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Two patrons able to swing into motion to depart a $3 tip on a $5 espresso.
Picture: Courtesy Everett Assortment
A pair weeks again, I wrote about tipping by way of screens: It’s down throughout the board, percentage-wise, and I feel the suckiness of the tipping prompts is a minimum of partially in charge. One widespread technique folks make use of to cope with the prompts is to disregard them, strolling away from the counter when a display screen asks whether or not they’d wish to tip $1 or 25 p.c or no matter, opting out of the transaction utterly. You’ve got seemingly walked as much as a counter to purchase a matcha latte solely to see that the particular person on line forward of you has abdicated this chance to tip. Perhaps you even thought, I may go away a tip for them.
That is what the Robin Hoods do. I’ve since heard from individuals who do precisely this: These are Good Samaritans who, when confronted with a tip immediate deserted by an individual in entrance of them, merely go away a tip on that particular person’s behalf. Certainly they meant to depart an applicable gratuity, proper? Faucet. Twenty p.c. Executed.
Is it good? Our authorized division would seemingly advise me to state that I’m not advocating for or in opposition to this observe, merely observing its existence. However one pal who participates on this act of selflessness says he had a change of coronary heart after he heard from an worker at a store the place Robin Hooding is understood to occur. The affected prospects, upon seeing they have been charged for a tip they don’t keep in mind leaving, blame (and take motion in opposition to) the café, not the shoppers who activated the tip. This, in fact, is dangerous for enterprise. So if you will take part on this new customized — and, once more, I’m not saying anybody ought to or mustn’t — simply be certain the one that was in entrance of you doesn’t seem like the kind to scan their bank card statements too fastidiously.
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