Why do we tip in the UK?

To tip, or not to tip. That is the question ..... or ........ Just the Tip

Having worked in the hospitality industry for three quarters of my working life, tipping has been an ever present and welcomed supplement to my income. Yet years of discussing the issue of wether or not we should tip our serving staff in the UK I'd like to both share some of the mostly widely held views whilst adding my own perspective upon the subject.

Firstly, I'd like to begin by saying that it might seem as though I am biting the hand that feeds. Yet I just don't feel as if tipping culture should be necessary or encouraged within the UK. I will most certainly not deny that I am tipped generously by hundreds of people each year, and that it goes a long way to increasing both job satisfaction, and my quality of life. In no other job could I expect to receive a bonus scheme that almost rewards 50% of my wage as a supplement weekly. So why on earth would I possibly want it to stop.

Here we approach the first argument against tipping: That the customer should not be obliged to fill the wage gap of the employer. Whilst it is true that the minimum wage prevents the existence of a wage structure similar to that of the US in which many serving staff are paid scandalously little, and the customer is almost duty bound to fill this shortfall. Yet the service industry in Britain remains a minimum wage job, and if it were possible to pay less, many employers would certainly adopt an Americanised system. My views on why both waiting and bar-tending should be approached as an above minimum wage job could be expanded into another essay of its own, but for now I shall leave it to one condensed point that I shall approach in a later paragraph.

As was mentioned earlier, I am extremely grateful for peoples generosity when it comes to leaving me a tip. Yet I would feel that my service is not reflected by the tip I expect. 

I like to think that I go out of my way to ensure that people enjoy themselves at my establishment. If it means being informed on both international and local news and sports, local geography, upcoming weather etc. on the off chance that someone might be interested, or that it might add to the friendly nature of service offered by my establishment, then I am prepared. Again, it is not because I expect a tip, but because a facet of my job might require that at some point during my working day.

If some leaves me £30 or 30 pence it would not offend me. I would be equally as pleased so long as they enjoyed their experience. A customer that returns = increased trade. Increased trade = more staffing hours available. More staffing hours = more opportunities to earn money. All areas of my service are geared towards ensuring customers return to the restaurant and generate trade. I shouldn't forget that I actually enjoy the part of my job where I get to meet exciting people and have interesting conversations. This I would gladly do for free.

Now I am sure that some people have agreed with those points so far. But we have all eaten in a restaurant where we have been served by the polar opposites of waiting staff. The prompt, friendly, attentive member of serving staff that seemed to actually care for your experience. Or maybe you had the Waiter/Waitress (presumed missing in action) who you have only seen once during the entire meal. The only mystery greater than their disappearance is the noticeably obvious absence of your food.

So what separates these two staff members? In terms of capability and benefit to the company, the gulf is insurmountable. Financially however, nothing separates them as long as they are within the same age bracket of the minimum wage (I understand that this is a generalization, yes some places do pay good waiting staff more. But sadly this is the exception, not the rule).

One might ask again why the customer should be expected to fill the wage disparity. So they should.

Yes it is true that most small establishments cannot afford to operate within a profitable wage percentage should they actually reward this system, the chief problem lies in many areas, ranging from managerial ineptitude in keeping under-performing staff, the staff themselves not approaching a job in a professional manner, the financial benefits of having a payroll of staff on minimum wage with zero hours contracts. These are but a few of the problems, there are many industry wide problems, and individual cases that would dominate my writing for the next year. Yet I feel at least some of these problems would have to be addressed before we might expect to move away from tipping as a cultural norm.

So now I will explain why I disagree with tipping, yet shall continue to tip others and gratefully accept tips.

As I mentioned before, hospitality work is a minimum wage job. It is hard work at times, the hours are exceptionally unsociable, the conditions of working (chiefly time between shifts/ on duty breaks/ holiday / sick pay) often contravene UK employment laws (I write this having spent years working 60 hour weeks whilst being paid for 48 of them, thus lowering my salary to less that of the minimum wage). So given that the industry both attracted and retained both myself and multitudes of seemingly bright and capable people, why then would we continue to work in this industry?

Put quite simply, the tips.

I can almost guarantee you that if tipping did not exist, many of these bright and capable people would seek employment in jobs that were either more financially stable, less demanding, and/or provided better long term opportunities. 

It is then who, you might ask, would then willingly fill the void of the minimum wage serving staff?

I gladly leave tips to my serving staff, and will continue to do so 'To Insure Prompt Service'. 

Yes, waiting on tables is not rocket science. But I would rather pay up than experience the alternatives.

So until the industry is forced by either internal or external pressure to change it employment model,

Please don't forget to tip your server.

Reconciling the self

Becoming a Capitalist consumer .... do we have to be reformed Marxists?

I recently got pointed to a British sitcom from the late 1970's called Citizen Smith. In it a young Marxist and self styled 'urban guerilla' tries to start his own political revolution in Tooting, London (No, I didn't make it up). What I found particularly engaging about it was that he was forced to reconcile his revolutionary ideals, with the desire for the comforts of a middle class life with his bourgeois girlfriend.

I was aware of the idea that Universities were the breeding ground of Marxism and socialism, I had always put this down to the possibility that you are rarely more enabled to be ideological than when you feel most enlightened, whilst having little in the way of worldly possessions. Nothing makes you identify with Che Guevara more than eating 5p Instant Noodles straight from the pan.

So what is it that quells the new socialist sentiments? Capitalism, consumerism, and an allocated place within society? The great struggle between the 'have's' and the 'have-not's' loses impotus when you enter the job market. You can now buy all the things you had ever wanted, and you have yet to take on stronger financial obligations that prevent you from doing so.

This also fulfills the consumerism portion; that you buy things and, you become happy. I mean, now you can put the heating on all day, and afford it! (I am pretty sure that the further to the Left a house is, the colder it is). But perhaps often overlooked is not that you suddenly forget your Marixist leanings, but you are very aware of them, and now you have tasted Capitalism, it makes for better digestion. You grow up a consumer, you learn to be a socialist, and evolve into a capitalist. What prevents most of us from achieving our full Capitalist potential is the limited nature of its hierarchy .... but that is for another time.

So where does this leave us? Do we still ever think of starting a revolution in our own Tooting? Do we lay back and become pacified consumers and turn off to politics. Maybe it is a little of both, maybe we are all just waiting for an answer to come along?