You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping

[question everything]

Mina Dimyan frequents a Stamford, Conn., cafe, where he orders a cup of strong coffee for $3. It comes with a splash of guilt.

The clerk swipes Mr. Dimyan’s credit card and then swivels the store’s white iPad around. There is an uncomfortable pause. Prompts on the screen ask the 33-year-old human-resources recruiter to sign his name and pick a tip: 18%, 20%, 25%, a custom amount or “no tip.” “It’s so awkward,” says Mr. Dimyan, who taps 20%. “You press the middle button so you don’t look cheap to the people behind you in line.”

Consumers face that disconcerting ritual at bakeries, coffee shops, food trucks and other businesses that use tablet credit-card readers such as Square. The devices often ask customers to make tipping decisions on the fly—with the person who just served them looking on, along with everyone else waiting in line.

(snip)

Tip jars have long sat on counters, but consumers have all sorts of viable excuses for avoiding them or tossing in just a few coins, such as not having the right change, according to Michael Lynn, a professor and tipping expert at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Not so, he says, with the electronic tip prompts that explicitly require consumers to opt out of gratuities. “You can’t even pretend like you forgot,” he says. “It clearly ups the social pressure to tip.”

(snip)

San Francisco-based Square Inc. has built a following among small businesses with its swiveling iPad payment system, introduced in 2013, as well as smartphone credit-card readers and a dual-screen register that doesn’t need to be flipped around. The company’s products, used by millions of sellers, make it easier for businesses to take credit cards in an economy where the role of cash is diminishing.

(snip)

In Connecticut, Mr. Dimyan, who says he feels his $3 coffee is pricey enough as it is, vented about the electronic tip prompts in a Twitter post earlier this month.

Square replied from its official Twitter account: “Tap `No Tip.’”

Mr. Dimyan says he can’t see doing that. “I don’t think I have it in me.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/you-want-20-for-handing-me-a-muffin-the-awkward-etiquette-of-ipad-tipping-1539790018 (paid subscription)

[msongs]

1. sounds like extortion. something the trumps would think up nt

[kysrsoze]

2. I find this really annoying. 10% doesn't even show in the normal

Last edited Sun Oct 21, 2018, 01:29 AM - Edit history (1)

... buttons. You have to hit the “custom” amount and you almost feel like you’re being labeled a cheap-ass. I tip on to-go orders, but I’m not giving 20% to give me a cup of coffee or take a to-go order. 20% or more is fine for sit-down, full service, where they truly earn it, and you have to pay out bussers and bartenders.

[question everything]

4. And, in most cases, at least in some restaurants, they calculate the percentage

on the after tax amount.

When we go to a restaurant we calculate the tip on the before tax.

We don't use any of the "devices," so getting hamburger, or a sandwich at the counter will throw extra dollar, or two.

[tazkcmo]

3. And today, I went to Starbuks

It was inside a Target. I used my debit card to pay for my hot chocolate and there was no place to add a tip. I asked the barista if there was a tip jar and she said no, they are actually Target employees, aren't allowed to accept gratuity and are compensated a decent wage and thanked me for the thought. Go figure.

[Merlot]

5. As it should be.

Tipping asks consumers to pay part of the food servers wages.

In a small cafe where profit margins are slim this is acceptable, but starbucks and other large chain busineses can afford to pay decent wages and tipping should be optional or not expected.

[rownesheck]

6. I over tip constantly.

having worked in customer service my whole life, i understand the horrors of having to deal with the public while being paid shit wages. I gladly tip 25% (at least) no matter what. I feel it's the least i could do for a segment of the workforce who are treated like garbage by both their employer as well as the people they serve.

[KayF]

7. get rid of tipping altogether n/t

[Fla Dem]

8. The actual server who served you will never even get that tip.

They go into the stores, restaurants coffers to be divided up as the management sees fit. When paying by card, I never include the tip. I give the tip in cash to the actual person who served me.

[nolabear]

10. That's why I tip in cash.

I tip well. I’ve done that job and seen all sides of it. In little family places it’s often really poor folks waiting tables or, like me, the family kids trying desperately to make a little cash for, not luxuries but necessities. In cheap chains the customers often treat the staff like people don’t treat their dogs. In all night places the drunks-Jesus, waiting tables in New Orleans on the midnight shift takes guts of steel and a willingness to slap the crap out of somebody, or to get in really good with a cook or manager who has no compunctions about kicking somebody’s drunk ass out. Tips make it possible to tolerate the misery.

The really nice places in NOLA, though, service is an art, it’s family tradition, and they deserve every bit they get. I’ve had some of the nicest conversations I’ve ever had with people who were constantly on the move and anticipating every need, from entertaining a cranky toddler with napkin magic to bringing littlevsamples if desserts so you might be tempted to decide. I’m telling you, it’s worth 25% of a ridiculous bill if you can do it.

I even give counter staff a bit if there’s a way. They’re people. They need tips not just for the cash but to give them some pride in doing a really, REALLY hard job well.

[PufPuf23]

9. Far past time to get rid of tipping.

Food and other service employees should be paid fair by their employers.

The employers should be responsible for hiring and paying employees that provide good service.

It is an unfair and demeaning system.