Any tips?

Tipping

Tipping in bars and restaurants is expected in America. Workers are supposed to supplement their wages through the generosity of customers. But notions of generosity are in fact inaccurate. Most restaurants will indicate that they expect a certain percent 'gratuity'. Some even offer to work it out for your convenience. One friend of mine, a cockney - though no less inclined to tip for it - was given the option of paying 10, 15 or 20% gratuity, and the restaurant kindly worked out for him on his receipt what 10, 15, or 20% of his bill would be. His gratuity was not 10, 15, or 20% of his indignation, which still bubbled weeks after this most patronising occasion.

Ireland is not a country that has thought me to tip. Good service is expected. I am grateful for it, but a kind word of thanks is not worthless. Sometimes I tip, sometimes I don't. It's my choice.

Obilgatory tipping is a strange system indeed. People in favour say staff 'work harder' because they are rewarded with tips. But if the tip is listed on the bill as 'added for your convenience', there is no incentive for any waiter or bar person to work harder. Instead of being rewarded for merit, there is a fair chance they will be rewarded for mediocrity. In a place where a tip is not guaranteed, it is much more likely that the staff will work harder. The difference being, of course, that in such places, no employer would ever get away with paying staff three Euro an hour. Employers need something to justify low wages. And tipping is just that.

Despite what I think is a quite logical explanation, there is a feeling of guilt attached to leaving without tipping. In Ireland it should be easier to ignore because we at least have a minimum wage that guarantees regular income to a person. But in America this is not so. Staff genuinely rely on customers. But I knew this girl, from Spain, who ordered a lasagne in a bar. And it looked like it had just been pulled from a cows stomach - it was a horrible, stodgy, lump of pasta drowning in salty red sauce. She couldn't eat it. A companion, an Italian with an innate knowledge of these things, was offended by what he saw on the plate. All agreed it was bad food.

She payed for her food but didn't tip. And I said that a well-paid chef cooked it, and that by not tipping, she was effectively punishing the waitress. She refused to buy into the idea that it was her responsibility to pay the staff a fair wage. And I suppose that's what it comes down to - we know whose job it is to cook and to serve, but who should pay the staff? You or the boss?

America, land of consumer choice and the free market, does not afford you the option of tipping. It is obliged, 'part of the culture'. We should tip because workers are poorly paid and without our tips they can't survive. This is true. Many waiters and barmaids earn about three Euro an hour. But it's also emotional blackmail by proprietors. They are telling customers that, though you might not eat more than a spoonful of dinner, it is mean not to tip.

This is not true. Paying your bill without paying another 10 or 20% is not mean. Three Euro an hour is mean. It's not me, the honest bill payer who is deserving of dirty looks - it is the person who offered somebody a job for such a scant wage, plus tips.