re: Is tipping primarily a learned behavior?

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People who don't tip well are bad people. They are selfish and cheap which says a lot about them.

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And I think you're a bad person for being so presumptive about bad tippers.

1) Tipping is an arbitrary and unwritten "rule". Credit card bills are starting to come with recommendations, but prior to that the only official notice/suggestion for tipping was the fine print on menus saying X% will be automatically added to large groups.

2) Tipping is an unusual pricing structure in our economy, much like car negotiation. Nothing else in the economy has variable and voluntary pricing. Maybe people are bad tippers because the rules aren't standardized and compulsory.

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If you don't want to tip well, go to a place to eat where you don't have to.

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You are also assuming that once a bad tipper always a bad tipper. The first time I had a $100+ bill I didn't tip well. Not because I'm a bad peron or got bad service, but because I had sticker shock. I honestly didn't see the value added by the server. Yes my meal was more expensive, but I still got the same level of order taking, water pouring and food delivery I received when my date and I dropped $30 - $40 at a less expensive restaurant. Why should I pay one server $6 and the other $20 for the same service just because the food and drinks are more expensive? I can see the value added in the more expensive food, but I didn't get 4 times the service. It took me a while but I've come to accept the flawed pricing system we have and tip appropriately, that doesn't mean I was a bad person before.

I'm sure there are people that are abusively bad tippers, and do it because they can, but I think many bad tippers are people that only do fine dining once in a blue moon, and because the pricing is neither standardized or spelled out, they don't get the proper feedback they need to know that they should adjust their tipping. Instead of getting pissed at customers you should get pissed at the service industry for keeping a pricing structure that is seen as beneficial to them precisely because it allows for you to be underpaid.