American culture - Gratuity

[Alyssa McCarthy]

Hi there,

 

I thought i'd start a thread about one of the biggest culture differences between European and American life (and something I've barely seen roleplayed), and that's the gratuity culture or 'tipping'.

 

Along with the stars and stripes, guns and grid-iron, the service industry in the US is famous for its gratuity culture.

 

While the expected rate varies, in larger cities the gratuity rate is usually 15-20% of the total price (pre-tax). In the US, if you go into a resturant, hire a taxi and leave an insufficient gratuity, you can expect to be pulled up on it by the offended party and you better not go back. Basically not paying gratuity (or even enough gratuity), is considered extremely rude and a way to express how dissatisfied you are with the service you've received. In fact, a waitress would much rather you call her supervisor over and explain why you're upset (so they can learn from whatever they've done), than you just leave without leaving a tip.

 

I'm just curious from those RPing taxi drivers, bar staff, waitresses etc, how often do you receive gratuity, and how do you RP anyone who doesn't leave a tip? Does anyone actually RP the realistic offense this would cause IC?

 

Do many players pay gratuity or are people (oblivious or otherwise), RPing as a rude bunch of Europeans? 

[DasFroggy]

Literally always leave a tip, even (especially) if nothing was purchased. It is a habit learned from visits, knowing that it could potentially brighten someone's day.

[SaintBatemanofWallStreet]

So I usually keep a bartending character that I play from time to time because I just enjoy the bar life and the things that go with it. Plus I think people who are bartending and give the /me pours "a beer" is stupid. That being said,  I don't ever really do anything with him, except his backstory. But I never really strive to get involved in criminal RP with him or anything like that.

So as in real life, there is a large disparity between tips you receive as a male and as a female, which is fine. It's realistic and I have no problem with that. However what I have found for the most part that what you will get is a large number of people who just pay what is asked and every now and then you tell someone "Oh it'll be one hundred and twenty for the drink" and they'll give you 1000. I'm not sure how it works with females on the server though I feel like a lot of times they might get more? Though I have no backing on that, and am making a broad generalization based on how people usually act towards any female on the server.

[Queen]

As a mechanic RPer, the amount of ridiculous tips I'd get was absolutely insane. I'd say at least 80% of characters tipped more than I quoted them in labor - which is fine, I like being rewarded for the effort I put into my roleplay - but considering being a mechanic is just printing money already, it felt a bit excessive.

 

However, as a taxi driver I found that I rarely received tips, but the people that did tip tipped rather excessively - around the 5k area for a $300 taxi ride.

 

NOTE: Playing a female character. Most tips would accompany a cheesy pickup line or something like: "wow, you're a good mechanic - and you're a woman!"

Edited July 15, 2020 by Pillowy

[StoneFire]

@Alyssa McCarthy Thank you for bringing this up, I don't normally think about this because as you point out I'm from a part of Europe where we don't tip, the closest I get to that is telling people to keep the change because I find it a hazzle to keep change around. This is something I'll think more about moving forward while portraying my character. ?

[bncal]

so it's like an extortion 
edit: anyway yes, I usually pay the double. mik knows how much isaac pays his montenegro

Edited July 15, 2020 by bncal

[catdanny]

I tend to tip based off of RP quality. If it's something really basic like /me pours a beer or /me hands X a beer then I will tip substantially less than someone who actually provides something of substance, even though the action itself is quite simple.

The same goes for people who RP as servers in a restaurant. Are they kind to my character? Are they pleasant to engage with? If it's something like a diner I tend to look at things like the effort put forth into preparing an order. Do they just walk into the back, grab it, return, or do they actually cook it / prepare it? Etc.

Edit: I thought it would be feasible to note that it also depends on the asking price of what's being offered. If someone is selling beer for 100% markup and my character is ICly a budget-crunching part-time worker, they're not going to tip generously, if even at all to a business that is already making substantial profits off of them, for a nominal service provided.

An example for this would be about a week ago, I went to a restaurant for breakfast and the servers charged me through the nose for a generic breakfast plate and a beverage. I think it's absolutely realistic for a character to be griped about that and not offer forth a tip, whether it's the server's fault or not.

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by catdanny

[ozymandias]

As a taxi driver and bartender, I’ve noticed that it’s pretty tied to RP from both sides. There’s been a couple times where taxi rides that would usually take like 1-2 minutes with no talking have taken 15-20 minutes because of engaging conversations. Usually, as a taxi driver, I enjoy my time much more when the passenger is willing to engage in conversation, and they’re almost always better about tipping. People who just say “uh huh” or “good” when I try to engage in conversation are the types to usually just give $50-100 tips. With people who are more open to RP, I’ve had a couple $1000+ tips, including one $10,000 tip after some pretty good RP that led up to a tip of that caliber sort of making sense (no, my character is not a taxi driving hooker). If I had to guess, their in-game generosity is probably tied to their valuation of the character development and RP over their in game money. Maybe I’m overthinking it though vOv

Edited July 15, 2020 by doog

[corsah]

2 hours ago, Alyssa McCarthy said:

While the expected rate varies, in larger cities the gratuity rate is usually 15-20% of the total price (pre-tax). In the US, if you go into a resturant, hire a taxi and leave an insufficient gratuity, you can expect to be pulled up on it by the offended party and you better not go back. Basically not paying gratuity (or even enough gratuity), is considered extremely rude and a way to express how dissatisfied you are with the service you've received. In fact, a waitress would much rather you call her supervisor over and explain why you're upset (so they can learn from whatever they've done), than you just leave without leaving a tip.

Thats definitely not the case in the UK.

I think if people would tip IRL in the situation they are in, they'd tip IG.

[Ketamine Kowboy]

From what I know, you're expected to tip in the U.S.A, it's almost like a salestax, and I always tip IC, unless I am intentionally trying to make a statement by not tipping.