TO TIP OR NOT TO TIP?
WHEN it comes to forming an orderly queue or apologising for some minor misdemeanour, most Britons are experts. Yet put us in a restaurant and the etiquette of tipping can send us into a fl ap.
Too little and we risk appearing tight; too much can make us look fl ash. Not to mention the dreaded “discretionary service charge”, which leaves us in a terrible quandary. God forfend that anyone should cause a scene, even if the waiter was surly and the white wine was served warmer than the entrée.
Now, however, matters should get a little easier. Government proposals to improve transparency will prevent this supposedly optional charge being added to bills.
The practice of rewarding service beyond wages alone is thought to have originated in the 16th century. Visiting aristocrats were expected to give a small amount of money, known as a vail, to compensate their host’s servants for the extra work at mealtimes.
Unfortunately, the custom got out of hand as valets, footmen and other hired help began expecting similar backhanders. The gentry decided to clamp down but an attempt to abolish vails led to rioting in London in 1764.
Recognising good service in pubs and restaurants became established but was always a thorny issue. In 1800 philosopher Thomas Carlyle complained after a visit to the Bell inn, in Gloucester: “The dirty scrub of a waiter grumbled about his allowance, which I reckoned liberal.”
It is claimed that the word “tip” entered the English language soon afterwards when a London coffee shop introduced a bowl labelled “To Insure Promptitude”. This was shortened to TIP and woe betide anyone who did not throw in a few coins.
The problem was that no one thought to fi x the amount. About 10 per cent of the total bill became the norm but the fi gure began creeping up when restaurants started adding the discretionary charge.
Random sums such as 12.5 or 15 per cent are now common. An eye- watering amount of 20 per cent, based on the American system where tips are used to supplement low wages, is not unknown.
Diners blame greedy restaurateurs for the infl ation while the owners hit back by insisting that this system is necessary to encourage cheapskate customers to reward waiting staff.
No one is sure when the discretionary tip was fi rst added to bills but it seems to have coincided with the arrival of credit card machines. The tips jar in sandwich shops and takeaways is, for some, another unwelcome development.
A survey last year showed that the average gratuity left by Britons amounts to just seven per cent, although that rises near Christmas. But one in 10 people admit they do not tip at all, typically arguing they should not pay extra for someone simply doing their job.
For others, tipping is regarded as nothing more than a way of getting rid of irritating loose change. Waiters and waitresses who smile get bigger tips as do those who touch the customer lightly on the arm.
Regional differences also emerged. Londoners are the best tippers but people in the East Midlands are more inclined to err on the side of caution.
However for those employed in the service industry there is always the chance of that oncein- a- lifetime tip. Especially, it seems, if you happen to work across the Atlantic where tipping did not exist until wealthy Americans began copying Europeans in the 19th century.
Waitress Phyllis Penzo at Sal’s Pizzeria in New York helped customer Robert Cunningham choose his lottery numbers in 1984. The policeman later tipped her $ 3million, representing half his winnings, and the story became the basis for the 1994 fi lm It Could Happen To You.
By contrast in 2011 David Cameron was forced to return shame- faced to a café in Tuscany to make amends a few days after it was revealed he and wife Samantha had slunk away without leaving a tip. In his defence, on his fi rst visit the Prime Minister had been told by the waitress that he would have to go to the bar to collect his own coffees. In 2014 a Missouri couple bought their favourite waitress a new Ford after seeing her old banger parked outside.
YET, for every heartwarming tale there is still something murky about tipping. There was outrage last year when some of the country’s best- known restaurants were accused of keeping all or part of the service charges rather than passing them on to waiters.
As part of the new plans announced by Business Secretary Sajid Javid restaurants will be forced to hand over all tips to staff. They must also make clear that gratuities are optional and that how much to leave is entirely up to customers.
Still none the wiser? Best move to Japan, just about the only place in the world where it is considered an insult to tip.