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The charging of service

According to Wikipedia, it is believed that in Western European culture the practice of giving a tip or gratuity began around 1600 – the first reference to ‘giving a gratuity’ is apparently specifically dated to 1706 – and ‘tip’ was probably first adapted for use in a slang context from its 16th Century origin as meaning ‘to strike smartly but lightly’.

Of tangential interest to Rust readers – well it was to me as I came to my computer and alighted upon my subject today – may the phrase ‘a baker’s dozen’, allegedly referring to the practice of those in the English medieval baking industry adding a thirteen bun or loaf to their boxes or units for sale purporting to contain a dozen items.

The weight of academic opinion has it that – unlike with many folk tales – this one may actually be true in origin. England has a long history of trade regulation and the baking fraternity’s guild was called The Worshipful Company of Bakers which dates back to the reign of Henry II (1154-89).

BakerDuring the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) a statute was passed called the Assize of Bread and Ale which linked the price of bread to that of wheat. Under it bakers who ‘gave short measure’ might be fined, pilloried or flogged – the measure of something then being judged by its weight.

Alert readers may have spotted a gap in logic at this point, i.e. when something’s being measured in weight, why/how does that give rise to a practice of adding an extra item to the unit of a dozen to insure against being had up for short changing someone weight-wise?

The weight issue ought equally to apply – one assumes – to any baker supplying a unit other than a dozen, for instance.

The best answer I can find during a cursory internet search this morning comes from a website called The Phrase Finder:

What the bakers were doing whenever they sold bread in any quantity was adding something extra to make sure the total weight wasn’t short. The addition was called the ‘in-bread’ or ‘vantage loaf’. When selling in quantity to middlemen or wholesalers they would add an extra loaf or two. When selling single loaves to individuals they would offer a small piece of extra bread.’

But I digress.

waitersThe habit of tripping in restaurants or bars is practically universal. We know that because these days it is common practice for hostelries to routinely add a ‘service charge’ [in my experience most often 12.5%] to their bills.

We all have anecdotal tales that we share with others about tipping. Quite often, given my line of career work, I am asked ‘What is the custom here [whether in a specific town or country] regarding tipping?’ by friends and acquaintances.

Others I know who do, or have worked, in the catering industry have told me a range of hairy or nightmare stories of waiting and tip-receiving, and even scarcely believable tales of Grade A celebrities who either don’t tip at all, or else who – in one example I heard many years ago – tipped them practically more than the cost of the meal itself!

From similar sources comes less savoury and impolitically-correct stuff testifying about particularly attractive staff getting bigger tips; average-looking staff generally receiving smaller; flirting lessons being offered by managers of both genders in the cause of greater revenue-generation; ‘work uniforms’, hair styles and make-up advice that might achieve similar being recommended; and sundry other ‘tricks of the trade’ down whose avenue I do not particularly wish to proceed here.

Following hard on the heels of the above comes the issue of ‘Who actually gets the tip?’

Is it going to be the waiter or waitress who has actually served you … or does any tip dished out go straight into some informal (self—regulated) or establishment-in-question-organised-or-approved ‘pool’?

And, when it comes to ‘pooled service charges’ – does the constituency of candidates for pay-outs at the end of the evening include all waiting staff on duty, or just some?

Or alternatively – besides the waiting staff – does it also include their kitchen equivalents, including perhaps the cheffery hierarchy, whom (it is not unknown, I understand) apparently tend to take the lion’s share, usually carved up according to rank?

What policy should a poor diner adopt in general, or in any specific joint?

TipsPersonally, whenever there’s a service charge included in the bill, I allow myself to assume that the establishment is organised upon some sort of ‘pool’ system in terms of how the trips are shared out.

No doubt, since that practice first began, the practice has grown up of unscrupulous restaurant/bar owners (at their whim or deliberate design) regarding the ‘service included’ amount as simply another charge to be levied against the customer by the house – with the waiting staff having to rely in hope upon the largesse, or otherwise, of the Boss.

Increasingly these days, my eyesight being what it is unless I’ve brought my best reading glasses with me – I tend to ask my waiter or waitress “Is service included?” and then, if the response is affirmative and if my feeling is that the particular individual looking after me has done his/her job well, I often ask them whether it’s split on a ‘pool’ basis. I do that because – if I should wish to acknowledge their personal contribution to the evening – I might then leave an additional cash sum on the table.

I’m sure it must have happened somewhere but personally I’ve yet to come across a tale of any seasoned restaurant diner who – perhaps incensed by the underwhelming and/or over-assertive/interfering waiting service he has received; or by a spat he’s had with the sommelier over some detail of a wine’s origins or quality; or just by the arrogance of the house’s assumption that they can add a service charge to the bill as a matter of practice – has sent for the head waiter or manager and demanded its removal.

For the possible interest of our readers, here’s a link to an article by Stephanie Linning on recommendations as to what to tip around the world, as appears today upon the website of the – DAILY MAIL

 

 

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About Nancy Bright-Thompson

A widely-respected travel editor, Nancy is a past president of the Guild of Travel Writers (GTW). She and her husband Phil now run a horse sanctuary in East Sussex. More Posts