The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Noah Hess
Tipping for a long time has been a way to show appreciation for good customer service. However, tipping started to get out of control once covid hit. After restaurants were allowed to reopen for carryout orders only, restaurants started giving the option to tip on carryout orders. To help support waiters and servers out of work. I thought this was a great idea and an effective way to help someone who is down on their luck. Most people would agree until it started to get taken advantage of. Businesses saw this as an opportunity to offer increased pay without costing the businesses more money. Because the customer’s tip would go to increasing the worker’s hourly wage.
Other businesses saw this as an opportunity they could take advantage of, so they did. Causing something called tipping fatigue. A feeling of being overwhelmed and aggravated by being asked to tip too often. Which leads some to be resistant to tipping in appropriate situations. Like when eating out at a sit-down restaurant. This is sad because some people rely on tips to make a livable wage. They are suffering from business greed of wanting to offer higher pay without costing themselves money. Taking advantage of customers’ generosity.
Which is where things started to get out of hand. Now it feels like you are asked to tip in every transaction. Tipping feels more like peer pressure and less like a sign of appreciation. In almost every transaction I make I am asked if I want to add a small tip. But I did not receive any service. I don’t mind tipping when receiving customer service, no matter how small.
I want to make it very clear that tipping outside customer service transactions is the problem that is causing tipping fatigue. I believe that you should tip whenever you receive customer service. Especially when you feel like you have received great service. The problem is tipping is becoming less and less about customer service and more of an expectation.
Being asked to tip has gotten so out of hand that tipping has turned into an expectation in transactions outside of customer service. A notable example of this is being asked to tip at checkout. According to several internet posts people have reported even being asked to tip at self-checkout. This is inappropriate because you are doing all the work yourself. As no service is being provided, especially no service by a human!
If this keeps going, tipping will be expected in every transaction. It will take away from the true value of a tip which is basically thanking someone for outstanding service. It would lower the value of good customer service. People will stop finding the incentive to work hard, be efficient, and provide enjoyable experience. Because they will start to have a feeling of entitlement. I believe that receiving a well-earned tip means more than a guilty obligation.
I by no means think as a society we should get rid of tipping. But I would like it to go back to what it was prior to covid. I would like tipping to go back to a way of showing appreciation for good customer service. A way to support and incentivize good customer service from those in the customer service industry. So next time a machine asks for a tip, save that money, and give a little extra to a waiter or server that deserves it.