Picture this: you are at your favorite smoothie shop and the barista asks you to answer “a couple of questions” while you are paying. We’ve all been there in this awkward situation, whether it is at a smoothie shop or somewhere else. You buy your food item and then are presented with the “opportunity” to tip the worker for doing virtually nothing. Should you really tip the workers at these shops?
It really depends on who you talk to. Josh Berger ‘24 says, “I think they should be tipped. I worked at Dairy Queen for a year and a half. [When people tipped me], it made me feel really good about myself when I was serving someone because they showed me appreciation for what I was doing”.
Berger goes on to say, “[I] think baristas especially are overlooked because people think ‘oh they are just making coffee’ or ‘they are just making blizzards’ like [I] do, but [baristas] actually put in a lot of effort, and it feels good to get recognition for what [baristas do]”.
According to Berger, Dairy Queen does not ask for tips and a small portion of his salary was tips, but tips or recognition in general makes workers like Berger “feel really good about [themselves]”.
Luke Lentini ‘24, a customer, states he only gives tips when he gets “direct service, and they take my order, they deliver my food to me, they get me water and all of that.” He doesn’t tip “at fast food [when they are] grabbing my food and heating it up.”
On the other hand, Nico Valiente ‘23, who works at Starbucks, thinks that customers “give us way more than we should,” At Valiente’s Starbucks, tips are only accepted in cash, not forced in your face, and will be “based off the amount of hours you work.” He says, “You get tips weekly, and so [the employers] will distribute the tips based on the percentage of hours worked.”
Valiente also states that “[tips] are not included in our pay”. This creates an interesting parallel between restaurants not forcing the “tip question” in your face and the fact that workers do not have tips included in their pay.
Sam Broz ‘23 also made a “fair amount” when working at Starbucks, stating that a quarter of her salary was tip money. After being on the receiving end of tips, Broz states that she feels “guilty enough to tip a lot” when she goes out to eat.
When there is an iPad asking for tips, she also feels “guilty enough to tip at least 20 percent.” The guilt causing her to tip is “partially because I worked somewhere, and I’ve also heard a lot about the places that don’t pay enough.”
It is safe to say that tipping depends on the person and the restaurant. Personally, I think you should never feel pressured to tip someone, but do what makes you feel comfortable. The choice is yours.
