Do stores force customers to pay tips?

15 comments

1. Sometimes an automatic gratuity is added to large tables (usually 6+).

2. some restaurants have a policy where they automatically add gratuity to a big table. typically, normal customers have the option to tip. but it’s pretty taboo to not tip waiters or bar tenders at all.

3. Tipping is more of a cultural norm and accepted part of the social contract than something that businesses actively force their customers to do. Then again, I’ve never tried to to *not* tip at a business where tipping is expected, so I’m not sure what sort of active measures a business might take.

   edit: There are ways that some businesses encourage you to tip. I’ve stayed in hotels where the cleaning crew left a note saying something about how it was a pleasure to clean your room let us know if there was anything you would like done differently, but the implication was “hey, I did some work here, leave me a tip tomorrow”.

   I live in a highrise building with a building staff. In late November or early December the building will slide a little pamphlet under all of the doors with pictures, names and job titles (concierge, doorman, engineer, etc) of all the staff. We’re expected to leave a holiday tip and the tip amount is supposed to vary based on their job title.

   Around the same time the valets at my parking garage will leave a holiday card in my car listing all their names.

4. As a barista, I beat up and dump espresso on anyone who doesn’t tip

   /s

5. Sometimes for large parties they will automatically add a tip, usually 15%. In instances like that you obviously are not obligated to tip 20% on top of that; sometimes people will add on a tip (taking it up to 20% or more) or sometimes they’ll just let the autogratuity be the tip.

   Otherwise tipping is optional, BUT, not tipping is highly frowned upon.

6. That’s why WalMart has a greeter, they’re also tip enforcement.

7. They can, at which point it is a gratuity or service charge. Typically a business will let the customer know this beforehand.

8. Stores, no. Restaurants, maybe – especially for larger groups (6+ or 8+, usually).

9. No, but I’ve seen restaurants angrily confront people who haven’t tipped, saying something like “was there something wrong with the food, as I noticed you didn’t leave a tip?”

10. A “store” as in a retail establishment doesn’t typically have tipped workers. Tips are usually associated with sit down restaurants or professional services like barber shops, salons, tattoo parlors, and so on. Low dollar amount places like coffee shops, ice cream stores, and bakeries where totals are often under $10 may have a tip jar to throw spare change into.

    Some places do enforce an automatic gratuity, usually when seating large parties. A dinner theater in my neckof the woods also enforces a 15% gratuity on every order.

11. No. Any that tries to isn’t worth working for or pateonizing.

12. Yes, they won’t let you leave until you fork over a minimum of 20% 😂😂

    Of course they don’t force customers to tip! Lol

13. No, except some restaurants add gratuity automatically for large groups at one table.

14. You don’t tip for goods, so you wouldn’t tip in a “store”. You tip for service, and if your bill is big enough the bar or restaurant will automatically add gratuity to your bill, usually 18%.

    Refusing to tip when it’s expected is not a protest – it’s not taking the moral high ground against greedy capitalists. It’s a jerk move that punishes an innocent service worker for a system they had nothing to do with creating. That being said, if gratuity is not on he bill you’re not “forced” to tip.

15. I’ve only ever seen restaurants add a gratuity to large tables. At the restaurants where I worked they did so mostly because large tables are usually the worst tippers and take all of a server’s time.