We've never been big tippers and tighter times mean there's even less loose change to go around, writes CLAIRE O'MAHONY
WHILE TIPPING isn’t rocket science, it often proves to be quite the social minefield. Do you tip as a matter of course, regardless of how you were treated? In a restaurant, do you tip even though there’s a service charge already, because you’re not sure if it goes to the staff? Does your taxi driver expect a tip or is it acceptable to wait for your €1.75 change back? Then you’re veering into the grey area of what to leave – if anything – in hairdressing and beauty salons.
If these were etiquette issues to be pondered back in the day when money was more plentiful, people are now asking if they need, or can afford, to tip in addition to what they’ve already splurged on a meal or haircut.
Although there are tipping norms (a 10 per cent tip in a restaurant is standard), there are no hard and fast rules and it’s culturally complex. In the US, non-tipping is not only a social faux pas, workers in the service industries rely on tips for a substantial part of their income. In Australia and New Zealand, tipping isn’t expected so much.
Traditionally, we haven’t had a strong tipping culture but the signs are that we are being less flash with cash in terms of gratuities.
Mark Matanes, manager of Eden restaurant in Dublin’s Temple Bar, has noticed a decline in the last few years. “The key thing to understand about how tipping has changed is that the total customer spend has changed. The reflection of tip as a percentage has decreased because people aren’t having a cocktail to start or a second bottle of wine or they’re sharing a dessert so their bills are smaller and 10 per cent of that is smaller again,” he says.
Matanes says that 10 per cent is absolutely acceptable as a restaurant tip – and great if people want to leave more because they are especially happy – but he doesn’t think that anyone should dictate what a tip should be.
“The tip should reflect the actual experience on the night – the food and the atmosphere and the service.” Eden has a service charge of 12½ per cent for parties of six or more, and it goes directly to the staff, but this isn’t the case in all restaurants.
“These days, I always ask the waiter if the service charge goes to the staff,” says Image magazine restaurant reviewer, Emily Hourican. “If they say it does, I don’t leave a tip. Sometimes, you ask the waiter or waitress if the service charge goes to them and he or she says, ‘I’ll just get the manager’. The manager comes along and he says ‘Oh yes, absolutely’ but I’m left wondering does that really happen.”
Hourican also prefers not to leave a tip via credit card (“I presume that staff won’t get it”) and observes that a few years ago, it was quite normal to be handed the credit card machine at the point where you were asked if you wanted to leave a gratuity, but that rarely happens now.
“The assumption that you’re going to leave a tip isn’t there anymore. She’s also noticed that people are not inclined to leave a tip if they think service has been bad whereas before, they tipped indiscriminately.
“Also, we were getting quite American about it. Fifteen per cent was beginning to be considered quite reasonable or even standard by some people and now we are down around 10 per cent again,” Hourican says.
Less clearly defined is what to tip the person who has battled traffic and inclement weather to bring a 16-inch pepperoni pizza straight to your door. According to a survey conducted by Just-Eat.ie, the online takeaway company, we are fairly generous. Sixty six per cent of those surveyed tipped the delivery driver and the average amount is €1.50 per order.
According to Daniel Duggan, manager at a branch of Thai eatery Kanum, which delivers mainly to the Dublin 4 area, online ordering has meant a reduction in tipping overall.
Kanum’s drivers do not expect to be tipped, says Duggan, as they are paid an hourly rate and get to keep the delivery charge and that the nature of that tipping can be random. “Usually, if the order is €19, nine times out of 10, the customers will say ‘keep the change’. If it’s €17.50, they would be hesitant enough to give the full €2.50 but they may give €2.”
He also says that there isn’t any correlation between tipping and postcode – the more affluent the area does not necessarily mean a greater tip.
Leonard Daly, make-up artist and former salon owner noticed the winds of change in relation to tipping over the past few years.
“It just got lower and lower. And also, customers stopped tipping everyone. At one stage they might tip all three people involved in doing the hair – the person who shampooed it, the person who cut it and the person who blow-dried it. That stopped and then they were just tipping the stylist. Personally, I would always tip the assistant because I know they’re not getting paid as much,” he says. “Most salons have cut their prices so everyone’s commission is down so they’re not getting the wages or the tips they had before.”
Taxi drivers too have taken a hit, not least because, according to Jerry Brennan of SIPTU’s taxi branch, the downturn has seen fewer people taking taxis.
As well as that, with companies such as Eight Twenty cabs offering up to 20 per cent discount, the mindset for customers is to expect some kind of reduction in their fares, instead of splashing out on a tip.
“The way things are now, if a driver had an extra fiver at the end of his day through tipping, it certainly helps but it you wouldn’t be going much beyond that,” Brennan says.
So although it is still a discretionary practice, the next time you are faced with a tipping conundrum, you could do worse than take the advice of Steve Dublanica, former waiter and author of “Waiter Rant” blog, as well as Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity. He says that if you’re unsure, just ask the person providing the service what they want to be tipped and that way you can’t go wrong.
At one stage they might tip all three people involved in doing the hair – the person who shampooed it, the person who cut it and the person who blow-dried it
