[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

We do, and have always, believed in (personally) rewarding those who have given exceptional service (friendly, efficient, check if anything missing or needed, hot coffee fill, and various services in hotels, cruises, etc.). HOWEVER... what you related (carryout, and places like coffee cafes, buffets, etc. that use the cash registers to "force" customers to go through a series of "tip" options, etc. have really become offensive. "Tipping" has gradually lost all meaning as tech advances have evolved into just a method of increasing the total bill, and the "custom" of personally rewarding someone with your personal "thank you" is now nothing more than a "service charge" for picking up a phoned in order ! I might add, for those who cruise often, since the days when cruising was relatively unknown and tipping was always done in a manner of PERSONAL (person to person) "thanks" to all who made the cruise so pleasant, this evolved into an automatic daily charge added to the bill in the manner of the many hotel taxes. Most recently, one cruise line tried (you can imagine the outrage) to keep a list of those who felt the service was not exceptional, and went to the hotel desk of the ship to have this, or that, tip removed. This resulted in a type of "black list" cruiser, but had to be dropped due to the push back by customers. "Way back" we often cruised on a line that required no tipping, the service was truly exceptional and the prices of the line were above the bargain lines. Even though no tipping required, the quality of the service was so high you wanted to seek our the individual employees and add additional cash along with a hand shake, sometimes even a hug, and with eye to eye contact. I know the old argument that there are just a lot of "cheap skate" (old term of my grand parents) people about, but...is that an excuse to reduce tipping to what it has become... an incentive for those who do a poor or very poor job of their assigned responsibilities to be encouraged to be even more irresponsible by receiving tips regardless. And before it all starts....LOL... Yes, I have worked many jobs that rely heavily on tips, at times in college I had as many as three such jobs at a time, and yes, I do know what it is to give my best and still get "stiffed" as we called it. But overall, the majority of people really appreciated the attentive service I always tried to provide (never hung back in the bussing area to check my phone and chat with my colleagues, had no cell phone or Facebook, or TicToc to check !) I have heard the joke among villages retail employees: What is the difference between a Villager and a canoe ? Even a canoe will tip once in awhile. I find that insulting and completely untrue. Overall, considering the limited fixed income of most retirees, most are extremely generous and understanding, even with inflation like we are experiencing, and they realize how tough it is on students and younger adults with families trying to manage on minimum wage and less. But I do maintain, if a person is very poor at their job, they should not then be encouraged to perform even worse by receiving a "tip".

Very well said. Tipping has gotten way out of hand.

If we go to a sitdown restaurant and we are served we do give the server a tip. Tipping the cashier who hands us our food in a bag should not be a tipping position.

I cannot believe that on cruises we now get to tip guest services and the entertainment team. Would prefer to go back and hand tips to the people who did things for us but the cruise lines have made that impossible.