Thanks for the Tip

What's the difference between an Australian and a canoe?

A canoe tips!!

That was the entertainer's joke at Juneau's Red Dog Saloon in Alaska which at the time was full of cruise ship tourists some of whom were Australians holidaying on  a  Scenic Tour.

After spending  a month touring in Canada, Alaska and Washington State "we Aussies" just don't get tipping.

On the one hand we get that when you receive good service, nothing speaks louder than money. The Canadian system expects tipping 10% is compulsory and is automatically taxed  and 15-20% indicates good service and makes up for the poor hourly rate ($9) received by service staff. They come after you if you don't tip enough as one of our tour group members experienced. The EFT machines in the restaurants give you a hand tip option when you pay by card.

So you are expected to pay restaurant servers - who are taxed on the expected compulsory tip and who are required to share with the kitchen and ancillary staff. You should also tip your bar tender, hairdresser, limo/taxi driver, tour guide, concierge, porter, housekeeping attendant and doorman.

Thus a round of drinks costing $25 should get a tip of between $3.75 and $5.00.  Thus if a server sells only three trays of drinks in an hour their hourly rate starts to get very respectable and one would think they serve many more than that.

 Despite a full restaurant the server had only been allocated us as customers - "she needed the tips"

Trip Advisor explains the complexity of the system:

“It is also important to remember that in many restaurants, the server is required to "tip out" -- that is, to give a percentage of his/her total sales to cover tips for hostesses, bussers, and similar service staff.  This happens regardless of what level of tip he/she received from you, because it's based on sales, not on tips.  If you choose not to tip, the server still has to tip those other support workers.”  So by choosing not to tip you cause other problems. Canada:Tipping and Etiquette

Our tour and cruise included all gratuities and tips but there was still an expectation to tip for good service by the bus driver, Tour Director and selected daily guides.  The expectation is 10-15% of the total So for an example on a $50 tour we did should the 25 people give $7.50 each for a two hour walk around?  That’s about $185 not a bad hourly rate on top of the tour charge. 

I still don’t get it.

"Tip jars" are found where counter service is proveded eg coffee shops, ice creameries, self service sandwich bars and even retail stores. Where does it stop?

Don’t get me wrong- service was pretty good in Canada.  On the whole servers were pleasant and attentive – sometimes overly so. Was the service better than I would expect in Australia?? Not necessarily. Does forgetting to give you cutlery, getting the order wrong or forgetting to bring water turn into good service if it is smiled away with an apology and a correction so they still get their tip? 

Beautifully presented food and great service

Certainly the management teacher in me sees the concept of Total Quality Service  screaming out. If food is bad, the server is punished by a lower tip. That would soon be sorted. If the service is slow because the kitchen is slow it should also be sorted by the server who is expected to “tip out” to them. The other part of this complex system. Servers and managers want to know about problems so they have an opportunity to make things better for their customers and still get the tip. Don't get me started on the inefficiency of the "wait to be allocated a server system" prevalent in restaurants. 

Note also  that taxes are added to everything when you receive the bill.  How convenient that the 5% GST is listed separately - you only have to multiply by 3 to work out the tip! If you think a hamburger is cheap in Canada and USA  don't forget the taxes (up to 10% depending on the County) and the tip charge.  Heaven help us if they bring in a system like this in Australia where the wages are fairer and the taxes are included in the price shown.

Just excuse me whle I take up a collection for the pilot!

Rant over ... what do you think?