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Going paperless has its benefits. Avoiding being called “jingle britches” is always a plus. No one wants to be the guy with a bunch of change jingling and jangling around in his pockets on a Saturday night. Cash only establishments are equal parts endearing and annoying, and I don’t love where we’re at with money exchange at the moment but I think we’re well on our way to eliminating the wallet altogether. Soon we’ll have all of this information floating on the cloud, but for now we’re stuck using cards for most purchases.
Chip insertion is a beast that all of us brawl with on a daily basis. “Sorry you can’t swipe that. Insert your card whenever you’re ready. No wait. Take it out. Try it again. Just give me one moment. Okay, insert again.”
I fucking hate the chip. Sure, there are some security issues with swiping a card, but those damn chip readers always get me into an awkward, walking on egg shells conversation with whoever is behind the counter. And it’s become even worse with a majority of businesses using iPads to sign for whatever it is you’re buying. The issue with the iPad is in the tipping. Now listen here – I love to tip. I know the service industry sucks and I’ve always been a firm believer in tipping 20%. I’m not trying to come across as a cheapskate here. But those fucking iPads are ruining my life.
Every time I’m at a coffee shop, a convenience store, or even sometimes when I’m at the bar I’ll get the person across from me swiveling their iPad from their side of the register over to me. And there’s always four options staring me in the face – No tip, 10%, 15%,20%, Other.
Do I really need to be tipping someone for handing me a black coffee? Absolutely not. But the iPad forces my hand. I can’t explain to you why I feel like I have to tip in iPad situations but I do.
When I see that 20% button, I just hit it partly out of instinct, but more so out of shame and guilt. I don’t want the guy at the register thinking I’m some asshole that doesn’t tip. But I just can’t be doing this anymore.
I paid three bucks for a coffee and the iPad is asking me, nay telling me, that I need to tip. Because make no mistake about it – that “No tip” option isn’t really an option. Not when it’s on an iPad. For whatever reason I find myself feeling guilty about not tipping when I’m signing for something on an iPad.
And it’s not like this when I’m signing a physical receipt. I have no qualms with drawing a line when I have to put pen to paper, and pouring me a cup of coffee or handing me a donut from a case three feet away from the register is not a tip-worthy move.
But when you’ve got a line behind you and a guy waiting for you to sign, something happens and you end up tipping 20%. We as a collective need to rise up against guilt tipping. If someone has made you a breakfast sandwich or waited on you at a table, by all means give that person a tip. But handing me a coffee? Grabbing a muffin and putting in a to go bag? That ain’t worth a 20% tip. As the young go-hards would say “This aint’ it, Chief.” .
Like podcasts? We discussed this on Touching Base.
[via The Wall Street Journal]
Image via CNN
Respond
jduda@grandex.co
“No wait. Take it out. Try it again. Just give me one moment. Okay, insert again.”
All too familiar in the Adams household…
I have no qualms hitting the no tip button if it’s not a standard tip-based job. If it is tip-based, I tip heavy but too many places are trying for tips now.
The worst is when they swivel the iPad to you, the tip screen pops up, and they stare you down with no shame. Makes me feel even more guilty and like I can’t look them in the eye the rest of my visit.
Don’t be a bitch about it. Just hit no tip and move on. You tipping 20% on a medium black coffee is just making the rest of us look bad
The worst is when they replace the “10%/15%/20%” with “$1/$2/$3/Other.” No, you do not deserve a 40% tip for handing me a cup of coffee just because you know that no one wants to do mental math to figure out what a 15% tip would be.
Good take- I made the decision two years ago to not tip anyone outside of servers, bartenders, valet, and whatever other standard tip profession I can’t think of right now. These fast caj places asking for tips are getting heinous
I see you read the WSJ recently, Johnny boi.
Agreed. I always wonder if they’re going to spit into my coffee because I didn’t leave them the extra 50 cents from a 20% tip.
FWIW: I always tip a bit more at breakfast places because the modifications made are the most, the patrons are usually then grumpiest or cheapest(the old joke was church-goers would give 10% to the lord and 10% to us) and the amount of prep work is the highest.
Plus breakfast is usually cheaper
Mash that no-tip button.