Tipping; good custom or rip off? - Comments please.

I need advice and would like to open a debate about the noble art of tipping. Travelling for these past five weeks I have eaten out and used services on at least 70 occasions. I would guess that my tipping bill will amount to around $200 roughly £140. It is so much a part of western culture that I have paid the    average15% without stopping to think - that is until now.
Readers of my blog will know that I am travelling to research examples of how employment has been created and supported for people who have learning difficulties. This research has been made possible through a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, of which I have attempted to remain within budget. On my most recent visit, to a wonderful Toronto baking cooperative, (Lemon & Allspice) I had the pleasure of visiting a satellite business, 'The Coffee Shed.'  A customer ordered the 'Maxi Combo,' That is a Coffee & Cookie. He served himself an enormous cookie and a good size coffee. The combo was only $1.80 so I thought he must have taken more than he had paid for. Checking with the staff it was fine, they assured me that they still made a profit on the $1.80. That set me thinking about the mark up on such goods. If I had bought that in a local cafe I would have paid around $5.00, plus tax and then shelled out a tip on top.


That has led me to a dilemma with which I am seeking urgent advice as I need to resolve it tomorrow morning.  But before I get to that, I would like to share the thought process that has set off my internal tipping debate and check where other people may sit along the tipping spectrum.

The service industry seems to now routinely include an expectation that whatever we pay for a service we will then add around 15% as a tip. So we pay for a meal on which the proprietor has built in a profit.    Do they also calculate that a tip will supplement the wages of their staff and therefore allow them to   reduce wages?  when you pay by credit card the machine whirs into life and a question appears on the screen, "Tip - press F1 for %, F2 for amount...."   At that point it is possible to tell the machine not to take a tip, but unless the staff have been positively rude there is that expectation that you will cough up.


I do not begrudge paying a decent tip when excellent and attentive service has been lavished upon me. But it seems that a tip is not a expression of 'Thanks' but expected no matter how good, average or poor the service has been.  So I thought why a tip would be paid had it not become customary: 
1. - When someone has looked after you extremely well and provided outstanding service we express our gratitude and appreciation by giving them money.  I have tipped above the 15% when encountering this level of service and been happy to do so.  But in my altered thinking I wonder why "Thank-you" is not enough. When the midwife delivered my first born I did not think to fumble in my pocket for loose change. When I decide not to use the self serve at the supermarket I do not say grandly,"Keep the change," to the checkout girl. When my wife makes a wonderful meal I do not leave a small pile of coins under the plate.  If someone does something exceptionally well surely our first reaction should not be cash based. Someone working in the service industry and providing great service should be rewarded by their boss, as in any other industry.
2. - On occasions we may want good service; the best table, an attentive waitress, or special treatment in a place that we visit regularly. We tip well to get improved service. Or pay a bribe as it would be described in other spheres of life!  If tipping does bring about a better quality service, then what about those who give a less generous tip? As a manager surely you wish for all your customers to receive a high quality service.  Does tipping actually work against providing a good experience for all clients?
3.- We realise that many service industry workers are not well paid and as we are able to afford the service they are providing we feel superior or generous so we give them a little extra.  If that is the case then are we perpetrating low wages by allowing a business to pay their workers less? Is it not also demeaning to rely on handouts as a supplement to your living wage?


However the practice is so engrained that to buck the trend and not tip can leave you feeling cheap, embarrassed, exposed and may even lead to open criticism.  Consequently I am sure I am not alone in tipping even though the service has been poor, minimal or expressly not wanted. For example some petrol stations here still have an attendant to 'pump gas.' I have managed to perform this task independently for the past 30 years or so.  Also, after a long drive, I am quite happy to stretch my legs and enjoy the sun while filling the tank. Yet in some places they insist on providing this unwanted service and then expect a tip for doing it.  While travelling I have lugged my bags upstairs and downstairs, I have struggled on and off crowded transport, I have dragged luggage along hot streets.  Then at a hotel someone simply lifts a case out of a taxi or wheels a bag through a door and we duly pay up.  


When I leave the crowded city streets and enter a building I always look to hold the door open.  The amount of times people just waltz past without any acknowledgement or thank-you. I am convinced that  if I was to don a jacket, say "Door Madam, Sir," and extend my hand, those same rude individuals would stop and deposit a small tip. If I am correct then we as a society are perhaps getting our values muddled. We should acknowledge people for who they are and what they do. Instead of making this  connection is it easier to simply leave a handful of cash whether they have 'earned' it or not? 


That brings me to the dilemma I mentioned earlier.  I am staying in a hotel where breakfast is provided.   I have been here for 1 week and each morning I find a table, help myself from the self serve buffet and try to catch the eye of the waiters who serve coffee. I have given up on a couple of mornings and gone without as they have been busy and it wasn't worth the wait.  Yesterday I noticed some money on the table next to me. Someone had left a tip. How quaint I thought - it is a self serve buffet and getting coffee is a lottery so what is the tip all about?  It piqued my attention and to my horror I noticed that many other piles of coins sat amid the empty plates and unused coffee cups.  I wondered briefly if failure to catch a servers eye was in direct correlation to my failure to leave a tip. However observation suggested not and the staff are pleasant when you finally get their attention.  
So I now have a dilemma.  Had I tipped each morning I would have left about $20 by the end of my extended stay. My final morning is tomorrow.  What do I do?  just leave a tip for that day and ignore the past days? Do I leave a $20 tip for the week?  Or do I leave nothing because I would have been blissfully unaware that such minimal service merited a tip, had I not noticed other people's contributions?


I am really interested to know what other people think.  Am I a cheapskate, or do I have a point?  Or perhaps I have spent too long on my own!  Maybe I carry a grudge from my past.  As a student I worked in a busy restaurant as a dishwasher. I took pride in my work and elbow deep in greasy water I ensured each plate, dish and all cutlery was gleaming.  I never once had a single customer thank me for the clean plates.  No one ever said they were impressed with the shining cutlery and the waiting staff never shared the tips they accrued through delivering dinners on my throughly cleaned plates. 

So what do you think and how do you perceive tipping? Am I missing something  and need enlightenment; perhaps we should increase tipping and include solicitors for their services, or bankers as they advise on investing our money, perhaps we should have an on-line tipping system so when we actually speak to someone in a call centre and they don't keep us on hold we can reward their service.

My daughter, when travelling during her gap years, did work in the service industry and I was delighted to hear her delight at receiving a generous tip.  I do know that giving a good tip carries with it a certain intrinsic sense of goodwill. I am not totally against the concept, I just don't like the idea that a tip is expected and that even the most cursory service seems to demand some level of handout.


I wonder if instead of tipping some brave establishment introduced an evaluation card where the customer  rated the service provided. When a service provider achieves perhaps 90% excellence they then qualify for a bonus from the owner.  I think service may improve as the bonus would be directly related to performance, the customer still takes pleasure in giving good service a high score and though the bonus would no doubt come from inflated prices at least the customer would not feel obliged to pay extra to someone who is not performing well and has not enhanced the service experience.  

If you have read this far then the following clip may be of interest.  Enjoy and let me know what you think -  I will check for comments before breakfast - you have 16 hours starting from now!!!!!  


ps - if you have enjoyed this blog you can forward cash donations to......  only kidding.

A dying man's last wish was to make someone else's day. After his death, the family of Aaron Collins fulfilled his wish to go have pizza and leave their server a $500 tip.

The story surfaced on the blog Fark: 30-year-old Collins, a computer technician who died July 7, had no money to make his wish come true. So his family raised the cash through a website after just a few days and then made good on his request. At Puccini's restaurant in Lexington, Ky., the family lunched on pizza, and then presented one very lucky waitress with $500.

The video captures the moment. As the cash is handed over, the waitress keeps asking, "Are you serious?" She then promises to share her good fortune with other restaurant staff, and says, "You know, I'm going to be telling this story for the rest of my life."

To introduce the video, Aaron's brother Seth writes, "We think he just wanted to provide a random act of kindness and generosity for someone he thought was under appreciated; the kind of thing that would make a lasting impact they would never forget." Mission very accomplished.

The website continues to accept donations, and the family plans to give away big tips every time they raise another $500, noting, "We have already received over $500 more, so we will be doing this again soon. Hopefully we can continue changing the lives of random waiters and waitresses for years."

Pagination

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Not all plain sailing

I did say I would restore the balance a little and look at a few blips along the way.  So here goes.


I drove from Nanaimo to Victoria and decided to avoid the main highway and pick a route along the coast.  In doing so, without any help from a map, I managed to find a country route, with not a trace of ocean, and that bypassed the one stopping off point I had planned to visit. I was partly distracted, though it is no defence, by the local radio 'Pacifica.' The presenter was interviewing a representative from the Green Party. She was articulate and interesting. But being brought up on BBC impartiality I could not believe how fawning and biased the presenter was. He even said that he would vote for her and he fully agreed with her policies.  No incisive debate there. He then said, "We have about 5 minutes left, so I am going to open the mic and let you say what you want."  She did really well because it sounded like he had just run out of steam and was asking her to bail him out.  She concluded, he thanked her and then introduced the next programme. It went quiet, he came back on, almost speaking to himself he said "Oh, there is another 2 minutes. I err....."  And for 2 minutes he struggled. It was tortuous but really funny as well. I thought, 'there is a man who has not planned ahead for his job, not had any fillers to hand and will be out of a job shortly.' Then amazingly later on the same station a female presenter did exactly the same. She gave out some information, obviously got a message in her earpiece that the information was incorrect - she then tried to keep talking, while listening to more ear piece instructions and was also noisily typing at her computer to try and find the correct information.  This was one lady who could not multi task!  I felt that they will both keep their jobs as this must be the station's style and it did have a compelling charm; slick, glossy, professional is what we are use to - but human is rather endearing.
On reaching Victoria I was surprised how busy it was. Heavy traffic, one way systems and lots of people. After the quiet of Nanaimo I was taken aback. And, as I mentioned earlier, I had foregone the luxury of a map so was having to navigate in a city of which I had no knowledge.  I pulled off, found 2 hours free parking and set out to explore on foot.  I had 4 places identified that I needed to find and now had 2 hours to do it and return to the car. I managed to find the main places - where I was staying that night and where I was dropping the car off later that day. 
I then dropped my luggage off, returned the car and set out to find the venue for my meeting the next day. I was so pleased that I did. I had found the street and thought I will just knock on the door and check. It took 45 minutes to find the correct door. I was visiting a Government Official and they have lots of offices along this street, dotted in buildings that have multi occupants. I knocked on other Government doors and they hadn't heard of who I was looking for. Eventually I tracked them down. So much for open government!  Had I not planned ahead, then the following morning I would have been in a huge panic, late for my 9:00am meeting and trailing all my luggage up and down the stairs and in and out of buildings. 
Relieved, I then went in search of the bus stop that I needed to find - as after my meeting I was getting a bus to the Ferry and leaving the Island to return to Vancouver. I wanted to do my searching now rather than in a rush while dragging 6 weeks worth of laundry and an increasing number of handouts and flow charts.
It took me 4 hours of walking in the heat to eventually achieve my objectives. I then set off in search of food and to have a look at Victoria.  
Two minutes into my search there was a commotion. A street busker was shouting "Someone call the cops.."  I was approaching him and could see he was distressed. I thought his wrath was directed at a  passing motorist and that he was a little worse for drink.  He then looked up the street in the direction I was heading and shouted 'They busted my strings, Ass holes."  At that, I noticed two scruffy youths, pants situated at thigh level, hoodies. They turned and one charged back towards the busker. He ran past me and threw a punch at the busker who was much older and pretty frail. Without realising, I had turned and got hold of the youth. He appeared totally unaware of me but stopped his attack and ran off.  A woman, the only other person who reacted, had screamed and shouted. As the youth ran off she poked me in the back, possibly thinking I was with them. I really must start wearing my pants higher!  

Later, having eaten a nice meal at Re-Bar, more healthy veggie fare. I was wearily making my way back to my bed for the night. I was roused from my thoughts by a lady standing in front of me saying, "Have you any change for a Loony?"  As I have spent all my adult life working in special education I was torn between correcting her terminology or expressing my concern for her low self worth.  She saw my puzzlement and said more slowly, "Can you change this loonie?" indicating a dollar coin. She had to explain that Canadian terminology for a dollar is in fact a loonie.  The light half came on and I fumbled for change. With my head down she leaned forward and her chest appeared as she said, "I'll show you these for $2."  Whereas I thought that was pretty good value I did in fact say, "What, no thank-you." In my flustered state I also ended up giving her double what she asked and still didn't get the loonie!!

My initial impression of Victoria was slightly skewed, however I was very impressed with the snow capped mountains that appeared on the horizon over the skyline.  The next day I had a successful meeting with Odette Dantzer from the Ministry of Social Development. We also had a conference call with two other officials and it was interesting to get the political perspective having spent several days hearing from people at the sharp end how services were being cut through changed and reduced funding.  As Odette and I said our goodbyes in the fresh air I commented that I didn't realise this end of the Island had such impressive Mountains. She looked at me and patiently explained that it doesn't. The mountains I was looking at are on the mainland, beyond Victoria there is no more island only Ocean. With my credibility shot I said 'goodbye' and walked away with my huge case in my wake. 

View from the Ferry from Victoria to Vancouver

I had been dreading that day as I knew I had to walk my luggage into Victoria, then to a bus stop, get it on the bus, to the Ferry, off at the other end, find another bus that would get me close to my next hotel, then walk the luggage there. In practice it worked out a little less painfully than I had anticipated. I made the connections and found where I needed to go with only the odd period of confusion.  

The following day proved more difficult once I reached Toronto airport. I had goggled directions from the airport across Toronto to the East side where I was staying. The first direction - where to find the bus, proved incorrect and I suddenly felt a little lost. It was getting late and everyone except me seemed to know where they were going. I asked for help and was given directions that in no way related to mine. 

I got on a bus with no idea of where to get off. I didn't have the correct change, the driver kindly allowed me to make a donation rather than pay my fare. The bus reached a terminus, everyone got off.  After a while I realised it was the subway. Going down to the platform there was no map, directions or ticket machines. I let two trains go before I decided I should head East. On the train there was a map and I recognised a station from my Google search - with some luck and another change I arrived and eventually dragged my luggage into the hotel at 10:00pm.  With huge relief I closed my hotel room door. Tonight ended a run of 5 nights in 5 different locations. Living out of a suitcase is bad enough but constantly moving on was hard. Running out of clean clothes and in need of an iron before my next round of meetings I relaxed knowing I had all Sunday to catch up with such necessities.  Toronto will have to wait for exploration until after my undies have been washed!

I will leave you with Amy - one of the workers I visited in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. She works at a lovely grocery chain - Parallel 49. She was fantastic and loved by colleagues and the community. I spoke to the Managing Director, Peter Richardson, who is an excellent manager and knew all his staff. He said I was welcome to use him as a reference to tell other employers the business benefits for hiring persons with a disability. Tina Fabbro set this visit up for me and was a brilliant resource, very positive and a great philosophy. She and her husband also accommodated me for a night. Lovely people!

Further Adventures of a Travelling Fellow

Canada coast to coast

Horseshoe Bay

When I last wrote I was about to set off for a Ferry to take me from Vancouver's pretty Horseshoe Bay across to Vancouver Island and Nanaimo (Nan Nye Mo).  

On the bus to Horseshoe Bay I gasped as we rounded a bend and a cyclist appeared in front of the bus struggling up a steep ascent. The momentum of the bus was such I was convinced the cyclist would be joining me in the front seat via the windscreen. Fortunately my grasp of physics was insufficient and the meeting of matter averted.  The jolt sparked my fellow passenger,  a sprightly gentleman of advanced years, to recount his days of cycling this very route 60 years ago. In those days, he recalled, there was little traffic and he and his friends were the only cyclists. That contrasted sharply with today when the road was a rubber blur of 2 and 4 wheel users.  My new friend, Bob - was coming back to revisit the days of his youth - his first trip along the road since he pedalled it a little before I was born. We arrived at Horseshoe Bay which he remembered as a jetty and a hut where salmon fishing was the only disturbance. He was horrified to see a small town, and bustling harbour. He looked around, shook his head and told the driver he would stay on as the bus turned around to head back to Vancouver.

Having not seen the original bay I was not as dismayed as Bob and happily passed an hour waiting for the ferry.

In Nanaimo I stayed in a quaint B&B run by some lovely people.  After dropping my bags I went to explore my home town for the next 4 days. It was Canada Day so once the festivities ended, around 5:00pm most of the town shut down. I wandered along the coastal park and came upon the statue pictured.

I learned it is of 'Black Frank,' then did a double take when I saw that he died in 1992. I thought he was some early explorer from the 1700's - but Frank James Ney was a local character and politician. One of his great achievements was creating the 'Bathtub race' across the Straits of Georgia. Having spent almost 2 hours in a ferry making the same journey I am in no doubt about the epic difficulty of crossing it in a bath tub. It is amazing that Black Frank came up with the idea but far more amazing that he convinced anyone else to do it! How would that conversation go, "I've got this great idea...." "So Frank, we cross the ocean and you want us to use a bathtub?  Can we keep the plug in? The race continues annually but now involves small motorised vessels which race around the islands rather than to Vancouver.  

Nanaimo is a fairly quiet seaside town though with a busy quayside where yachts dock. The original Hudson Bay Company Fort from 1853 stands proud looking out to sea. A restaurant doubles up as the local seaplane airport. After about 1 hour I had pretty much seen the main sites of the town. So I was delighted when at Breakfast Dave, who runs the B&B, asked if I would like to see the wild Nanaimo. We met up - Dave with his backpack, hiking boots and truck. I changed out of my disco pants and we prepared to go. Dave said he would bring the dogs for their walk. I asked 'So what sort of dogs are they?' Behind the question lay an anxiety,  I have never had any pets and have always felt a little wary around animals that have teeth bigger than mine or a desire to sniff, lick or perform other activities that I would not normally encourage on first meeting. Without missing a beat Dave said "Two wolves and..." I never did find out what the over dog was.  "Wolves" I said incredulously.  He explained that they were a more gentle breed of wolf and had been crossed with a labrador. I was not appeased. Fortunately they travelled in the back of his pick up truck. On the walk they paid no interest in me what so ever, though would push me out of the way when they wanted to get past on a narrow path. We were in a remote spot next to the fast flowing Nanaimo River. I was beginning to relax as Dave told me he had often encountered bears in this area. He was really putting me at my ease! He said that a couple of weeks ago he rounded a bend and disturbed a bear. Usually they see him and the Wolves and run off. This one didn't, it stood up, it was aggressive, it was angry and it was huge. Even Dave was perturbed. The wolves, realising the danger, went into attack mode. After a brief skirmish the bear ran off and all was well.  I looked at the wolves in a new light and thought it is good having them along.  Of course Dave did manage to spoil it.  Looking wistfully into the dense undergrowth he said, "Not sure if they could handle the cougars."  

Safely back and with a new found appetite I went out to eat and found a fantastic place.  It appears a health conscious place; lots of organic food available, four Yoga studio's, many champions of the 'slow food' movement - so I thought after weeks of no home cooking and lots of processed food it was time for something raw. Power House in Nanaimo delivered the goods. Pesto Pizza without any dough, mozzarella, tomato sauce. I was intrigued and half expected a tomato with some basil. Instead the base was raw carrot, dates and other vitamin laden ingredients combined, then spinach a pesto sauce - it tasted incredible and my body really appreciated something healthy after so many meals cooked until the last vitamin disappears.

So while I have been away enjoying myself, (and collecting some fantastic information on employment schemes that have been both inspirational while also opening my eyes to the very real challenges that lie between people with learning disabilities and real jobs for real pay) I have left my family behind.  During my time here my son, Josh has had his 21st birthday and then flown out to America where he will be sports coaching for the summer. My daughter, Amy, has recently returned from working in Australia over the last 2 years and is now looking for work in the Event Industry and my wife, Sheila has been holding the fort, managing the problems and stresses that arise in family life and keeping everything running at home. I couldn't have embarked on this adventure without the support of Sheila and the best wishes of my children. I do feel guilty talking about fantastic experiences that I am having in glorious weather as England seems to become soggier and more grey.  So my next Blog will look at a couple of incidents and stress filled days that may help in a small way to restore some balance and so when Sheila is putting the bin out in the rain, or helping one of the kids sort out a nasty letter from the bank, or the car won't start then hopefully she will know how much I appreciate her and that I have hit the odd blip along the way.

But before then I will finish today by saying a big thank-you to G-Form. They very kindly donated one of their incredible products to keep my laptop safe. They make all sorts of protective cushioning from sports wear to laptop cases. I have silently thanked them on a daily basis as I have clashed my laptop in the case when lugging bags in and out of hotels, offices, upstairs, through doors, on planes and on all my travels. I am convinced it would not have survived without the protection of the case. So in thanks I end with a couple of photo's of my 2 constant travel companions - laptop and it's G-Form minder.

Working on the Ferry to Vancouver

yet another Hotel room - but the same set up

Vancouver Grouse Mountain & Capilano

In Vancouver I had a wonderful guide showing me some excellent projects, StarWorks, Jobs West and a brilliant drop in centre. This was supposed to take 2 days - but we did it in one - so I had a day to kill in Vancouver - in the rain. I had wanted to visit Grouse Mountain - but looking out of my bedroom window I could see the cloud shrouding Grouse in a dense 'I am not shifting' type cloud. However without transport and not keen to spend a day dodging in and out of museums my attention returned to Grouse.  The Grouse Grind is a local challenge where the object is to get in shape by taking the almost straight route up.  It is a 2.9 kilometres climb gaining 2560 feet. So if I wasn't going to see much at least I would have a good work out.  

The Grind Timer

I got a local bus and paid my fare through to the Mountain, for $3.75 (about £2.50) I travelled downtown, transferred to a sea bus which ferried passengers across the habour, then another bus took us up into the mountains and dropped us off at the Grind starting point.  Pretty good value I think.

It was a grind.  After 3 weeks of travelling and eating out I am not as fit as I was, however without any distracting views and with a constant stream of people on a narrow path the only option was to get your head down and grind up the hill. After 50 minutes I emerged shaky and dripping but had achieved my aim of completing it in under 1 hour.  They take it seriously in Vancouver and regulars can buy a chip which is swiped at a timer at the start and end of the climb. The day's results are then displayed on a screen. Comparing my time with the record I was pleased that it was respectable. On the way down - cable car to save my knees I then caught a bus to my next destination.  The driver assumed I had taken the cable car up - when I said I'd done the Grind he gave me a free ride down the hill!  A few  people asked me about my day and when the grind is mentioned - they give you their time. It felt good to have completed a local 'must do.' 

Next stop was Capilano Suspension Bridge. The reviews said it was expensive and overrated but I was passing so had to stop in.  It was about $33 (£22) for that you had access to the 'park;' to cross the bridge, walk around a tree top walk and a walkway with views straight down into the valley below and also a variety of nature trails.  I was fully occupied for about 2 hours and enjoyed the views and the information offered. For example in the winter of 2006 a fierce storm battered the area. A large tree could not withstand the onslaught and toppled crashing directly onto the bridge. The park then had the problem of removing 70 tons of tree from a suspension bridge without causing a catapult effect. It was reassuring, when crossing the swinging structure, to know that 70 tons had been absorbed so it was unlikely to send the crossing human cargo crashing 100's of feet to the river below. Apparently if the Statue of Liberty stood in the river the bridge would be at her shoulder height.

Without photo-shopping in the Statue of Liberty!

While walking round the park I viewed Grandma Capilano with respect.  She is the oldest tree in this rainforest and the tallest of her type. However in 1895 loggers cut down what was the oldest at the time, over 400 years with a base 78 feet around and 417 feet tall - (or about a fifth of the Grind height!)

The area is geared up for tourists and several walkways have been constructed to give excellent views of the valley and are impressive in engineering and form.  It was not always like this.  The original bridge was constructed in 1889 and tourists who chose to cross it had a 1 hour walk up a dirt road through bear country to get there.  We were told that as we whizzed down the hill on a free shuttle bus with air conditioning.

As we returned to Vancouver an unusual building was pointed out. It has a narrow base that supports a much wider building. It is nicknamed the mushroom but the main body is cube shaped.  It has been constructed so that it will sway in an earthquake rather than shake. The theory has not yet been tested and from my selfish point of view I hope that remains the case for at least another 2 weeks or so.

The rain washed out my last day in Vancouver and spoilt my plans to cycle around Stanley Park.  However the lonely traveller has mundane things like washing to do.  So as the rain tapped relentlessly on the streets of Vancouver I caught up on the jobs that needed doing and prepared for the next leg of my journey - getting the ferry to Vancouver Island and Nanaimo.

One of the tree walk structures in Capilano park