I have a weird relationship with tipping, on a few fronts.
I don't make a ton of money, so even when I eat out, it's generally financially unsound for me and is because I either have a lot on my plate, or have no time that day or week. Maybe I was working late on the bike and didn't have time to grab groceries, or I had a long day at work and just want to lie down afterwards, let alone sit at the stove for an hour and cook.
FWIW I still tip 15-20% every time I sit down somewhere.
There's an argument/opinion floating around that if you can't tip, you shouldn't eat out, and I sort of strive to do that now. However, that active refusal to eat out is also not really good for the economy and these businesses - I'm sure I am not the only one that came to this conclusion. If we all stopped eating out, these servers would be out of a job entirely, period. Let along not getting tipped.
My other quip with tipping is the whole emotional labor aspect. As someone who is customer facing, I've come to realize that it's more often than not that workers in retail or restaurants are probably having a **** day for one reason or another, like most people, and don't want to be your friend. To have bad days possibly cost you your rent (not in my case, but in general), is frankly insane. I've worked with people long enough, way past the point of of diminishing returns. For a while I learned patience and tolerance, and though I still am excellent at all of those things as a professional, my general opinion of humanity has slipped to a (probably) very unhealthy level.
When I go to a restaurant and some server is doing the whole "sir and ma'am" thing and treating me like royalty, I actually feel quite gross. I came to eat, not to force someone to be nice to me. I'm just a ******* guy, and nothing more - please stop pretending otherwise.
I LOVED Poland for that. People can be in a bad mood and they don't generally hide it, and frankly I encourage that. As long as my food is warm and tastes alright, I couldn't care less. If not forcing someone to fake a smile at me can in any way improve their day, or at least not make it worse, then I am all for it.
TL;DR. I tip, but I strongly dislike the practice and what it makes of people on both ends of the business model.
www.lifeinnorway.net
. I generally have a strong distaste for shopping so if I am going to a store physically, there's a 98% chance I already know what I want and I'll be in and out in about 5 minutes. I try to be as out of the way as possible in a store unless I genuinely have a question that cannot be answered within 2 minutes of googling.
