Tipping Expands To The Sidewalk

From Unsplashed

You didn’t eat there, you didn’t shop there, you’ve never been there. Should you leave a tip? Experts increasingly say “yes”.

by Mortimer Durst | Colosse Business Journal and Ordinary LifeStyle

COLOSSE, DA – If you walk around downtown these days, you may notice the newest trend among restaurants, eateries, and stores: Jars and containers requesting tips at establishments whether you’ve eaten there or not. A custom once reserved as a gratuity for good service has expanded over the years, but only recently has it begun to include tips for services not actually rendered.

“It makes sense when you think about it,” explained Mark Ferguson of Ferg’s Deli. “You don’t penalize waitstaff for the things outside their control, like the taste of the food or whether the air conditioner is working, because it’s not fair to penalize them over something they aren’t responsible for. Well, it’s not their fault if you chose not to eat at a particular establishment, is it? Not usually. So why should they be penalized?”

Alice Jurgens, Ferguson’s employee at the counter agrees. “I get so frustrated when I see people talk about saving money by eating at home or bringing their own lunch to work. I know people don’t mean it that way but it’s just a middle finger to people trying to make a living out here. Well, this gives them an opportunity to save money by eating at home without hurting those of us working in the service industry.”

Jan Olsen, manager of the Honeybee restaurant on Olmstede Boulevard, agrees. “It’s a little tough because there’s a giant parking lot in between the sidewalk and the restaurant, of course, but we’ve found that we can put a tip jar out at the end of the parking lot. We had a problem with people using it for cigarette butts so we had to put a cigarette butt cannister beside it. We’re excited about the possibilities. And lest anyone worry, our waiters and cooks will definitely be getting some of this money. In one form or another.”

Grocery stores are getting into the action as well. “We’ve always allowed customers to give tips to our baggers and have had some success recently placing tip jars at checkout for our clerks. While we don’t get much in the way of foot traffic, we’re stationing employees at the intersection going car to car asking for tips for our employees and our company as a whole. This has the real potential to help us hold down costs, which lets us hold down prices. In turn, everybody benefits from the tip jar.”

Many pedestrians and drivers, though, are not fans of the idea. “Wait. So now we’re not only expected to tip where we haven’t been waited on like at kiosks, but now we’re expected to fork over money when we haven’t even eaten there? Haven’t shopped there? This is madness!” explained one middle-aged woman who asked not to be identified but whose first name is entirely appropriate for someone who would disregard the well-being of service industry workers.

“It’s like a toll booth on a sidewalk,” explained Leroy Martin, a tax accountant walking to the bank. “We have enough issues with vagrants and panhandlers, but now businesses, too?”

Whether customers and passerbyers care for it or not, though, the trend is only likely to grow as more sectors of the economy explore this innovative form of employee compensation. Richard Andrews of Rex’s Auto Shop in lower midtown says he’s testing it. “As an auto shop, we’ve never really worked off tips before. But we’re in an extremely high foot-traffic area and this seems like something we could take advantage of.”

He reported mixed success. “At first people seemed to ignore it. But once we started putting an employee out there behind the tip jar to look people in the eye, people found their sense of generosity.”

Some companies, however, are having more difficulty with implementation. Mack Holloway of Patriot Beer, Bait, and Ammo in the university district says that local residents are not opening up their wallets to their tip jar. “We feel there might be a disconnect with the local community and have adopted our furry mascot to help ingratiate ourselves with the locals.”

Outside Patriot is a giant stuffed bear wearing a bandolier and toy gun with a sign that says “Help us restore the right to armed bears”.

“It’s a little frustrating, to be honest. I thought these people were all about sharing the wealth and whatnot. Whatever. It’s unfortunate that it’s all come to this. I just wish there were some central fun that could distribute the money instead of us all having to put tip jars out in the street,” Holloway lamented “But this is the real world and not Star Trek.”

Holloway isn’t the only one who feels like they are at a disadvantage. Jimmy Corgan, who runs the Airway Inn near the airport, says that he doesn’t get any foot traffic at all and that makes it difficult to implement an outside tip jar. “We specialize in serving people who want to be near the airport. Everyone else drives or takes transit right past us to the airport or wherever it is they are headed. They can’t even see the tip jar and even if they did it’s unlikely they would stop for it.”

In response, Corgan is thinking about setting up a website where people could tip their employees. “We’re not sure how to get people to go to the website, but we’re determined to try and I think we’ll figure it out. It’s really important. Our employees have families to support and we want to help them any way we can,” Corgan explained, before quickly adding “Within reason.”

{Will Truman contributed to this report}