Tipping in the service industry

[Angrboda]

I'd rather express my dissatisfaction with poor service by failing to patronize a business rather than omitting the tip altogether. As noted, people depend upon tips for their livelihood, so viewing it as a reward for a particular level of service to me seems misplaced. I might incentivize better service by not tipping extra, or by tipping lower than the so-called standard amount, but I don't view tipping as being solely a reward for good service, so I don't omit it based on that premise. I, too, would prefer that we get away from models of compensation which rely on tipping, I'm just not sure that's a practical goal. Though I suppose if you don't ask for it you're never gonna get it.

Additionally, people do have off days, I'm not going to penalize someone against their livelihood when it might be because someone is having an off day. I know I've given shitty tips on occasion, either for miscalculating the amount, or being unusually sensitive to the cost on a particular day, so it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to base my tip on what may just be a bad day. If I repeatedly get bad service from the same person, then it's time to either have a talk with that person or the management, or look for somewhere else to take my business.