My work schedule has been interfering with my posting schedule recently, I'm not especially pleased with this but c'est la vie. I just picked up a part time gig delivering food and doing that is what gave me the idea for this post.
Tipping is a custom that I have always found rather interesting. Here in the States it is customary to tip servers and delivery drivers, usually 15% of the check total being the baseline for decent service. There's a bit of a catch though, employers are allowed to pay tipped employees less than minimum wage ($2.13/hr for servers, compared to the federal minimum wage of $7.25) as long as it adds up to minimum wage once tips are counted up.
Essentially, restaurants and bars are able to have their customers directly pay a good chunk of their labor costs. I have never understood why they were allowed to do so, it'd be a lot less headache and hassle to pay a decent wage and not have to worry about tipping. We don't worry about tipping the mailman so why do we let restaurants force their employees to depend upon the generosity of others for their income?
The other night I had a string of six deliveries and only got a tip from one of them, which is the way it goes sometimes. Other times it's the complete opposite, the good nights and bad nights tend to average out. I suspect it wouldn't cost any more to pay a higher hourly than what people are already spending in tips but it would take a bit of adjusting to.
I'm curious, is tipping a regular thing where you live? How does it work there? Do you enjoy tipping or dislike having to shell out extra money? There's a decent bit of variance in how or whether people tip just within the United States, I'm curious how/whether it's done elsewhere.
Anybody else ever have a job where it was up to the customer to decide how much money you earn?