Gratuity Management

Tipping should be illegal. Feeling guilty should not be part of your service experience in any industry. In fact, when you tip a person for simply doing a good job, you are contributing to the cycle of guilt association expenses given to bad service providers. This kind of gratuity should be part of human resource and management. You should give me good service else lose your job or profits.

Do not expect me to tip anyone for any reason. If you do not make enough as part of your job duties, then do not be surprised when you do not receive more than your income when you do your job. You are paid to be a good worker. You should not be paid extra to be extra good at your job. If you are better than the others, this is called a promotion. Your manager evaluation of your ability to do your job in a satisfactory manner helping the company retain customers or have repeat business is what you were hired to do to begin with. The restaurant, cabbie, delivery service or other workers should demand from management a living wage or what is expected to perform good service without the expectations of tips from the public.

As a trucking veteran, I know how giving tips for good service began. Feeling good about getting decent service or helping a Truckstop keep good staff has always been important to travelers. But what service realized from the get-go is that they could pay their workers lower or miniscule wages and depend on their customers to manage the level of service as they tip staff according to how they feel about their total service experience. The managers quickly became hands-off or irresponsible for bad service, delays, or even bad products. They blamed it all on their staff without any recognition of company liability.

What should happen is that any service provider should adequately pay staff members for standard quality services. I do expect a good experience when I am served or am provided a product. If the food is bad, then it really does not matter how good the waitress is, does it? You will never go back to that restaurant. As a frequent traveler, I ultimately knew ALL bad food restaurants, even if they were franchises. I knew that a fast-food restaurant in one place was better or worse than one in another place, especially Truckstops. I even knew where the best sweet tea was served. It may seem impossible, but it is true. I say, completely stop all tipping or gratuity for good service. You should expect it anyway. As for your company or service, a good or bad reputation is what makes or breaks your bottom line. Word gets around, eventually.

So, owners or managers of service companies, here is the answer. You should eliminate any tipping and make it illegal in your service. Place a notice for customers that they may not tip staff but may elect to pay more for the service for appreciation of their overall experience. The wages for workers should reflect a living wage such that the worker has no need for gratuity. Word gets around about this, as well. Paying a complete good service wage allows you to better sustain staffing. Your finances remain within the standard deviation which shows leveled profit margins and more easily projected ROR (rate of return). Also, if your manager does not hire or fire based on expectations of basic human decency, then fire the manager, too.

© Copyright, Gratuity Management, 2/14/2023, April Graves-Minton, Love MoonEagle. All Rights Reserved.