Sue_xx_yy

Michael Lynn, an associate professor of consumer behaviour at Cornell, has concluded that consumers' assessment of good service has little to do with the amount they tip.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/op...rticle_popular

In brief, his research suggests that people tip more when they like the server, not because of attention to service detail like refilling water glasses, etc. (I have long suspected that servers perceived as physically attractive receive better tips than those perceived as less physically attractive, independent of their performance, and this finding seems to corroborate my suspicions.)

Lynn notes that tipping is proportional to the amount of the bill, and such amount often bears little relationship to low-key but quality service.

Dr. Lynn also points out that good performance comes from employees who have been encouraged to be loyal to their employer and to remain at the job as a serious long-term concern. This is less likely under a system in which the employer is able to pay minimum wages to staff who are more like subcontractors than employees.

In short, this article seems to suggest that the French system of service included makes for better performance.

elaine

oh, I think that 'better performance' is in the eye of the beholder. In a formal restaurant I expect highly professional service, with my wine and water glasses refilled without my asking, with solicitous but non-intrusive inquiries as to my dining well-being.
In a casual place, even if there are a few mistakes in the service, a friendly smile and the impression that the server is trying to please, will make up for a lot, imo. I don't think of physical appearance so much, though it may be subliminal, I hope for just a friendly smile, neat appearance, and the feeling that they mean well.

GeoffHamer

It's not just the French system. In several other European countries including Germany, a service charge is included in restaurant bills.

rex

It's so crazy and illogical to me, and it is a secret hope of mine to someday run some kind of establishment in the hospitality sector, and make it clear that I would feel terribly embarrassed if you offered a gift ("tip&quot to any of my employees - - recognizing as management that it is fully my responsibility to fulfill the duties of employee performance evaluation, compensation research and motivation to have employees perform good custome service as that is the job they have chosen.

The service charge notion, as a percentage of total expense makes virtually the same lack of sense to me. Why single out that portion of the customer's cost which is designated to one class of employees? Should the bill also break out the "cooking" (or pouring) "fee"? how much goes to the purchasing department? to the person who sweeps the floors? and how about indicating what cut the owner gets?

The old thread about "tipping the pilot" crystallizes in three words the insanity of it all. What portion of an APEX fare goes to the person who fuels the plane? does a bigger or smaller share of a business class fare go to the person who checks the tire pressure on the landing gear? Either way, I hope they are being paid the right amount to do the job well!

Best wishes,

Rex

PatrickLondon

Absolutely. A lot of places will pool tips so that everybody gets some share.

Patrick

As I mentioned on another thread about this same article, the thinking does not take into account a couple of things. One of those is that these days even in Europe (France included) people are expected more and more to leave a "tip" in addition to the included "service charge", particularly at fine restaurants. It might also be argued that since the onset of that custom, service has improved.

And regarding people tipping more because they liked the waiter than because of the good service -- isn't showing a friendly and nice personality and being friendly to the customer in fact a major part of the service itself?

And that theory about waiters being less likely to remain loyal when only paid minimum wage and rely on tips, was thrown out the window by the author himself. He even pointed out that more and more in good establishments the age of waiters is being extended indicating that there are more "career" waiters than there used to be. I find it just as likely that waiters will remain loyal to a good and well run establishment so long as tips are good. Dr. Lynn himself pointed out that most agree a good waiter can make more by working for tips than if they were being paid salary. So what was the logic in this whole point?

Intrepid1

Good luck, Rex, in finding employees willing to work for you without tips unless you plan on paying them a really decent wage despite all sorts of non-monetary "motivation."

Waiting on tables or schlepping bags can be very hard work, especially when you end up having to put up with some of the "expectations" and bad hair days and "I'll show you who is boss" type folks sometimes seen.

To me this entire "study" suggests what many of us already know: tipping remains a completely personal behavior to include the many varied expectations and definitions of "good" and "bad" service. Therefore it should come as little surprise that it is often arbitrary.

ira

>The service charge notion, as a percentage of total expense makes virtually the same lack of sense to me.<

Ummmmmm. I should think that adding 15% to the bill is sufficient to pay all of the help a reasonable wage.

nytraveler

It certainly makes sense that you would get better, more professional servce from trained, long-term staff paid a reasonable wage and full benefits. Naturally someone like that has a much better chance - and reason - to develop good job skills than a college kid or actor in the making getting a couple of dollars an hour, a "free" dinner and no benefits at all.

However, if restaurant owners were required to quintuple the salary they pay their staff, pay SS taxes and provide medical and other benefits the price of meals in almost all restaurants would skyrocket. It doesn't seem likely that the 15% most people give in tips would be nearly enough to cover this increase.

So - essentailly - at the moment we in the US are getting what we pay for.

And for those of you who say salaries would not have to quintuple - wait staff in many NYC rstaurants get about $3 per hour. The counter staff at MickeyDs get $10 to $11 per hour - so wait staff would have to get at least $15 - otherwise you would have the MickeyD's kids waiting on you.

For perspective - $15 per hour is $31,000 per year - and in Manhattan you can;t begin to touch an experienced admin for that amount.

The current system is feasible only because most wait staff have their own health insurance - or do without - and have a substantial amount of unreported cash income they don't have to pay taxes on.

So - everyone who's wiling to have their $14 plate of pasta cost $25 or more - sign up here and we can change the system and eliminate tipping.

doonhamer

Rex,
"I would feel terribly embarrassed if you offered a gift ("tip&quot to any of my employees"
are you from Iceland? Over there, it is considered rude to tip (and so it should be at their prices!)

alya

The Seaport Hotel in Boston is 'gratuity free', you pay an extra $3 service tax in addition to your room charge.

We saw quite a few people leave a tip at the bar and when the barstaff tried to give it back they we're waved away. All the tips that were left were put into the cash register.

francophile03

Someone I know was charged a $3/day housekeeping fee. This was at a major resort in Arizona but they were attending with a group. The group had to agree to this fee per their hotel contract as a 'compensation' for the group discount rate they were given! Didn't seem fair to me.

alya

franchophile

The $3 we paid covered everything, porters, housekeeping, barstaff etc. It didn't seem enough to me!

Patrick

A good friend of mine passed 40 a couple years ago and was going through a bit of depression in that it looked like he was going to be a "career" waiter. He toyed with the idea and even applied for several unrelated jobs. But when he sat down and he put pencil to paper, he realized that he works 5 nights a week for 6 hours a night (30 hour work week). On a really bad night he has made as little as $20 an hour. The usual is more like $40 an hour. And on many good nights it is up to $75 or more an hour! It is a very good restaurant. So are some of you suggesting that the restaurant is going to start paying him from $120 to $ 600 a night without raising their prices DRASTICALLY?

Incidentally he will ashamedly admit that he works for tips. When his customers are European tourists (we have a lot of them here), particularly UK tourists, he offers much less service, concentrating on his other tables. He's smart enough to know that 10% is about tops he'll get out of most of them and sometimes almost nothing. But his many regular "request" customers often tip 25 to 30% or more.

alya

Patrick,

I assume that's why the Seaport is 'gratuity free'. It's next to the WTC in Boston and must get a lot of foreign visitors, many of who either don't tip or tip badly.

We had very good service and the staff were extremely pleasant, it just felt strange not tipping.

francophile03

Alya, the $3 was just for housekeeping. In addition, they were charged a $10/day resort fee. In your case, no, $3 isn't much as it's for all the service people.

crefloors

Restaurant owner DO pay FICA and Medicare on their employees tips and if they don't they ARE in violation of the law. The IRS has worked out a formula with business such as casinos and restaurants so that these monies are paid. That also is one of the reasons that some places pool tips...makes it easier to keep track of. Having said that, the fact that tips are paid in cash would still make it possible for a certain amount to go undeclared but that's the reason for the formula...it will cover most of it.

bookchick

Although tipping surely didn't originate in the US, perhaps Rex's reluctance to participate in it has to do with the fact it was once regarded as a covert activity:

Tip was originally thieves' slang--then called "cant"--and meant 'to give; pass along'. Sometimes tip was used with a sum of money as the object, in constructions such as "tip me a guinea" ("me" is an indirect object in this sentence). Both uses are found in 1610. The familiar current use, 'to give a gratuity to (a person)', is first recorded in the early eighteenth century and was still considered unfamiliar in the mainstream later in the eighteenth century ("He advised his friend...to begin with tipping (as it is called) the great man's servant"--Henry Fielding). The noun, as mentioned, dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. The senses 'a secret or private piece of information; secret advice' ("gave me a tip about the stock market&quot or 'a useful hint or idea' ("tips on baking bread&quot are probably figurative derivations from our tip, though some dictionaries regard these as separate words. It's merely yet another urban myth that "tips" is an acronym for "to insure prompt service".

I think it's just another habit or social custom that is often taken to the extreme. A pal of mine is a guide in Rome and said it took him a long time to understand the concept, but it is most prevalent in his clientele among the Americans. The Hotel San Carlo in Rome is loathe to allow their staff to accept tips, yet the service is wonderful.

A high school friend of mine waitressed her way through university, and said that the owner of the restaurant where she worked mandated as a condition of employment that everyone who received a tip during a shift put the $$ in a tip jar; at the end of the shift, the contents were distributed to the cook, the waitstaff, the hostess and the bus boys and dishwashers. (It was a "dry" establishment, so no bartender was there.)

BC

rex

If this fantasy of mine were to ever occur, the cost to each customer would not be "low rung" -- and yes, since I would expect to do the proper compensation resarch, I would anticipate the need to offer competitive salries and benefits, which would include profit-sharing.

I actually <i>have</i> run a small business before, and I know how hard it is. I usually chuckle at the expression &quot;it's not brain surgery&quot;, where brain surgery is put forth as something very difficult. Heck, brain surgery is easy. Try running a small business!