Tip of the iceberg
Icebergs aren’t a problem in Botswana, so using that word in my headline may seem a bit dangerous.
Especially since I don’t plan to talk about those huge blocks of ice that float in the extreme southern and northern oceans, other than to say they are bigger than they appear and most of the danger to ships is below the surface where it can’t be seen. If you’ve watched the film Titanic, you know what I mean.
But I do want to talk about another hazard that may prove to be bigger than it first appears and, as it happens, that danger applies to tips. Not iceberg tips, but rather the ones we sometimes choose to leave for restaurant staff when we have been pleased with their service.
Or perhaps I should say, ’used to leave after we were pleased with the service.’ I say that because during my current holiday on the English coast, my partner and I were presented with a new - and supposedly safer - way of ordering and paying for a meal at one of the local pubs.
The first thing we had to do was download the pub’s menu app onto a smart phone. Then we had to punch in our table number and find what we wanted on the drinks menu and add it to our basket and then do the same from the meal menu. Then we had to checkout and pay the bill.
But before we could do that, we were asked how much of a gratuity we wished to add to the bill: none, 10 percent, 20 percent or other. We hadn’t seen or spoken to a waiter or waitress yet, so I was very tempted to go with the first option, but after a bit of thought, I decided that would be a very dangerous thing to do, so I gritted my teeth and pressed 10 percent.
I did that for two reasons. The first was that I was very hungry and wanted our order delivered as quickly as possible, or at least not delayed, and the second was that I didn’t want to irritate people who had access to our food. I’ve worked in restaurants and I know bad things can happen to customers who do that.
As it turned out, the food was lousy and the service consisted of simply delivering the food and drinks to our table and asking if we wanted any sauces with our chips… and since everything was overpriced, the 10 percent tip was way over the top. Under the circumstances, however, it was probably the right choice.
But the whole thing was wrong and the precedent it sets is very dangerous. It was like paying protection money to the mafia so they wouldn’t smash up our business or break our legs. Tips should be earned, not coughedup as a form of insurance. And anyone who isn’t up to speed with the modern world and doesn’t have a smart phone can’t get served.
But if the new system makes life easier for the owners and staff of businesses that use it, our pub experience could well be just be the tip of the iceberg.