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Comment by egypturnash | Hacker News Reader

"Tipping baristas isn’t the norm", says the caption on the photo at the head of the article. It isn't? I've been tipping baristas about 20% ever since I got a laptop around 2005 and started spending a lot of my work time in coffee shops. But the chart in this article says only about 25% of people do this. Huh.

I'm not gonna quit though.

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If we tip baristas at Starbucks we should tip the people at McDonald’s. Both are essentially fast food workers.

I’m not trying to be mean. I think there’s some brilliant manipulation going on with how some of these coffee shops brand and present themselves.

The ability and care of the Starbucks worker has a lot more impact on the product than the McDonald's worker.

I don't like the idea of tipping at (or going to) Starbucks, but I tip at independent coffee shops.

You tip people like this as a form of mild corruption.

When I travel to places I’m going to return to regularly, I take out a few hundred bucks in $5 bills. Parking guys, the hotel clerk, the night housekeeping supervisor, etc. I’m also nice to people, as I truly appreciate them.

Kindness + cash = courtesies granted.

If you’re abusing the hospitality of the coffee shop, the staff should be happy to see you.

And yet when I’m spending 2 hours using the PlayPlace as a brief respite from my duties as a parent in the summer, and refilling my fourth serving of Coke Zero and someone comes by to generously clear my table, they are strictly forbidden from accepting a tip.

If you're looking for corruption then you should contemplate the efficacy of your corruption. Are you getting sufficient ROI? Are the waitstaff actually engaging in corruption for you?

In restaurants where you get access to the kitchen I tip straight into the kitchen. I get more meat and I can tell the kitchen pays attention to my order. In contrast, how much do you have to tip to get your waiters to call in a corrupt favor in the kitchen on your behalf?

Also, most restaurants have a bad waitstaff to customer ratio. If you're looking for "corruption" then you're looking for the waitstaff to attend to you at the cost of other customers. How much do you have to pay to get that kind of treatment? At least enough to cover over the disrespect being dealt to the other customers, which could be major $.

When I travel, I focus on a few places. A regular reliable tipper is remembered.

The restaurant’s or parking garage’s staffing problems aren’t mine. Frankly, I could care less if I affect the customer experience.

> In restaurants where you get access to the kitchen I tip straight into the kitchen.

I’m not familiar with this, can you elaborate? Like you walk right over to the open kitchen and hand some cash to one of the cooks?

You really are the white knight barristas need in this 7 dollar latte age.

It's spelled "barista"

i generally do not tip my barristers, as they already charge me 450/hr.

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