WTF: In Living Wage

We Talk Friday Ep. 8: In Living Wage

Being Australian, and then moving to Finland, there is one thing I dislike a lot about the US - tipping culture. It is a horrible, horrible aspect of business there, and I think it should be taken out of culture as much as possible in business. People providing a service shouldn't have to rely on the kindness of strangers in order to make enough money, and if a business can't afford to pay a living wage to employees - it is a shit business.

What pisses me off more is that even in Finland and Australia, it seems to be creeping into the culture and being pushed as a norm. It shouldn't at all, and I hope there is a lot of pushback on the change, because what it does is reduces the need for employers in hospitality to take care of their employees financially, forcing them to compete against each other for scraps instead.

Strippers might be in a different business.

I was reading a story from a Marriot hotel with a sign that made it "easier to tip" the cleaning staff. Again, I get it that these people get paid fuck all, but the Marriot has a 26% profit margin - pay your fucking employees. Same for all the restaurants and café that put a price on the menu, and then that price goes up 15-20% because the customer is also meant to pay extra for the staff. The price on the menu is the price. End of story.

Some people say that they like tipping culture because it gets them better service, as the people work for the tip. But, that just doesn't make sense - the person is *getting paid to give good service. Pay them appropriately and if they don't give good service, fire them. Stop pushing the responsibility onto other people, setting up awkward situations that often lead to poor customer and employee experience.

Sure, if people want to tip, go right ahead, but there should be zero need for tipping, as their livelihood should not depend on it. Tipping should be reserved for exceptional service, as a bonus, not a part of the required salary to get the bills paid. There should be no expectation on a customer to pay more for good service, because that is the minimum that should be provided, because the people hired are in customer service. Providing good service is part of the job description.

And what pisses me off more these days, is when there is a growing expectation for a tip, even though the service has degraded. People are barely providing the bare minimum for what could be considered customer service, but are handing a card machine asking for a tip?

Fuck that!

In my opinion, tipping culture is just bad business practices put on display, where either the business is too shitty to make enough money to pay adequate salaries, or the owners are too greedy for profit to pay adequate salaries.

So, which is it?

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]