YouTuber Ishan Sharma on Tuesday uploaded a picture of him dining at a restaurant in New York and stated stirred a debate over tipping the staff and questioned whether it was considered mandatory to pay them the extra money. His X post came surfaced with the context of his recent visit to a restaurant in the city and his experience on tipping there.
$5 went as tip, never returned...
Narrating the incident, Sharma mentioned about what he had ordered there and how he ended up giving tips despite not really wanting to extend it to the staff. "Ordered a crepe, club sandwich and Panini for $45(Rs. 3800). We paid $50 cash and the waiter just took the rest as tip," he noted while stating that the waitress didn't return the change to him. It was learned that he asked the waitress about the change she didn't agree to return it to him and rather preferred to keep it as a tip. "You have to pay the tip" was allegedly the reply she left him with.
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20% tip
While paying a tip in itself was not something Ishan was keen about, one his friends pointed to him that they would usually share 20% tip to the service staff at a eatery. However, the idea of tipping didn't go well with him and he concluded the post by saying, "20% for what? INSANE!'
The 'tip' debate
As Sharma's post over tipping went viral on X, a couple of users shared their experiences from the US restaurants. One of the comments made in this regard seconded the tipping culture in the US and compared similar scenes with those in European countries and said, "Tipping is by definition voluntary. As long as they pay the bill, the customer has every right to be stingy with a tip - it is not an entitlement of the server. If you feel you are entitled to extra money, just notify the customer of a service charge and then put it on the bill. Most European countries do that and nobody has a problem paying."
"The US restaurant industry is just a cartel which canvasses politicians to legalize wage theft, and then passes on the responsibility to the consumer. Your woke takes on tipping are just useful idiocy for a cartel of wage thiefs," the post added.
The reason behind the emphasis on giving a tip money to the restaurant staff was learned to be low wages. "There are many service providers you do not tip, even in the US. Their wages are just as bad as restaurant waiters."
