Have you noticed tip jars in establishments where previously we didn\u2019t leave gratuities? Liquor and retail stores, and small groceries. No-service tipping has left us confused. Is this a new social norm? When and how much are we expected to tip when a service isn\u2019t provided?<\/p>\n
This came to light recently in a liquor store, when \u2013 with no assistance from a person behind a counter \u2013 we scaled the bottom shelf of a commercial fridge to reach a single can of beer, high on the top shelf, in the far back. Then at checkout, a tip jar stood prominently on a counter.<\/p>\n
Another instance. We purchased a gift for $80 and \u2013 because we didn\u2019t budget for it \u2013 skipped the tip on the screen. That look on the salesperson\u2019s face told us we did something wrong. Was that friendly banter worthy of a gratuity?<\/p>\n
We\u2019re just asking in case we missed a social cue. Or social tsunami.<\/p>\n
Maybe customers are expected to help fund workers or make up for pricier, delayed global supply chain issues. The news came as fast as a bakery worker flipping a touchscreen with tip percentages, sometimes starting at 20%. Again, more and more businesses have a tip request of some sort.<\/p>\n
In the beginning, we fumbled. How to compute and monetize the reach of 3 feet for a loaf of bread? But this was our mistake. It\u2019s not about service. Of course, we tipped but were confused about the proper percent if we were to measure a gratuity with a level of service \u2013 no longer the case. We\u2019re a bit lost on how to calculate.<\/p>\n
We get, too, that whatever wage that employee is making isn\u2019t likely a livable one. Most everything \u2013 in particular, housing \u2013 is stratospherically expensive in the Southwest. Workers need those gratuities to live on. But we\u2019re not talking about jobs under Colorado\u2019s tipped employee minimum wage, which is $9.54. It\u2019s good that restaurant workers are making more per hour these days, not being as tip dependent. Having worked in the service industry, way back when, we are doomed to overtip for life. We are easy marks, knowing that nice customers make up for the jerks.<\/p>\n
The new tip jar for minimum-wage workers \u2013 making $12.56 an hour \u2013 implies they need gratuities to stay in those jobs, too. We\u2019re glad to see employers recruiting entry-level staffers at $15 an hour, at least. They can\u2019t go much lower.<\/p>\n
We tip when a service is performed from workers with specific skills \u2013 barbers, nail technicians. This isn\u2019t new.<\/p>\n
But retail tipping is. Maybe this is because in-person shopping could all go away. We\u2019ve already lost brick-and-mortar stores to online shopping. Do we pay more for the in-person shopping experience, which beats purchasing online? (Unless, you\u2019d prefer to shop while wearing a robe.) We interact with another person and use soft social skills \u2013 lubricants in these exchanges. There\u2019s value here. But is it worth a 25% gratuity? That\u2019s to each consumer to figure out, which isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
How to negotiate this new world of tipping? Does the act of putting out a tip jar make the request legit?<\/p>\n
To the liquor-store worker on your phone behind the counter. We weren\u2019t supposed to stand on that cold bottom shelf to reach for that beer. You didn\u2019t notice us, probably a good thing. Not all workers equate tips with excellent service. We stuffed dollars into the jar because it was an awkward moment and you could probably use a few extra bucks.<\/p>\n
Something has to give. Correlating generosity with pricing is inevitable, which we\u2019re reluctant to admit in this new world of no-service tipping. With inflation, we should probably buy that less expensive beer anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
you noticed tip jars in establishments where previously we didn\u2019t leave gratuities? Liquor and retail stores, and small groceries. No-service tipping has left us confused. Is this a new social norm? When and how much are we expected to tip when a service isn\u2019t provided? This came to light recently in a liquor store, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37057"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}