tip of the day
Having recently become directly involved with a donations & content payments dotcom start-up, it was with great interest that I read this weekend’s sharing & tipping feature in The Guardian. Apparently, it’s becoming increasingly fashionable to reach for Mr Pink’s smallest violin in the world and decry tipping, and even if you’ve never had the kahunas to do this yourself, who hasn’t heard a heated discussion taking place at the table next to yours over the automatic inclusion of a 12.5% tip for non-existent service and inedible nosh?
The author, Patrick Collinson, recounts the story of his, albeit short-lived, post-university table-waiting career. Learning from the old hands of front office, he quickly grew to appreciate the subtle nuances of the customer service/exchange relationship. The French round-up to the largest denomination (usually the pound or euro) before making a very vocal display of telling you to keep the (small) change. Merci! Americans, on the other hand, appear to have tipping enshrined in their very constitution: perhaps somewhere between the Second Amendment to bear arms and the Fifth to keep their mouths shut about anything that actually matters, sits the state-sanctioned right to bear a suitably beneficial donation to the appropriately attired Hooters waitress. Patrick had little idea how much the donation would be, other than it could often allow him to finish the shift early and stand his round at the bar until the wee hours of the morning. God bless America. The Japanese don’t tip. Never. Ever. And do you know the Russian for please and thank-you? No, neither do they, so don’t even think of it. Personally, within our own fair island, I quite like Yorkshiremen – they’re like the Scots with all the generosity squeezed out.
The most interesting outcome from Patrick’s experiences was the effect that it then had on his personal actions, and how quickly he adopted the capitalist gene. Far from treating everyone in the Guardian’s universally egalitarian manner where every paying customer warranted the same superb attention & service, he soon learned to work what the system encourages: Americans were adopted like the prodigal son, the English & German tolerated, the French ignored and the oriental barred at door. He counted his lucky stars that, what with the language, currency and culture difficulties, those from the north seldom ventured south!
So, the next time you sit down for your favourite eggs benedict with the first juicy-red of the day, just remember, what goes around, comes around, and get ready to put your hand in your pocket.
