Traveling with Australians, South Africans, and New Zealanders brought to the forefront something that I was only vaguely aware – the propriety of tipping. You would think the practice of tipping could simply be forgotten in countries that do not expect it, but there are deeper cultural ramifications that relate to the very psyche of the nationalities.
Our Australian friends’ first answer for why they don’t tip is that they “already pay their workers a living wage” – casting Americans as villainous cheats. Their second explanation is based on contract law: that there is an agreement at the beginning of the exchange by which both parties intend to subscribe. However, I find the contract argument inconsistent with the Australian notion that bartering is acceptable, and that the price of an item is only the starting point for negotiations, which is certainly not an attitude Americans take – in fact, Americans want a set price and they are adamantly against a price advantage given to those who show the least courtesy and civility through hard bargaining.
I have two arguments I used to explain tipping to foreigners… First: tipping is to reward service over that which is specifically listed; and secondly: the consumer of a personal service is the only one who can determine what value that service is worth.
Tour guides fall into the first category: I simply cannot phantom how a single payment at the beginning of your excursion could represent the level of personal service rendered to you as an individual? When a tour says it costs $100 in the brochure, does that mean the guide speaks English fluently, knows the history of the things and places they’re showing you, and makes sure there’s a place at the bar for you to sit? Did the guide do only the line items listed in the itinerary or were there additional intrigues and little tidbits that you have to experience to understand? Contrarily, was your guide surly and unprepared? Were the transport vehicles unsafe and uncomfortable? How can these items possible be adequately defined beforehand? Every experience is so unique and personal, even recommendations from previous customers are inadequate. That’s where tipping fills the gap between what you paid – the competitive low price quoted so the guide could get some business – and the actual value of the experience you received.
The second category is more difficult: amorphously measured services, such as the quality of the band in a bar, require that the consumer be responsible for deciding how much the music contributed to their experience – some not at all, some a lot – it’s certainly not an amount a bar owner can predetermine and include in the meal’s price. In fact, given the risky nature of booking entertainment, most restaurateurs would simply choose not to provide entertainment even if their ideal venue for aspiring musicians would otherwise go unused. Many forms of entertainment would not exist at all without the support of tips, and it does not need to be much because many tip-receivers simply want the recognition and courtesy that tips imply rather than a certain amount. An oft-heard announcement over a band’s microphone is, “thanks for the money, folks, now we can pay for the gas on the way home.” If you are wondering how much to tip, consider how many beers you would buy someone who helped you change a flat tire - measuring tips in “beer money” is a time-honored tradition.
Obviously, there are more formal tipping environments, like tipping in restaurants that is “recommended” to be 10% of the bill amount, but those are situations driven by cultural significance, “classless society” and all that, whose historical roots are more dominate than logical. I won’t try to justify all tipping, outside the suggestion that “when in Rome,” but the two categories I’ve explained above are definitely something you want to consider before blithely walking away from a justified expectation of tipping and thereby abrogating a responsibility that only you can fulfill.
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