Stop guilt-tripping us into handing over tips, says ‘optional’ service charge hater LEE BOYCE

This week, new tipping legislation came into force. It means restaurants and the like must share out tips to workers in a fair and transparent way.

While many eateries and other businesses have already been doing this, there have been some high-profile examples of where this practice hasn’t been the norm.

And where it isn’t, workers will have more rights to fight back.

But casting the fairness of how tips are shared aside, I’ve become increasingly frustrated at tactics used by some of the hospitality industry to guilt-trip us into tipping.

Tipped off: I’m all for tipping when the service is good – but I won’t be coerced into it so it becomes the norm

Recently, I visited a local café that I’ve been a loyal customer to for many years. It had overhauled its payments system, meaning if you want to pay by card, you need to go to the counter – rather than a staff member coming over with the machine.

It is one of those tablet-style payment devices and when it was twisted around for me to pay, there was a screen to navigate first.

A green smiley face could be clicked for a 20 per cent tip, a yellow slightly sadder looking face for a 15 per cent or a red upset face for a 10 per cent tip.

Buried at the bottom of the screen, with no face, was the no tip option.

Listen, I like the café, the service and food are always good, and I do tip – but only ever in cash. However, the tip jar had disappeared.

There is something so impersonal about tipping by card, in my view, so I chose not to – and when I tapped the no tip tab, I had a momentary pang of guilt.

Would the owner, the waitress, the customers all know what I had done? Then again, why should I feel bad? It had given me a childish happy face/sad face system, which frankly belongs in a primary school classroom.

In short, all of this tipping malarkey feels like another Americanisation of Britain and speaking to colleagues, friends and family, I know many feel the same.

I get it in the US. Some states have an incredibly low minimum wage, often offered out to hospitality roles and tipping makes up a large chunk of their wage. It’s simply different here.

More than a decade ago, I bemoaned the rise of the not-so ‘optional’ service charge. Things have only become worse since.

When you ask for an optional service charge to be removed, it often feels like you could hear a pin drop in the restaurant you’re in. It’s frankly, mildly embarrassing.

Nothing has changed my view from that piece. I wrote in 2013: I’m not saying we should stop tipping waiters/waitresses, but it should be on merit – not because a bar or restaurant wants to lump it on.

And it’s not just cafes and restaurants doing this, other spots like bakeries are at it too. There was a high-profile post on social media last week by TV personality Kate Lawler.

She revealed she’d paid nearly £9 for a loaf of bread… and says she was asked at the payment terminal whether she wanted to leave a tip.

‘I tapped no tip and then I had the audacity to feel stingy, what’s going on in the world?’ She said in the clip.

I know that feeling and it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Another example is with taxi drivers, who often now take card. There is a strange feeling when not tipping via this method, given the close quarters you are in.

And don’t get me started on pubs that do it, when the drinks are simply placed in front of you at the bar – not even brought to you at your table.

With this new tipping legislation coming into place, it should mean any tips you do give now go fairly to staff. Indeed, it will be illegal for businesses not to pass them over.

That strips out the question to a waiter/waitress: If I tip, will you definitely receive the money and it won’t just fill the coffers for the owner?

The Government says around £200million will be taken home by millions of workers as a result of the changes.

But, it’s likely there will be winners and losers. Employment tribunals can compensate for breaches, in a further headache potentially for hospitality owners, already battling higher overheads.

The regulations state staff have the right to see their employers’ tipping policy and records on how many tips were given by punters.

It is estimated around four in five tips are done by a debit or credit card, and by doing so, it is likely to have become easier for bosses to keep the cash. This new legislation, on paper, seems far fairer.

Crucially, though, I will continue to tip in cash where I deem it worthy – I won’t be blindly tapping my card to do so, or being guilt-tripped by a screen in a behavioural economics kind of way.

Sorry, 10 per cent sad face.

Have you left a tip out of guilt or been asked for a tip somewhere unusual? Get in touch: editor@thisismoney.co.uk