Dear [put name of establishment here],
Everytime I visit your establishment, I see a little jar that says, “tips…thanks!” On top of that, if I pay with a credit card, sometimes I am faced with another line right before the total that reads, “Tip: ___________.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate great customer service, but this “tip” thing is just getting a little out of hand. When I buy my coffee, I don’t think a simple, “Hi, how are you doing?,” “Do you want room for cream?,” and “Anything else for you today?” deserves a tip. Come on, I mean I’m already paying you at least 50% margin on what I’m buying! At a restaurant, service entails seating, taking my order, filling my drinks, cooking, bringing my order, cleaning up, desserts…Now that, I think, deserves a tip, but come on, taking my order, my money, and giving me my change back does not deserve a tip.
So please, [put in name of establishment here] make it policy to remove these “tip” jars from your stores. I feel bad because some of your employees “expect” a tip, which to me is just ridiculous. Or at the very least, put it by where I pick up my order. Not at the register after you’ve just taken my money. I haven’t even received my order yet! Thank you.
Sincerely,
Freedumb
P.S. (Tips…thanks!) -> 
————END LETTER
If you (blog reader) are interested, It’s Just Money has a post on tipping guidelines.
Nice irony with the PayPal donation button after the entry on tipping!
Hah, thanks Flexo. I hope someone from one of the corporate stores reads it.
i hope you’re joking. don’t tip if you don’t want to. it’s really that simple.
Only way I could see justifying putting a tip in there would be if they were earning tipped minimum wage, which is less than non-tipped minimum wage.
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I’ve worked in a place with a tip jar but we didn’t expect a tip. Pretty much (at least where I work) the tip jar is for those people who feel like we did an extra-special job and want to give us a little change for it.
Although most people come in, get a few things and zoom out, some people get more face-time with the barista. Sometimes it’s because they have really huge drink orders (which is hard, because then all the quick orders have to wait) or they want something super-picky and uncommon , or they don’t know what they want and the barista has to pick them out something. Those kind of orders require the person to do a lot more work than otherwise, so a little tip is a nice way of saying thanks for putting in the extra effort.
An automatic drip coffee, regular black is a no-brainer, but the customer who asked for 6 olive-flavored half-caff mocha-choka-latte-yayas at precisely 178.9 degrees with whip in the shape of the Eiffel Tower and then proceeds to tell me about her bunions as I’m trying to froth the yeti-milk she insists upon will turn my frown upside down if she scoots some change my way, y’know?
annab, lol…I can’t believe how crazy some orders at Starbucks can be…I’ve heard some crazy stuff… 6 olive-flavored half-caff mocha-choka-latte-yayas at precisely 178.9 degrees with whip in the shape of the Eiffel Tower that’s funny…
About the tip jar though, I swear some people give you a funny look if you don’t give them the 54 cents of change…
[...] I Hate Those Tip Jars [...]