Tipping culture has reached a new high.

It is a new level of crazy what has happened with tipping culture. Nowadays, you don’t just pay for a service or culture; you also pay for the effort that the employee puts into doing their job. This may be a biased way of explaining tipping, but I find it hard to say something positive about it. Of course that if you receive outstanding service, it’s expected for you to thank the employee with a monetary tip. It’s expected, but not required. You can opt out of paying that “extra fee”; at least in some cases you can. 

Some people feel ashamed about not leaving a tip, even when the employee does not deserve it. It feels as if they were failing to make an optimal purchase because they refused to pay that expected extra fee. Tipping can be very different depending on the store. It can be an autogratuity of the 20% that you cannot deny, it can be an option that you choose to do or not after the service, or it can be just a tip jar where you can leave, or not, money. In this case, it was a formal question asked after every purchase; this woman was hearing the question repeatedly: “Do you want to leave a tip?” She could say no, but she was still constantly asked about it all the time. 

In my opinion, and again, this is MY opinion; you can fully disagree. Tipping should always remain a choice. I can choose to leave extra money or choose not to; that is completely up to the customer, not the employee. If the service was excellent, then of course I’ll tip as a way of thanking the worker. But if it was horrible, then I shouldn’t be obliged to leave any money for the employee; they didn’t do their job correctly. Why would I reward them for that? Which takes me to my second point: a tip is a reward, not an obligation. You win a tip, you deserve a tip; you don’t own a tip for your mere existence. But what do you think? Do you always leave tips? What are your thoughts on tipping culture?