Over the years I have come to met many of the so-called champagne Socialists (or elegant Leftists if you prefer). Many of them held/hold important positions. They invariably have well above average income. Often due to social or business costraints I had to have dinner or lunch with these people where I was invariably exposed to the usual avalanche of fashionable Leftist ideas we all know and love (to hate): Global Warming, human rights, workers’ rights etc. Up to this point I have always managed to keep my cool, less one time when I had to storm out: there’s only so much hypocrisy I can take before blowing the top. But that’s not the point.
What has always struck the most is that after a whole evening (or lunch break) spent lecturing me about the importance of minimum wage, workers’ right etc I have never, ever seen one of their numbers leaving tips, not even when the house crew really deserved it. I remember this time I was having lunch with the head accountant of the national section of a multinational. I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back he was ordering his lunch speaking in a language the waitress (who only spoke Czech and German) didn’t understand without waiting for me to translate. The girl did her best to understand and got everything right. Did he leave a tip? Of course not. I felt compelled to double what I customarily leave because I felt the waitress really deserved it. Guess where his political loyalties lie?
And such has always been the case. Talk about caring about the workers’ plight…
Political pigeon-holing aside, the way I see it, nobody is ever paid too much or too little, unless of course someone is holding a gun to the employer’s head(agreed this could be the state in the case of minimum wage).
So if someone is being paid too little, let him take it up with his/her employer. Works both ways. Do you think the employer would think badly of his customers in his restaurant if they chose not to subsidize him for voluntarily paying his staff over the going rate?
Are they socialists or are they mostly non-American? Tipping is a much bigger custom in the US and Canada than in European countries, perhaps in part because there are fewer perceived “worker’s rights.”
Tipping is 100% worthless in any case because the targeted individual is not allowed to take the money (unless you stick it in her back pocket and motion for silence). It is pooled into a tip fund and distributed equally to all employees. It’s functionally identical to having no tips and higher menu prices.
So, you have to ask beforehand at every new place you go to. On another note, I’ve heard many stories from workers that they spit in the orders of people that don’t tip. Crap like that just makes me not want to go out.
Usually someone who resents you for not tipping lets you know it… they don’t have to say anything - as you leave the restaurant you just know the service-with-a-smile you were getting was based on a hidden expectation all along.
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. The same as the other exec saying we should put trade restrictions on China until they “do something” about CO2 emissions… all the while owning a hefty number of cars and motorcycles!
I have had plenty of jobs where people tip me directly. It’s more common then the collective tipping then you think. Tips have always been strongly appreciated.
I know tattoo artists usually get 100% of the tip, if they’re in a shop. 1/2 of the price they charge goes to the shop, and the artist gets the other 1/2 plus whatever extra you give them.
I’ve known plenty of socialists in my day (academic type socialists), and they have mostly been good tippers.
I think tipping attitudes are more due to culture than philosophy. Here in San Francisco, Asians and Europeans are known in the restaurant industry as bad tippers.
Yup. Tipping over on this side of the Atlantic is pretty rare unless it is in a resteraunt. Now and again I used to get tipped as a barman but usually it was the barmaids that got em. No guessing as to why that might be the case.
I always tip waiting staff and delivery-people if I have the money. I always give to (polite) beggars if I have loose change (and don’t care what they spend it on either).
Some would consider me a lefty so I’m not sure your theory is accurate. In my experience, tipping behaviour cuts across the political spectrum.
What’s the purpose of this topic? Just because you meet one person who doesn’t tip and seems to have socialist beliefs means that all socialists don’t tip?
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