THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF FOOD BLOGS, BUT ONLY ONE CULINARY NO-NO!

In life there are certainties:

Death

Taxes

People tip for crap

Why are people lousy tippers? Because when it comes to tipping they’re just clueless.

‘My bill is $53.47. What the hell do I do?’

These brainless consumers also don’t care if they stiff a poor worker.

I have no sympathy for these ungrateful cheapskates.

However I’m empathetic to consumers who are fed up with trending rules that beg or even insist for tips…for anything and everything.

From the Associated Press:

Some fed-up consumers are posting rants on social media complaining about tip requests at drive-thrus, while others say they’re tired of being asked to leave a gratuity for a muffin or a simple cup of coffee at their neighborhood bakery. What’s next, they wonder — are we going to be tipping our doctors and dentists, too?

Just this past week the NY Times reported technology has created overcharging you for tips “thanks to the proliferation of digital payment products from companies like Square and Toast. Since payment apps and touch screens make it simple for merchants to preset gratuity amounts, many businesses that didn’t ordinarily ask for tips now do.”

How are consumers reacting according to the Times?

(They) “feel pressured to oblige or don’t notice the charges. This phenomenon — known as “guilt tipping” — was compounded in recent years when more privileged professionals shelled out extra to help essential workers weather the pandemic. But even as businesses have somewhat returned to normal, the gratuity requests have remained steadfast.

Brian X. Chen is the NY Times’s lead consumer technology writer and passed along his own reactions:

I have felt the pain and awkwardness of seemingly arbitrary tip requests. I was recently taken aback when a grocery store’s iPad screen suggested a tip between 10 percent and 30 percent — a situation that was made more unpleasant when I hit the “no tip” button and the cashier shot me a glare.

When a motorcycle mechanic asked for a gratuity with his smartphone screen, I felt pressured to tip because my safety depended on his services. (It still felt wrong, because I had already paid for his labor.)

Is it coercion? Maybe. Is it sinister? Harry Brignull, a user-experience consultant in Britain noted the “custom tip” and “no tip” buttons are roughly the same size as the tipping buttons. If the opt-out buttons were extremely difficult to find, this would be an abusive practice known as “dark patterns.”

So people aren’t thrilled. But having said that, consider this from NBC News:

Americans may be grumbling about the new rules of tipping — whatever those are exactly — but they’re ponying up anyway.

Figures that the payment processor Square provided to NBC News show the frequency of gratuities at full-service restaurants grew 17% in the fourth quarter last year from the same period in 2021, while tip frequency at quick-service restaurants rose 16%. Restaurants deemed quick-service, like coffee shops and fast-food chains, typically do not offer wait service, the company said. At Meyer’s Restaurant in Greenfield where our family members are frequent patrons we’ve become accustomed to the handheld devices that accept your credit card. Paying and tipping are both fast and easy. Not enamored with the automatic card processing fee. But we deal with it as opposed to some customers who’ve loudly objected.

What turns up my nose is Meyer’s demanding a small fee but a fee nonetheless for diced tomatoes in my omelet, avocado on a wrap, or raisin toast instead of the other bread choices.

Those tipping touch screens don’t drive me nuts. But I can understand consumer angst.

“Suddenly, these screens are at every establishment we encounter. They’re popping up online as well for online orders,” said etiquette expert Thomas Farley. “And I fear that there is no end.”

Read more from:

The Associated Press

The New York Times

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