Why we should do away with tipping

One sure thing that would go in my Room 101 alongside liquorice, horse racing and cryptic puzzles would be the act of tipping. Etiquette varies from one country to another. How many awkward taxi trips and restaurant visits have we had as a nation? With the steep tariff of taxis, surely we are already paying for the service and why do restaurant chains decide to split my tip with staff I’ve never even met? Many employers are under no legal obligation to even pass on the tip. When I do tip great service or believe that the gesture of tipping is deserved, then I want my own waiter/ess to keep it for themselves.

When I worked in notoriously low salaried retail, no one tipped me yet we are expected to tip hard up restaurant staff, hotel maids and now it seems, my binmen Keith and Jim want some of my wallet action . With some restaurants cunningly double charging gratuities and our nation feeling uneasy about how much to give, surely it’s time for these empty gestures to go. It is unacceptable in my opinion that waiting staff have been known to come back to diners at the end of their meal to inform me that they haven’t been tipped enough. This had happened to me abroad when I reluctantly tipped the standard 10% for what was in fact, painfully slow and disappointing service. We’ve all been there. The staff mutters abuse and look like they’ll spit at you on the way out. It’s unpleasant, spoils the atmosphere and is embarrassing in front of other diners. Now there’s a great reason to just hike the overall price and say goodbye to the archaic annoyance of tipping.