Maybe he’s autistic or something

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A friend was over yesterday - he took an Uber as he doesn’t have a car. Said he never tips Uber drivers.

Um, wut?

They make ~minimum wage or so and rely on tips for their income. Operating a car here is extremely expensive - premium is like $7.50cdn/us gallon, and if you have an electric car you had to pay a pretty penny for it. Insurance is expensive - extra cost for Uber drivers vs regular basic etc.

Anyways, I just thought it was bizarre that he doesn’t tip drivers. He spoke of being in Ireland and Japan where they don’t have tipping ingrained in their culture.. okay cool, sooo “When in Rome.. do as the Romans do.” - you live here where we do have a tipping culture and expectation, sooo, tip accordingly IMO.

The whole concept of it just seemed to go right over his head even though he’s from here born and raised. Maybe he’s autistic or something.

Tipping culture is cancer and one is best to limit their interactions with parts of the economy where tipping is expected.

Tipping culture is why some employers get away with paying less than minimum wage, and then they get away with collecting their "fair share" of tips from a communal tip jar.

This is why, when I tip, I tip directly to the individual while trying to prevent others from seeing it happen.

I live in a culture where tipping is non-existent
And can't really understand why these poor workers
Aren't just paid a decent, liveable wage?
Well, I can understand.
Greed.
I think if I had to tip it would make me feel uncomfortable
Because it would be like giving money to a beggar.
Kind of degrading to the worker
Relying on handouts to live.
I'd feel like some rich bastard giving out crumbs to the peasant worker.

My understanding of Uber's business method is about allowing the costs of running the vehicle to land on the driver / owner, or in some jurisdictions allow their drivers to hire the vehicle from snoth subsidiary of the same undertaking. Not everything about Uber appears savory in my opinion having made a few searches.

Uber features in this wee lecture which keeps surfacing :
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwZcR0q6VE

But when you do, tip appropriately.

I’ve read that modern tipping culture evolved out of racism in North America - from back when Black Americans would work service jobs for tips only - a step above slavery I guess - and their typically white clientele would decide what their service was worth by tipping them for a prompt job well done.

That same article pointed out that there’s still racism in tipping today, that in general the whiter the service employee the higher their tips. Probably, especially in some areas. And I’ve worked at enough bars and restaurants to know that pretty girls make bank.

Knowing these things, I consciously tip service employees that don’t fit the “makes bank,” profile a bit higher because I know that in general they’re not being compensated for their work as well as some pretty doll face.

Also, I don’t go to bars or restaurants or pay for rides often at all, so the seldom times I do I can afford to be a good tipper. Having worked in the industry I know it’s appreciated. Then there’s the whole keeping places in business through Covid thing.

So do I. We pay for a thing, upfront, no hidden charges, no calculations to be made. No veiled social obligations, Just the price you see is the price you pay. I like it that way. Everything is straight forward.

You can't control whether other people choose to tip or not. As long as they pay. It doesn't affect you whether they tip or not.

If you saw a friend constantly picking their nose at a restaurant table would you not say something about their socially unacceptable behaviour?

Where we live, not tipping drivers who rely on tips to feed themselves is considered pretty rude. They’d have to mess something up to deserve no tip at all, and for exemplary service they ought to be tipped better. It’s just the way things are here.

Maybe, but not understanding one social rule does not make an autistic.


With uber it is all done after you get to your destination on their app.

I've never tipped the cab drivers for taking me someplace. I already pay them the amount they want, why should I give them more.

In fact even if tipping cab drivers were a thing where I live, a lot of them don't deserve it. They take way too much time to arrive and have very poor manners. The last time I called for a cab, it was at Walmart at night in the summer, and I was stuck outside waiting for over half an hour, alone, pacing around in the dark. And then I call them again and they were just rude and vague about when they were arriving. So I called a different cab service and they showed up in a few minutes. But I was probably just lucky that they did. And one time before that I had a cab take me home after I bought groceries and the guy was really nasty, swearing a lot and saying how he loved to make other drivers angry and I felt really uncomfortable. Thankfully it was a short drive, and it was only because I couldn't lug a week's supply of groceries home by myself that I called a cab to begin with.

I hate this society's dependence on vehicles. And I'm supposed to trust a total stranger driving a cab but they could be a raving lunatic for all I know. Bus drivers could be suicidal and decide to take the whole bus down with them, and they don't even wait until everyone sits down before they lurch forwards and I'm lucky I don't end up end up falling and taking two or three people down with me. Yeah, I don't think so. Not after that incident from several years ago.

^I suppose it depends on the local culture. Here, taxi drivers earn a hair over minimum wage and rely on tips to survive much like waitresses or bar tenders. Same applies to Uber/Lyft etc.

It’s just part of the social norms here to tip your driver. Literally everything is astronomically expensive here, including cab fares, But, drivers Also have to eat soooo on the rare occasions I pay for a ride (once every couple years) then I’m sure to tip well.

Way more convenient (and cheaper) to drive my car or ride my motorcycle or once in blue moon take the train and then walk. But when I Do need to pay for a ride, having worked in the service industry for years, I automatically tip well - and those few extra dollars are typically Very Appreciated by the driver, so it feels good to do it, too.

Obviously I have the means. When I didn’t, I walked and cycled a lot more. I didn’t expect to pay the base price for a service that people are culturally expected to tip for and then not tip the service provider. It’s considered rude/inconsiderate. The only time service employees that are expected to be tipped get paid to the penny for their service is when They are rude/F up - then they just get their wage and Hopefully a lesson in how to provide better service.

A fine example is when my twin brother was out for a group bday dinner. Everyone else drinks alcohol. He only drinks water/pop/coffee. The server ignored his requests for water, said she’d bring water and didn’t etc while paying better service to the alcohol drinkers she assumed would tip her more. When it came time to lay the bill and my brother asked for it to pay for the entire party, she hung her head low in realization that she’d F’d up. He paid the bill to the penny; Zero tip.. and she learned a hard lesson about providing Good Service to everyone, even the water drinker. As a former bar tender, good I say, she needed to be taken down a notch and learn to be better to all customers vs selective service based on assumptions.

As a former carhop and waitress with a baby, I appreciated tips and worked my butt to get them. I know what it takes and I tip the going rate for whatever service depends on tips. I give more for better service. I also add a smile and a thank you.

Would I prefer that people be paid a living wage? You bet. But I’m not going to penalize the workers in those jobs because of economic decisions made way above their (and my) pay scale.

Good for you, goldfish.

Tipping in Romania is not really common in food places. But I have never heard of tipping taxi drivers.
But I would never know about tipping in gay bars.

What's appropriate tipping? Tipping of your hat?