unless you're a pretty horrible person, you won't refrain from tipping people who count on tips for their livelihood on some sort of abstract principle. I think there are indeed some dreadful people who are anti-tipping, who think that they're entitled to pay what it says on the menu and no more; they also probably think that taxes are theft, and that they should be able to park their cars anywhere they like without paying anything. I actually know someone, who's a pretty decent guy generally, who thinks that public transport ought to be paid for entirely from the farebox, but that curb parking should be free.

I do wish someone could map out the path from our current tipping system to a rational non-tipping system. I've never seen a convincing plan of how to get from here to there.

[DonRocks]

Don, that's absolutely right. I hate the tipping system and think it's a horrible arrangement for both workers and customers, but as things stand now we're stuck with it, and unless you're a pretty horrible person, you won't refrain from tipping people who count on tips for their livelihood on some sort of abstract principle. I think there are indeed some dreadful people who are anti-tipping, who think that they're entitled to pay what it says on the menu and no more; they also probably think that taxes are theft, and that they should be able to park their cars anywhere they like without paying anything. I actually know someone, who's a pretty decent guy generally, who thinks that public transport ought to be paid for entirely from the farebox, but that curb parking should be free.

I do wish someone could map out the path from our current tipping system to a rational non-tipping system. I've never seen a convincing plan of how to get from here to there.

Yours was a thoughtful response, Hersch. I, too, have never seen a convincing plan of how to get from here to there, and I'm not sure anyone's going to develop one. My guess is that it will take mavericks (Thomas Keller, The Swiss Bakery, Michael Landrum - take your pick) to initiate it, preferably with pockets deep enough to absorb any "server revolt" resulting from the change, long enough for other semi-mavericks to join the movement which will need to pick up steam fairly quickly to survive.

It's clear that Mark Furstenberg is not in favor of tipping; my only hope is that his essay was a genuine, soul-searching presentation rather than a shrewd pre-announcement. Knowing Mark, my guess is the former; if he were to have written this merely to "grease the skids of public acceptance," that would be something approaching immoral. But the Mark Furstenberg I know (and I do know him - we've dined together in the past) would not do this. Can you see how cynical I've become, even thinking about something such as this?

Mark, if you're reading this, and I suspect you are, please hold out and do something special. Raise your prices across-the-board, give your employees dollar-for-dollar increases, and have pamphlets explaining to the bewildered public what you did, and why. People will believe you, and you have enough gravitas in the industry to make this stick for awhile if not for eternity - it's the better way of having a service economy, I'm sure of it. And I promise you my support

[DaveO]

Anecdote: about two weeks ago, I was walking into Pie-Tanza at about 9 PM. I overheard a server, who was getting ready to leave, talking to her friend at precisely the wrong moment for her (right moment for me). She said that she'd worked a full lunch shift, and after tipping out, she had made $275 at lunch and $175 at dinner. I don't feel as sorry for servers and bartenders as a lot of people do because I know how much money they make - sometimes, it's a *lot*. Dishwashers, AGMs, line cooks, and busers/runners are the ones who need to make more money (I've said this numerous times here before, and have been saying the same thing for years - I don't want to drone on about it in this thread, but wanted to make the point that just because you're anti-tipping doesn't mean you're cheap - people should have pride in their work, and shouldn't need to be tipped to offer good service. I'm for a fundamental change in how our service economy works at the macro level; in the meantime, I will continue to tip well and protest against the system.)

The problem with this anecdote is that it is anecdotal.  I worked the Friday after this Christmas and grabbed a late lunch at Fireworks, Courthouse Arlington.  I got there at the tail end of the lunch period around 2:30 ish.  Fireworks is usually pretty busy.  That day it wasn't.  (I'll bet restaurants in malls were jammed).

The bartender told me I was her 4th customer for lunch.  She had a couple of more hours before the evening shift, but those next few hours are typically slow.  Slow...after that day.

Tip income for front of the house staff usually comprises the bulk of their income.  It can be great such as the example at Pie Tanza cited above, or it can be horrible.  Even great restaurants or normally busy restaurants have slow days.  Competition in this market is extensive, and any sort of "thing" can impact how busy a restaurant is and how much the tip dependent staff earn on any day.

I'm certainly for improving the income of restaurant staff, front of house and back of house.  Its a very tough nut.  Most restaurants are owned by individuals, they aren't part of chains, and they compete and struggle.  The work is not high skilled, as with the legal profession or specialists of one ilk or another.

Many staff take on these jobs at early stages in their careers.  Its not necessarily their ultimate goal.  Its simply not an easy problem to solve.

[DanCole42]

Not really related, but for the past couple of years I've gotten $200 worth of $2 bills at a time from the bank. Whenever I'm someplace with a tip jar (Bagel Buddies, Jersey Mike's, Chipotle, the Maryland Renaissance Faire) I toss in a handsome Jefferson. I used to just add the spare coins from the change, or toss in a dollar. But I figured with inflation I should up my game. Plus, people aren't used to seeing $2 bills, so more than the money I've seen folks get really excited: "Is that a $2 bill! Oh wow, my uncle used to give me those on my birthday!" or, where I'm regular, "Ah ha! So you're the $2 bill guy! Everyone here has been talking about them!"

I'm not just tipping with money: I'm tipping with appreciation and the gift of happiness.

[Barbara]

There is one aspect of tipping I haven't read mentioned, at least lately, and that is the IRS. They can go in and audit a restaurant and estimate the amount of tips (based on what percentage I don't know) a given waitron should have declared on his/her income tax filing. Given the cuts in the IRS budget over the years, I suspect that this doesn't happen all that often. I just know that I supervised someone whose salary was garnished by the IRS for not declaring a sufficient tip income on a previous job he had as a waiter. Then, again, he was such a putz he was likely one of those who got stiffed all the time. Or not.