Once in the spell of the Twin-Tailed Siren, you will “crash” into Starbucks where money becomes no object.
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I agree.. but damn the inflation level is getting a little nuts.
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See, that’s wrong. Then when you don’t meet the expectation of the employee, they take it out on you. As you have experienced.
That’s putting the cart before the horse, and no longer a gratuity, but more of a random service fee assigned by somebody that is not in a position to determine such things.
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I agree. I don’t go out much anymore though. Prepared food in general has become expensive and mostly very disappointing, so when I do go it’s somewhere that is worth it.
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Frankly, I understand you, I also find it abused that Starbucks is forcing its hand with these tip screens when coffee already costs an arm. For me, a tip is when the service is beyond normal, not just to press a machine and forget the order. Personally, I always click on “no” and I leave without feeling guilty.
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We have a bar here that is serve yourself with maybe 100 beers on tap. You swipe a card that they give you and the beer comes out. When you check out afterwards, it prompts you for a tip. It is totally insane, not a single employee even spoke to me!
I tip well at restaurants as I’m being served and for delivery which I rarely get. Otherwise, you can expect coins or $0.
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I also worked FOH for years and the amount of tips never seemed to correlate with the quality of service, it was that customers were always good tippers or bad tippers for the exact same level of hospitality, which is why so many of the staff get burned out.
The fucking after church crowd was the worst. They are stingy as shit and I even got some of those fake bills that are actually a bible tract.
Working bar was far more interesting. For me, older women, gay guys, or businessmen trying to impress a group of other people tipped the most. For the women it was always the straight men.
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Maybe there is another way to look at this issue. Down here in Oz wait staff are paid a much higher minimum wage underpinned by an industry standard. This forces employers to make sure they train and retain the best staff because they are no cheap. This generally means pretty good service. as a consumer there is no expectation to tip and we only tip of the goods or service is extra good or the staff are extra friendly. Staff don’t rely on the tips to earn a wage and are usually very happy to receive any small amount given as a little extra bonus for their work. Now the flip side of this is that the business owner need to recoup those higher wage costs which mean the consumer ultimately pays a little more. But if this drives a good standard or good and services all round then its a win win.
Maybe its time for businesses in the US to pay their staff properly.
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Its kind of funny how all the hate is being directed towards the baristas/cashiers as if they are the ones writing the code on the machine they are using or setting the companies tipping policy.
The CEO/Executive/Manager is the one making the decision, and programmers are making the software. The people everyone here is hating on are just showing up to work. To the extent the worker has anything to do with being negative about the interaction its probably just the natural human reaction of “oh man I could have had more money but they chose the No Tip option”, but again even that interaction is forced upon both of us by the executives at the company
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Good point about the POS setting, but they place the transaction before the service. Im generally neutral toward the people, but the timing of it colors the interaction and can be made negative.
Put the tip after the service, and its the cashier/barista or who evers prerogative to act according to how they want it to go, and the customer to choose how they felt about it.
A pizza place we’ve been ordering from for about 10 years has always had stellar service (delivery) so we had no problem tipping in advance when paying by debit card.. Its money up for grabs- who ever wants to drive about 600 feet gets it.
Until that showed up at the hands of the drunken eastern european woman that they hired. She dropped it, presumably on the way to her car, and handed it to me out the window then drove off.
Of course they (the pizza shop) handled it, and replaced with new.
Once she was gone, back to good intact pizza delivered to the door and no one honking for me to come out and get it out of their car. And debit transactions instead of cash upon reciept.
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What i have noticed is they are now prompting me about the tip screen. That is where this is coming from.
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Yeah I get that. I just mean the entire interaction is foisted on both parties from the top. The employee is given this golden opportunity to you have give them more money, so they are just nudging you in that direction.
Same way if there was some way their manager could “tip” them at the end of the shift for a job well done they would say “Well boss how was everything today? Good enough for an extra 15%?” but that option doesnt exist on purpose… They have decided to make YOU the person with that power, and they have programmed their machines to make it maximally visible to both parties that you have been granted the opportunity to give them more money.
At the end of the day they are just people trying to make a few extra dollars, so I dont really blame them for trying to do so.
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This is a huge simplification of the reality. Employers are fighting for employees in this current work environment. Perspective employees would be more motivated to work for the business that uses screens that are prompting higher tips. Sure, top management put these screens in their establishments, but to say it was mutually exclusive from attracting perspective employees is a hard sell.
I’m always willing to tip when someone works hard, but I’ll add that when I’m at a place that isn’t already ridiculously overpriced, I tend to tip better because I don’t feel like I’m being taken advantage of right from the get go.
S
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I tip well, and am happy to do it. If Starbucks didn’t prompt me, I would probably tip 30% or more.
I almost never buy coffee from a retailer. I make it myself at home for pennies, or get a refill at a convenience store for less than $2 for my 32oz mug.
But, figure this - a barista makes $15 per hour, maybe. I get a $4 Grande Decaf drip. Plus tax is 4.35. No tip and you’re out the door for that.
Give them a 30% tip and they will know your name next time and it cost you $1.20.
No tip and you get saliva in your next cup.
At $15 per hour, that is $600 per week if they get 40 hours, which they won’t because of benefits. So figure 30 hours per week so $450 per week or $1800 per month.
Can you live on that?
No, a barista job isn’t meant to be a living wage . . . or is it. Would you rather have shitty help that can’t make change?
All for $1.20?
IN NYS Bariatas make $16.50-$19.00/hr. That in NYS min wage and more.
They know that going in. If that cannot support their lifestyle then they need to supplement their income just as I did when I had three jobs as a teenager and then a hard construction job making min wage at the time.
I’m not against tipping, I have a problem with pre tipping for a service not even performed yet. I also have a problem with them propoting my about the tip screen. It’s a way to guilt you.
If you do a search online for Starbucks tipping their far more against the POS system tipping promts then for it.
Would my order come out incorrect just because I click no on the prompt? I very much doubt it.
I don’t disagree. Would you rather have them making the national minimum wage? Do you think $19 an hour is a living wage? Do you think they want to be making your coffee for a living?
Rather than complaining about a two dollar tip, why not just make a thermos at home and take it with you?
For me, I mean, I got two bucks to tip, why not raise up my brothers and sisters?
The prompt is annoying AF though.
To be clear, you have a point, I get it. I just choose to not let it bother me.
This would depend on the persons situation. If it is not they should find a job commensurate with their needs or find supplemental income. I would think for 95% of the starbucks workers it is either a first job or used for supplemental income. Could be wrong here but for most this is not a career. It’s a stepping stone.
I make my coffee at home 99% of the time but when I travel i go to starbucks.
This is nice on a personal level but my belief is a gratuity is for service above and beyond your job description. Nothing about anything done at starbucks fits that bill. There is really just no opportunity for that 99.99% of the time since your interactions fast.
The entire premiss of this post is not tipping. I have no problem tipping. I tip well when it’s warranted or anytime i’m in an establishment where i am sitting at a table and have a server.
Where my biscuits get burnes is when the counter employee mentions a tip when the POS prompts. This guilts you into tipping prior to service rendered even if that service ends up being poor or incorrect.
This is not only a starbucks thing as others have mentioned. The only other fast food i eat occasionally is panera and they have the same thing on their POS. I can’t speak to other establishments as I don’t frequest them but other have mentioned places where there isn’t even a human giving you service and the POS asks for a tip.
Thats my go to virtually always.
A while back there was this thing going around on facebook and whatnot, maybe it was food service workers stroking themselves a little too vigorously? 
i dunno.
But it was something to the effect of “If you cant afford to tip 30% don’t bother eating out.”. I saw it posted frequently by quite a few people, and they felt really strongly about it.
So I listened. Eating out is no longer a thing for me if food service workers think they can just invite themselves to my wallet by in house consensus.
That kind of attitude just does not fly with me.
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I really couldn’t care less if they know my name, and if I have to pay them extra to not spit in my cup, fuck them.
So completely take my business away from the job that they rely on?
To be clear, I don’t drink coffee, but that seems like a dumb argument.
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