wDallas 29-year-old architect Hen Garrett Petters and his girlfriend traveled to Paris last year. One of their favorite parts was eating out. They enjoyed French ducks, and willets, lots of bread, cheese, coffee and even escargot.
But it wasn’t just the Parisian cuisine they admired. It was also a different culture of transformation. “We were talking about how great it is in Europe for them to pay waiters and waitresses, so there’s no need to tilt them for that and it’s not that cool,” Petters said. It felt very different from the American back, where chip culture felt “out of control.”
Tips have been a long-standing practice in American companies, with service workers often relying on attractiveness to earn a living, falling below the federal minimum wage. But for 50 years, shifts have increased and began creeping up into new sectors as the pandemic disrupts everyday life and injected danger into frontline jobs. Now people say it’s inevitable.
When I responded to the Guardian Callout and asked if their chip habits had changed recently, people shared their experiences and opinions about chips.
Self-checkout, drive-thru, hot dog stands, drug stores, bottled water stalls at jazz festivals, airport vending machines, used bookstores, cinema box office revenue, kids’ arcades – these are amazing places reportedly being asked for tips, and some suggestive companies are happy.
“Previously, tips were considered generosity,” Petters said. “Now, it’s about guilt.”
However, there is a possibility that backlash will be brewed, reducing its appeal from its vibrant peak. According to Toast data, the average full-service restaurant tips for the fourth quarter of 2024 fell to 19.3%.
Petters said he is now adding fewer to the bill, hoping that employers will be forced to increase staff pay. But when he mentioned this to the working services he knew, he added, some people were angry. “I just said, ‘Why aren’t you mad at your boss because you didn’t pay you a livable wage?”
“I think business owners are really taking advantage of the situation.”
He worries how companies that rely on tips for subsidizing wages will become particularly vulnerable to the feelings of generous clients.
The ubiquitous presence of cash registers in electronic sales (POS) – rotating and offering reward options – is another reason for tip creep. The 75-year-old said he took a can of olive oil to the counter and asked for tips at one of Tom Schultz’s local grocery stores in Denver, Colorado. “We’re facing this in every transaction,” said Schultz, a retired lawyer and musician.
Schultz said he enjoyed chatting with the cashier, sharing smiles and jokes, and experiencing a short connection. Generally, he “feels very comfortable just saying “no tip” when there was no real service, but considering the servers are usually standing there, “it’s always a bit nervous.”
“It’s always a bit uneasy and uncomfortable,” he said, adding that workers themselves were often embarrassed to be forced to ask their employers for tips. The impact could be a “barrier to real communication with humans,” Schultz said.
For Ellen, a 33-year-old career cook from Worcester, Massachusetts, the rules of chipping were easy to grasp. 18% was the restaurant standard and was adjusted upwards by 5% due to presumably exceptional service. She worked as a barista a year before Covid-19, so she knew the importance of tips.
Now she felt as if the social rules regarding falls were not stagnant, and the facilities often featured “suggested tips” from 25%. “That’s rude to me,” she said.
“I feel like businesses are trying to make me feel more guilty. She’s been choosing the lowest option recently or leaning at all for workers covered by the usual minimum wage laws, such as grocery stores and counter serve stations.
“As you say, it kind of counterculturally, as if he was saying, ‘No, I wouldn’t tip, who would even ask me?’ ” she said.
This is similar to Ian, a 46-year-old home caregiver in Springfield, Missouri. He has been tired of the ubiquitousness of chipscreens lately.
“I will not guilty of these surface POS systems any more. My rules are from now on, only coffee shops, restaurants and bars,” or places with personalized services such as massages and haircuts.
However, some people told the Guardian that they chose to be generous with their recent satisfaction.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the process of doing things,” said Robert Healy, a 68-year-old bus driver from San Jose, California. “Unless the server treats me like crap, I’ll probably rule it out.” Healy was willing to tip to help low-income workers, as his salary was above average.
But ideally he wanted to see a job paying sub-minim wages, such as the roles of many bars have been abolished. “Everyone who works should be covered by the minimum wage,” he said.
In Tampa, Florida, Sandra, 62, said she has recently increased her TIP percentage from 15% to 20% or 25% in response to tough times in her hometown.
“The three major storms in 2024 in my area, coupled with ongoing community issues, have destroyed some of my neighbors,” she said. “From The Tow Guy to the lovely women and waiters working at Laundromat, Florida focuses on service and hospitality work, and it has the pain in people’s eyes.”
Sandra added: “Maybe nice tips won’t change their lives, but tips could help them put gas in their cars or help them buy groceries.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump wants to eliminate taxes on hints, but critics say this will encourage a more cultural shift and a widespread low wages. Whatever the outcome of the president’s policies, for now it appears we are leaning our culture.
When Healy was recently at a restaurant in Mexico with his family, at the end of the meal he placed a “tip – $0” to pay for the card. He was worried after seeing the “outrageous” story of businesses putting tips from workers in their pockets, Healy said. Instead, when they left, he handed a generous cash tip directly to the server.
“These are people who do their jobs,” he said.