I'd rather be served by a slightly inattentive sullen teenager in the UK, than a perky waitress with a fake smile pestering me all the time in the US.
I would pick the perky attentive waiter sporting a smile that neither you nor i know is fake over a sullen inattentive person anywhere. In fact, if someone is having a bad day, I actually appreciate the effort to make it better with a fake smile than imposing it on me with a bad attitude. I've experienced overbearing waiters and the solution is as simple as politely asking for space. Nobody walks away from a moment like that feeling angry.
Back to the ultimate point: the question at hand is does tipping (overall) add to or take away from the quality of service provided to the partron. Based on my experience the answer is yes. All else equal - a person may or may not care about the tip.. in which case you get your base level of service. However, you may come across someone that does, in which case you are overwhelmingly more likely to get better service as a result.
Last thought: I find that tipping for service establishes a more direct human bond between me (the recipient) and the person performing the service that ultimately adds (positively) to the mutual experience. Rarely have I been anywhere where I walked away thinking I would have gotten better had I not tipped.
If it's not fake, they're doing a bad job showing it.
>the solution is as simple as politely asking for space. Nobody walks away from a moment like that feeling angry.
Not angry, but it is an awkward thing to request, and I'd rather not have to.
>I find that tipping for service establishes a more direct human bond between me (the recipient) and the person performing the service
I absolutely disagree with that. I find reliance on tipping creates an alienating subservient relationship. No one is going to be genuine when they're depending on my opinion of them for their pay that evening.
(UK resident.)
Fast food?
Buying shoes?
Car wash?
Repairing plumbing?
Fixing a computer?
I don't see why eating in a restaurant should need extra incentives to the waiters, when we expect good service without tips elsewhere.
It wasn't until I was back in my hotel room that realised I was probably supposed to tip.
I waited and he just looked at me incredulously and asked "What? Do you want CHANGE??". I apologised and said i forgot about the tip thing and perhaps he could just give me a couple of singles as change. I thought that basically 40% tip was a little high. He gave me a couple of bucks back with ill grace.
Pretty much turned me off the whole expected tipping culture altogether.
Forget what you "expect".
Do you actually GET "good service without tips elsewhere"?
My point (and the parent's point) exactly.
From a baseline of having eaten at restaurants all over the world, eating in US restaurants that tip have some of the best service.
Whether the service is worse in some other tipping industries, is not an argument as to whether the service is worse in tipping restaurants.
If you mean responding quickly when we want something, and dealing with problems professionally, then yes.
If you mean constant attention and fake smiles then no.
Somebody can be paid handsomely and do a crap job if there's nothing to motivate them otherwise.
With no tipping better service doesn't buy you much. With tipping better service buys you a larger tip.
Obviously there are exceptions.
Is the US system of tipping as an expected part of the pay of service staff really an incentive though? Isn't the incentive of service staff really just based on getting more than the "base tip" (which can be 10, 15 or 20%)?
In countries where he "base tip" for the expected level of service is zero, tips can still be 10% or 20% for good service.
But this works both ways: If the service staff expects to be tipped regardless of the quality of service, then there's not much incentive for good service in the first place, because the customers are expected to tip anyway and bad service will just result in a marginally lower tip.
If customers are not expected to tip at all, then the service staff has to put in some actual effort to get a tip, because their service needs to be so "exceptionally good" that the customer actually notices it, instead of just taking it for granted.
It also doesn't really explain the fact that tipping in the US is basically mandatory, regardless of good service. If it's basically mandatory, where's the incentive to offer good service?
Sure you might have a higher chance of getting 30% for good service - but I think it's probably easier to get 10 or 20% for good service in a place where 0% is the expected level.
Thats the idea also where there isn't a set level of expected tip (like in most of the world).
I'm not opposed to the idea of tipping, I'm opposed to the idea of a specific level of tip being expected, effectively making it a part of the staffs wages (which consequently means staff isnt' paid if you choose not to tip).
But North American's do seem to enjoy paying more than advertised. First a bunch of taxes, then some tips, I don't get it.
I'm an expatriated US citizen, and I find the restaurant service abroad on par with US restaurants, with the only difference being how much lip service is given by the servers.
To explain it simply, in US restaurants, I feel like someone is trying to brown-nose the entire time. It's not value that I seek, it's someone doing something and trying to place value on it. The servers are mostly pleasant, and at worst, it's just over the top corporate politeness being enforced, with of course the occasional just bad service.
Abroad, the server is indifferent - when the food is ready, it is brought. They are as polite as you would you expect a restaurant server to be, and in general just want to take your order, deliver food, and then get out of your way because they know you're not at the restaurant for their company, you're there to have some food and drink, presumably with friends/family/colleagues. And just like with US restaurants, there is occasional bad service.
The difference in my mind is the attempt to provide the 'service' that isn't really necessary. This isn't looking down on servers or dismissing the effect a good attitude can have on enjoying a meal, but for the most part the degree to which it is taken when I'm back in the US is over the top. I know it's hard work and that the servers want to do everything possible, but corporate politeness isn't the way to do it. It makes the experience feel really rushed to me and it also feels like a process instead of me being able to just relax and enjoy some good food.
To me this seems the right balance of service and respect of privacy.
As an aside, my experience is that most restaurants also don't really do refills so much as "another drink purchase", so it kind of makes sense in my mind that they're not keeping an eye on how much liquid you have left - if you want to spend money on another drink, you'll let them know.
I think this is just a cultural difference as well as a different way of business. To me having a server constantly checking in on how much is left in my glass or interrupting to pour a drink is more disruptive than a quick gesture to catch the server's attention and signal them over.
I remember when Ichiban switched to iPads and optimistically fired about 30% of their wait staff, presumably after drinking the kool aid. The service was horrendous until they hired them back.
Absolute biggest hate at restaurants: waiting too long for the bill. I have eaten. I have enjoyed it. I now want to go somewhere else for a drink, or catch my train home, or whatever. Don't make me wait.