On Tuesday nights, I teach until about 7:30pm and so I go out to eat after class. One of my favorite restaurants is a little “hole-in-the-wall” Chinese place in College Station off of Rock Prairie, T Jin Diner. Watching them work is amazing. To begin with, the food is fantastic. I’ve never had a bad dish there. They have a significant take-out business weeknights in addition to onsite customers and they process orders with exceptional speed and care. It’s like a ballet as they move bagged orders from the kitchen to the front door, seat incoming customers and serve dishes as they come off the line. Last night, I ordered a cup of hot-and-sour soup and Mongolian beef. The soup arrived in less than a minute. I hadn’t taken 5 spoonfuls of the soup before the main dish arrived, piping hot.
The point is that this is a small independent business that pays attention to details, is fast and courteous, and produces exceptional quality. So when the bill comes, which is a credit-card receipt, I don’t think twice about giving them a healthy tip. I’m glad to give it to them and appreciative of their care.
Contrast this with recent story in the New York Times on DoorDash tipping practices. “If you don’t add a tip for your delivery person, you might have to wait longer for your food.” Interesting, in light of the fact that the word “tip” comes from an 18th century British custom To Insure Promptness. DoorDash is not-so-subtly saying, “If you don’t tip us, we’ll provide poorer service.” Tipping seems to be an issue for this company especially since DoorDash settled a lawsuit in 2020 over “deceptive tipping” inferring that drivers were getting tips when in fact they were pocketing the money.
Tipping is really getting out of hand with companies thinking they are entitled to tips. I for one believe that is tip should be given after exceptional service is rendered – exceptional service – not expected, average or mediocre service. Here are my personal rules of tipping:
- Anytime I serve myself, I don’t tip. This includes fast-food or any walk-up or cafeteria-style restaurant
- If asked for tip prior to service, I don’t tip. I despise the little turnaround kiosks that force you to select an amount while those behind you look on
- If proactively asked for a tip after service, I don’t tip. I don’t think its right to ask for a tip because that infers an expectation.
- If passively asked for a tip after service (e.g., on a credit card receipt);
- If the service was poor, I don’t tip.
- If the service was average, I may leave a small tip <15%.
- If the service was better than average, I’ll tip 15-20%
- If the service was exceptional, I’ll tip over 20%
- If the requirements of exceptional service are met and I’m not asked to tip, I’ll try to find a way to tip anyway. At a minimum, I will remark to the staff how I felt about their service and thank them.