'Tis the Season—For Temps and Tip Jars

Tip Jars? Bah! Humbug!

As the holiday season approaches, there are several inevitable occurrences that will try our patience. Along with people jostling in lines, especially before dawn as bargain hunters await the opening of a store, the inevitable NASCAR-like jockeying in the parking lots, out-of-stock merchandise, and interminably long lines for Santa, we also have to endure the bane of temporary employees and holiday-decorated tip jars.

Let’s start with temporary employees. By and large most temps receive only perfunctory training. This is true not only during the holiday rush but also year-round. The theory is why spend time thoroughly training people who will only be employed for a short while?

…

Want to continue?

By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy.

Create a FREE account

Forgot My Password

Comments

Santa Needs a New Pair of Boots

Bill, I heard that Santa want's cash this year instead of cookies.

Sandra Gauvin
http://CurrentQuality.com.

RE: Tip Jars

Bill, if a proliferation of tip jars is your only annoyance worth writing about this Xmas, you are a fortunate man indeed.

Remember, today's temps are tomorrow's CEOs and politicians. How do you want them to remember our generation? "Keep Social Security? Whatever for? When *I* needed some financial help to get through a tough time, those people never even dropped a buck or two in my jar." Think of each dollar as a tiny insurance policy. Or an easy way to make someone's day...

Jeff

Tip Creep

I agree Bill - I find that tipping has grown ridiculously in the past 10 years or so. Not only do tip jars appear in more places, "someone" unilateraly decided that the formerly acceptable 10-15% in a restaurant is now 15-20% or even 20-25%. In addition, you are expected to tip for regular or even poor service now lest you look cheap. No tip is only acceptable when the service is particularly abysmal and you are trying to send a message.

The argument usually given is: "tips make up a large part of these peoples' incomes ". Well, they make up a large part of their income because people keep arbitrarily increasing the amount of an "acceptable" tip and besides, since when are customers directly responsible for employees' pay? I work at an airline; should I be pestering passengers to top up my salary?