Tapping Out of Tipping

It’s always fun sharing a morning coffee and breakfast with my gal pals.

So off we go to my local café where I ask for an iced coffee and avocado toast from the employee at the counter.

Smiles all around until I go to pay for it. You know the drill. You tap your card when suddenly the screen flashes a tip prompt, usually starting at 18 percent but often climbing up to 25 percent.

Are you kidding me?

All she did was ask for my order. Is she a volunteer or is she a paid employee? And why when I am ready to leave do I have to sort my dirty dishes myself and put them in the garbage or recycle?

Should I be the one demanding a tip?

It’s getting out of hand as we are “tapping out of tipping”.  This refers to increasing resistance, particularly among Generation Z and Millennials, to the growing expectation to tip almost everywhere now. This phenomenon is known as tipflation  and youth are opting out of feeling guilty about tipping…maybe it’s time for we seniors to do the same. Tap, tip, repeat might soon be in the rearview mirror.

New research from H & R Block Canada (the tax people) says that 94 percent of Canadians say tipping is out of control and that we are officially at a tipping point – literally.

While tipping used to be a way to show appreciation for exceptional service, it is now an expectation to make you feel guilty because you didn’t leave enough or you didn’t leave anything at all. That’s a lot of emotional baggage to lay on someone who just wants to sip a latte with a friend. Since when did a coffee drip become a guilt trip?

This sense of obligation is putting financial pressure on seniors who are mostly on a fixed income and whose budgets are already feeling stretched in today’s inflationary environment.

If employers aren’t paying their staff a living wage, is it up to us to supplement their income? Why not incorporate a service fee model as they do in parts of Europe and Asia?

There isn’t a simple answer but let’s begin to eliminate tipping where it is not warranted such as self-service or take-out or when the service isn’t exceptional or they are doing the job they were hired to do.

If anyone deserves a tip, it should be the customer care and technical support  guys who are outsourced employees of my beloved phone, TV and internet provider who shall remain nameless. After dealing with this corporate calamity for four consecutive days, I can now write this, having recovered from my apoplectic fit.

The chap from Romania who was apologetic for the mess my provider had got me in and worked tirelessly to solve my problem with calmness and kindness.

Ditto to the techies from Guatemala and India who demonstrated endless patience and perseverance as they soothed my frazzled nerves.

Did any of these fellas ask me for a tip? Absolutely not. Did they deserve a tip? Most certainly.

Lastly, we mustn’t forget the congenial employee at my bank who was determined to reduce my anxiety after my banking and Mastercard phone apps didn’t work. After two hours, she felt confident my problems were resolved. If this young woman is an example of our current workforce, then we are in good shape.

Did she ask me for a tip?

Definitely not, although at one point I was willing to offer her my first-born child. She declined my generous offer.

I bought her an iced latte instead.