The screen reads: “Add a tip: 18%. 20%. 25%.” For a takeout sack of burgers and soggy fries? C’mon. It takes extra taps to change it to 10% or zero. Instead, we sheepishly tip and feel resentful. Using Internal Revenue Service data, I extrapolate that tipping has almost doubled since 2013, when San Francisco-based Square turned iPads into cash registers with suggested tips.
It’s the American way to show gratitude for a job well done, but tipping has gotten out of hand. It’s become expected. Even required. A Mountain View, Calif., restaurant had a line on its bills: “For parties of 1 or larger, a 18% gratuity is applied automatically.” . . .
One study reveals that we tip because it’s a “social norm,” to “show gratitude,” and to “avoid feeling guilty.” Those answers ring true, but reasons also include the expectation of “poor future service if I don’t tip,” and that “the waiter may yell at me.” Those feel even truer. . . .
I recently hailed a Waymo car in San Francisco and didn’t tip the driver—because there wasn’t one, a gentle reminder that automation often solves pricing problems. Americans don’t hate tipping. We hate that it’s expected, that you’re labeled a tightwad if you don’t tip. How do we get back to tipping being optional? For great service. For promptitude. Not for soggy takeout fries.