Quote:
Originally Posted by The Yen Man
But most people aren't against tipping. They're against tipping for crappy service. I know for me, I always tip, but sometimes its purely out of guilt and to not look cheap, and not because I had good service. Even crappy service gets some kind of tip from me.
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People that are against tipping for crappy service aren't who I'm talking about, I'm talking about the people who are against tipping altogether. Some are quite blunt about it, others simply resent the expectation and give the minimum they feel they can without inviting too much censure - not because they aren't just as cheap, just that they lack the courage to be *blatantly* cheap.
Tipping is a custom here in Canada and the US. Waitstaff depend on that custom to make a reasonable wage. Therefore, if you choose to flout the custom, you are directly affecting someone's ability to make a decent wage.
Arguments that the custom is arbitrary are entirely beside the point - it is BECAUSE it is arbitrary that it is a custom, not a world-wide phenomenon. Yakety-yak about how the retail workers or bottlepickers of the world don't get tipped is entirely beside the point - they got the short end of the custom-stick, no doubt, but not tipping at a restaurant isn't going to help that situation out, is it? As customs go, tipping is not morally reprehensible, disgusting, or particularly onerous, so it follows that while in Canada, do as the Canadians do, and tip your servers! (preferably without belly-aching about it).
Other types of service industries are less clear-cut; I always tip the pizza delivery guy, cabbies, barbers and bellhops, but I never tip when I go to pick up food. Those situations are hard to put in unquestionable cultural context; realistically, though, if you have never tipped any of the preceding four job-types, you probably either don't or hate tipping waitstaff too, and you probably are, shall we say, "careful with your money."