Australians I’ve met in my travels have given me mostly good impressions of what Australians are like (oh my gosh, I’m stereotyping aren’t I?), and left me with the idea that Australia would be a really cool place to visit – the no-tipping culture just got added to the list of reasons why I think it would be neat to spend some time in Australia.
On the infrequent occasions that I eat in a place where tipping is expected, I tip, usually reluctantly. I appreciate friendliness, happiness, and courtesy but I don’t like overly “friendly” service, too much synthetic cheer, discourteous kinds of informality, or the worst - manic enthusiasm. I believe all these disorders are symptoms of the tipping culture.
As a teen, I worked in a non-franchise Mexican fast food place. It was high quality IMO, and very popular. I worked as many hours as I could get, usually after school from prior to the dinner rush through closing – to include accompanying the manager to the bank drop box to drop off the cash after closing. I cooked (yes there was real cooking – this was not a franchise), cleaned, took orders, ran the cash register, hauled garbage, took stock, did prep, fixed problems, trained new people – so my work required many skills, teamwork, communication, a good attitude, and a lot of energy. My pay was raised to above minimum wage but I was still a low paid worker.
I NEVER got a tip and it NEVER occurred to me that there was anything unfair about that. So why is it that it’s somehow mean-spirited to think that waiters and waitresses really shouldn’t be tipped? You can’t convince me that waiters and waitresses work harder or employ more energy or talent on the job than I did at the restaurant where I worked.
True believers in the “from each according to his abilities – to each according to his needs” philosophy may say “Well AJ, you were in High School it was OK to not pay you much because you didn’t NEED much, we’re talking about people whose living depends on their low paid jobs – they NEED tips.” - well actually I did need the money, but what about the college students, the adults, and the single mother who worked there? They didn’t get tips either. And I don’t recall it ever being an issue. I guess a key piece of info that I don’t know and that is probably not consistent across the board is: what are the hourly wages of wait-staff? Do they get paid less than workers in restaurants in which there is no tipping?
