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Here's a tip: Stop begging for money
By Brian D. Rossman
Is the cost of living so bad here in Silicon Valley that working stiffs are reduced to begging for money? The beggar industry is everywhere. I see it in restaurants, nightclubs, ice cream stores, coffee shops, beauty salons, gas stations and many other locations.
I am speaking of tip jars. The tip jar, the previously indiscreet courtesy can of coins made popular by street-corner musicians and others down on their luck, has now become ubiquitous to Silicon Valley and resides wherever products or services are sold.
Before you dismiss this as ranting from a gratuity-less columnist (try to say that phrase three times fast), I would like to declare that I tip from 20 to 25 percent in restaurants. Having been a host, a waiter and a bartender in my formative years, I know the value of the food service provider and I tip accordingly. However, the tip jar violations to which I am referring involve the sales of a product or a self-service activity that traditionally required no gratuity from the purchaser.
I will illustrate with a true tale. On a recent Saturday, I ventured into a local nightclub with a group of friends celebrating an engagement. As we moved to the front of the line, I noticed a tip jar in front of the cashier.
I observed the young woman managing the register for a few minutes. She was in her early 20s, dressed in brown and black, with hair colored to match her outfit. She had long nails with a small metal chain hooking around her index finger. This chain matched the piercing on her nose and tongue (noticeable from the manner in which she chewed her gum).
I was curious to see what tip-worthy services she provided beyond taking patrons' money and stamping the underside of their right wrist with permanent black ink. After our entire party had paid the surcharge to enter this overcrowded warehouse, I asked her who received the bounty in the tip jar.
"It is mine. I put it out."
"Why?" I asked.
"To make money." The duh at the end her sentence was not audible, but it was discernible on her face. As my friends were looking to see why I was holding up the line by speaking with someone who, obviously, did not want to be spoken to, I decided to get to the point.
"Why do you deserve a tip for taking customers' entry fees?"
Her disinterested tone turned aggressive. "I work my a-- off for eight hours a night. I have to sit in this chair taking money. I deserve all the tips I get. How else am I supposed to make money?"
SALARY comes to mind. That is why employers pay salaries to employees. People generally do not choose to stamp for free.
This is not the first time that I have seen someone request (or even demand) a gratuity for something that falls within their basic job requirement. Have you been to a coffee shop or ice cream store recently? Order your latte or shake and pay the person behind the register. Inevitably, there will be a tip jar that must be navigated in order for your change to reach its destination in your pocket or purse.
Even if you are the first customer of the day, this tip jar will already have some currency inside. How can that be? Did the tip fairy visit the previous night? Sort of. Prior to placing the jar out for public solicitation, the worker puts some money inside to have customers believe that tipping is acceptable at a non-customary-tip establishment.
Is there any way to protect ourselves from this insidious attack on our change? Yes. To quote the former first lady once removed, "Just say no." It may initially be difficult. Your pockets may be weighted down with extra coins and those in line may look at you and then the jar and then at you and then at the jar. But, with your back straight and your head held high, point to the door and scream at the top of your lungs, "Look, it's Madonna!"
It may not be enough to have empathy for those occupations that do not receive enough compensation for the benefit they provide to society. Teachers come to mind. However, there are other solutions, such as improving living wages and working conditions, that should be tried ahead of indiscriminate tipping. Unless, of course, you care to donate to www.tipacolumnist.com.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
