After a recent holiday to the North American, maple-flavoured country that is Canada. The birth place of both Wolverine and Deadpool. While there the conversation of tips appeared on more than one occasion and to the ears of those across the Atlantic the idea of a bartender only rarely being tipped seemed to be almost insulting to those who worked in customer service. With the people telling me how they could get more than my weekly wage in tips in one night both hurt and impressed me and almost convinced me to ignore my return flight home to stay there and milk the teat of tips.
But I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye to the grey and cloudy skies of England, although the fact I didn’t have a work permit or a place to stay might have also swayed me. So now I’m back to the country that created manners and what it meant to be polite but fails to see any reason to tip anyone who happens to be handing them something consumable. And to be honest, I don’t blame them, tips aren’t something that I think should be introduced into the world of Wimbledon and Doctor Who.
Not to say I don’t appreciate the few times someone asks me to put one behind the bar for myself, in fact it is usually the highlight of a busy night. Spending hours running around trying to get as much liquid in different branded glasses as humanly possible while drunk people slur their orders, then to have one hero look at you with money in their hand and a smile on their face while they say the simple line, ‘And one for you.’
The reason I don’t personally want the tip culture from our cousins an ocean away to make its coined way over to our little island is not because I don’t appreciate a tip here and there but because I do. To get a tip in England is difficult and a challenge while over there it is seen as controversial to not tip someone who can carry four plates in two hands. If we make it a common rule to tip everyone behind the bar then it risks the people getting lazy and those who do receive tips go from people who work hard at jobs with very little reward into just another schmuck with pint glasses in their hands.
The other reason being that in the country that brings us lumberjacks by the truckload and maple syrup with no equal, the pay for those in customer service is cut short on the hourly wage. The culture of tipping comes from them not receiving full wages from the people who hired them for the job, leaving their earnings up to the customers that come in to drink whatever alcohol that is on sale. So, in the hope to keep my minimum wage pay then please do not bring tipping culture over to our little island that perfected the afternoon tea.
The Nerdy Bartender 