Here in WA state, the minimum wage per hour is $15.74 (higher in some areas). Tipping culture says 20%, but that’s generally to support lower paid waitstaff in areas that can pay less than minimum wage by employers. Where/What are you tipping and what kind of service would you expect for a 20% tip?
I’m so tired of being asked for tips at nearly every store. Even some self-service checkouts are now asking for tips. Like, for what? I scanned my items, I bagged my items, I had zero human interaction with your staff - what am I tipping for? And in other stores, there’s aways someone hovering over the register, watching you when the tip prompt is given, so you feel pressured to tip something. It’s absolute hell. I’m fine with tipping the bartender, barista, wait staff, hairdresser, and delivery driver. Everyone else? Yeah, no.
The proliferation of this stuff has started to make me far less receptive to being asked to tip. I’ve basically started to make a mental rule to hit “no tip” on every square terminal I encounter to guard myself from the guilt and pressure when it’s a really absurd tipping situation like a self checkout, or picking something up or whatever. I really don’t want to be an asshole, and I do try my best to tip in the appropriate situations… But I actually hate it so much that I avoid patronizing services where tips are expected. I just find navigating this to be more mental effort than I can spare most of the time and I hate second guessing myself about how much to tip or if to tip at all, and I just always feel taken advantage of or like I didn’t do enough… I usually just suck it up and tip when in doubt, but I really don’t like how it makes me feel. I just want everybody to be able to make a good living and to not have to think about any of this and have the price just be the price (with taxes included too, by god).
For greater corporate profits, of course. Won’t anybody think of the corporations?