These days to tip a waiter is a common practice. It makes the waiters a tad more ingratiating in their appearance. But those who don’t tip the waiters can often get into weird kind of troubles
BETWEEN entering a restaurant and leaving it, you pass through several stages. Hunger is one of them, matched by another crucial stage usually called, ‘leaving a tip’. Depending on who and where you are, the tipping part gets to a point where it becomes an intense battle of egos between the customer and the waiter.
Interestingly, more often than not the amount that a customer gives as tip reveals his social position. The battle begins with the waiter at the table boring you with his expectant gaze, daring you to go below the standard rate of tipping. And if you are a federal minister or someone from the upper echelon of society, you would probably fork out a few hundred rupees, not bothering about the bill. But if you are an ordinary person, avoiding eye contact with the waiter should develop enough courage in you to leave the table as and when you wish.
In this respect, the manager of a restaurant in Lahore, specializing in local cuisine said: “Whenever a famous federal minister comes here, he tips the serving waiter generously, which is usually between Rs1,000 and Rs1,500.” He also revealed that the minister’s bill mostly crossed the one thousand mark.
Giving information about another minister he said: “A few times his bill has come up to Rs10,000, for which he gives a tip of Rs2,000 at least.”
But what happens when an ordinary person cannot match the generosity of a feudal or a minister? Do the waiters sulk or show their dissatisfaction in the most indiscreet way? Hardly. “No sir, they can’t do anything if the tip is not that big. Anything above the bill is appreciated,” assured the manager.
Does this gesture receive appreciation? Not always. If the tip is not commensurate with the restaurant’s ambience, a temperamental waiter can cause a storm right at the table.
Enter a five-star hotel in Lahore and before enclosing a less than moderate amount in the bill folder, you’ll get a feel of what the ethos of under-tipping means. The under-tipper’s face will be remembered, in fact, etched till eternity in the waiter’s mind. And if the same person is on duty, he’ll ensure that the under-tipper goes through a refresher course.
A frequented cafe at Lahore’s five-star hotel became an embarrassing ground for a certain Ms Under Tipper when she and few of her friends went late at night for cappucino. “I don’t remember how much I tipped the last time, but obviously that waiter did. Imagine all the waiters at the cafe the same one had to be on duty to take revenge,” fumed Ms Under Tipper. And revenge was taken. “Not only were we served with bad cappuccino, the man deliberately spilt water on my side of the table while refilling my glass.”
When the matter was investigated, a waiter said: “The woman had given only Rs15 as tip! You don’t do that having coffee at a five-star hotel.”
Without being too harsh on these waiters who expect to be tipped, if not generously then adequately, the tipping industry in Lahore’s restaurants decides the monetary fate of a majority of them who are mostly from the Northern Areas and are working in different cities to make their ends meet. Tipping, like in many other countries, is also expected in Pakistan, based on the fact that most waiters and boys at the car park lounge receive only token salaries (Rs2,500 - 3,500) which are intended to be complemented by tips. Considering the truth that running a family in such a measly amount viz-a-viz the growing price-hike is not only hard, but often frustrating.
Most waiters in good restaurants are graduates or qualified in hospitality. Some restaurants assign tables to waiters leaving it to their luck on how much they earn through tips. Whatever the amount, it goes entirely into their pockets, while many other restaurants pool the tips gathered for the day and divide them among the entire house staff — from the bus boys, dish washers to waitresses, waiters and people working in the kitchen.
On an average, waiters in expensive restaurants get Rs100 to Rs150 per day in gratuity and, by contrast, the ones working in customary restaurants get Rs50 to Rs75 a day. In either case the salaries are not enough to keep their ends meet, which is why tipping becomes an essential part of their survival.
Tariq, a 23-year-old waiter from Azad Kashmir has been working at a restaurant on the M. M. Alam Road for three months now. With a salary of Rs 2,500 it is difficult for him to live in a city like Lahore and send money back home. “I rely entirely on tips and if a customer is not generous I feel my hard day’s work is lost which affects my tightly planned monthly budget,” said the waiter hesitantly.
There are only a few restaurants in Lahore which levy a service charge, even though most waiters and managers feel that the minimally acceptable tip should be 15 to 20 per cent of the amount of the bill before value added tax. For average service a 10 to 12 per cent tip is considered adequate.
All this may sound like genetic engineering to most people who would find it hard to figure out how much 15 per cent of the total is. Here it is essential to keep this rule of the thumb in mind: just take 10 per cent of the total, divide that by two, and then add the sum of both the figures.
There are several theories about where tipping came from. According to one theory, the word ‘tip’ was used in the 17th century as a verb to mean ‘hand it over’ or ‘to give’. This followed suit with the stories of feudal lords throwing gold coins as ‘tips’ to the peasants in the streets to ensure their own safe passage.
Another theory states that the acronym ‘TIP’ came from the 16th century coffee houses in England. However, those who oppose this idea is of the view that acronyms weren’t even used until the 1920s. So it appears that the history of tipping is as unclear as the modern practice itself. Notwithstanding its history, it is strange that people have to pay additional money for services for which they’ve already paid, without negotiating the amount upfront. But one theory definitely overrules every other that the most heavily tipped waiters are typically the most friendly, efficient and entertaining, and ‘accept’ rather than ‘expect’ to be tipped.
The clinically cold manner of expecting a tip is best described in a dialogue between a porter and Ninotchka in the late 1930s movie, Ninotchka: Ninotchka: Why should you carry other people’s bags? Porter: Well, that’s my business, Madame. Ninotchka: That’s no business. That’s social injustice. Porter: That depends on the tip.
These days to tip a waiter is a common practice. It makes the waiters a tad more ingratiating in their appearance. But those who don’t tip the waiters can often get into weird kind of troubles
