I'm still sifting through e-mails in response to my question about tipping. But I thought it was worth posting and replying to this message I received from Mike Guerrero…
Even though this is only slightly related to your question, I hope either you or your readers can help me out. Are we as a society at the point where we can't question the act of tipping? [or have we been here all this time, and no one told me about it?] Should I just stop asking why I have to subsidize the service economy?
If a plate with Filet Mignon weighs about the same as a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, why do I have to tip more?
At the very least, I'd like to know where the boundary line between what the employer's paying for, and what my tip is paying for. In the example you gave, isn't the bellhop supposed to handle your baggage for you? Unless I'm mistaken, he was likely hired by the hotel to do just that, among other things. If we're talking about asking someone in the next room to carry your bags, that's a different story.
Is the tip a plea so your bags won't get thrown down the stairs, or rifled through by the staff? Or is it a bribe so they'll do it to someone else's? And what if they did it anyway? "Wow, that meal was great. And, because I said no pickles and there were no pickles, I'll throw in another 8%"
I will admit, so far in my life I've yet to work in a field where tipping was a part of my livelihood, so my perspective might be skewed.
Look, Ticketmaster sticks you for a "service charge." Why can't other places do it too? At least you won't have to wonder what formula to use, or you could choose to avoid places that have them.
I think there's a pragmatic answer to this and a philosophical one. The pragmatic is that there's a well-established economic model here and it presumes there will be tipping. Yes, the hotel pays the bellhop to carry guests' bags but they pay them a salary which is insufficient on its own and only becomes a living wage when tip money is added in. With some jobs where tipping is assumed, the Internal Revenue Service not only withholds part of the employees' salary but a portion of some rough estimate of their tips, as well. I've known people who essentially lived off tips. If they gave me lousy, insulting service, I might be able to justify not tipping. But I wouldn't want to cost them part of what they need to pay their rent just because I don't like the inconvenience of tipping.
I used to struggle with how much to tip in certain situations, and think like you do; that it would be great if they'd just institute fixed service charges. That way, the waiters and valet car parkers and everyone could take home the same pay and I'd be relieved of the responsibility to figure out who gets 15% and who gets 20% and whether you tip everyone who assists you in some venues or just the last guy. Eventually though, I learned what to do in most (not all) situations and I came to see it as a nicetie and not a hardship. Which brings us to the philosophical answer.
My "tipping policy" is something I stole from Bill Gaines, the publisher of MAD. His philosophy was to give standard, non-exorbitant gratuities to service employees he didn't expect to ever see again, and to tip lavishly in places to which he'd probably return soon. So I tip 15% in a strange restaurant and somewhat more in my regular places. It's a matter of establishing a bit of relationship with the folks who work there; of telling them you appreciate them. Some customers are enormously rude to food servers, car parkers, cleaning ladies, etc. I'd like to make it clear I'm not one of those rude people. Over the years, there have been many occasions where tipped employees have done way more than the minimum and helped me out, so it's been a wise investment. But that's not why I do it. I do it because it's a less impersonal way of saying "thank you" than paying a fixed service charge. And, speaking of tips…
