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Licking your chops and folding your serviette in the afterglow of a fine dining experience, the bill arrives. The frugal blush as the total tally is split and then there's the pickle of the tip. How much, if at all, should you pay, and really, why do Australians need to tip anyway?
 Like pastrami on rye, this American custom has filtered its way onto our plates via popular culture. Perhaps if we had the traditional diner set-up, complete with apron clad, pie-pushing waitresses that know our names, we would be inclined to slip them a little extra too.
But tipping in the States is not optional, it's mandatory. It's deliberately built into the payment structure for the service industries. Research Associate at the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation, Steen Videbeck, in his article 'The economics & etiquette of tipping'(published in Policy) refers to the "principal-agent problem" — that is, when an employer is unable to constantly monitor their employees to ensure they're doing a good job. Videbeck says, "In order to motivate the employee to work hard, the owner may tie their pay to some easily observed output." As well as lower wages for staff, food prices are often cheaper and the impetus is on the customer to make up the difference and reward good service with their tip.
Humans are a precarious bunch, and although your average punter is less inclined to give away their cash unnecessarily, tipping can pack a punch that damages more than simply your hip pocket. In Australia, where tipping is not compulsory and staff should be paid an adequate and set wage, we still feel the pressure to fork out more than what is required. Why? Because in Australia tipping is not so much an economic exchange, rather it is synonymous with good manners and etiquette.
Global Financial Crisis or not, no-one wants to look tight. If dining alone one could consider ignoring the suggestive extra black line on your credit card receipt, but in a crowd, it can be deal breaking. David Wasserman, a Sydney restaurant publicist, describes the importance of tipping on business lunches: "Don't look cheap when it comes to tipping. I usually tip 20% of the bill, and then you are always looked after as a VIP." It would seem, in a Gordon Gekko kind of way, that tipping is all about status. After all, no one feels the need to tip at McDonald's.
Videbeck asserts, "the most widely supported theory states that people tip simply to avoid the considerable stigma that accompanies 'stiffing' (not leaving a tip) — a kind of selfish, economic agent with feelings." It is also suggested that altruism plays a role in this tipping minefield; people take pity on those with lesser incomes and feel good about themselves (and their indulgent three-course dinners) after they've shared the love.
Who ever thought that recycled Dolmio jar next to the cash register could cut so deep into the human psyche? Dr Michael Lynn, Associate Professor, School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, that's who. He even published Mega Tips — Scientifically Tested Techniques to Increase your Tips to teach wait staff how take advantage of your loose change.
Wait staff are encouraged to address their customers by name, bob down at the side of the table and even touch their patron to increase their tips from the kind that jingles to that which folds. Experiments revealed that by simply wearing a flower in their hair, waitresses increased their tips by 17% — not bad if you don't mind looking like a love-child for your shift. And have you ever noticed a smiley face or a 'thank you' scribbled on your cheque? That's just another friendly reminder that your food didn't reach your table by itself. Presenting sweet treats with the bill is also a winner, individualised chocolate gifts scoring higher on the tipping scale; it's like taking candy from a baby.
For the patron, tipping remains slightly murky. If you plan on tipping, 10% is satisfactory but by no means obligatory, but if you're still unsure best go by Melbourne newspaper journalist, Danny Katz's tipping formula: "Quality of Service PLUS Quality of Food DIVIDED BY Cheapness of Customer EQUALS Loose Change in Pants Pocket."
Nicole Muir
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