I’ve mused upon the theory of tipping quite a lot, of late; I think I can see some of the logic in it:

1. underpay your service staff
2. this motivates them to work harder to justify tips
3. motivated staff make for happy customers
4. happy customers generate even more customers
5. more customers make more revenue

…but in truth it does not seem to entirely work out like that; the virtuous circle that starts with underpaying your staff (?) falls prey to human behaviour on the customer side – embarrassment, social pressure, not wanting to be seen as cheap – until eventually it becomes expected and finally apparently mandatory…

[story.news.yahoo.com]

Man Arrested for Leaving Small Tip

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. – Humberto A. Taveras put his money where his mouth is and ended up arrested, accused of leaving an inadequate tip at a restaurant.

Taveras, 41, faces a misdemeanor charge of theft of services after he and his fellow diners argued with Soprano’s Italian and American Grill managers over the legality of requiring an 18 percent tip for large parties. …

…and this is not even to touch upon the matter of surly serving staff.

I just can’t see the above as being in the spirit of tipping – why not just give staff a salary and expect them to earn it, and fire them if they don’t? I feel it’s a bit like the UK TV License Fee, or the National Insurance both of which are taxes in all but name, albeit stovepiped to specific agencies.

Tips, especially standardised, automatically added to your bill tips, are another cost. Why pretend they are otherwise?

Contrast this with Japan, where service is a matter of pride and tipping can be seen insulting – or even in British pubs where the service metaphor is not in play – and you have a counterpoint to the whole keep ’em lean and eager to please thing.