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0 pointsalwaysanon3y ago0 comments

I am an American who has been living in Sydney for years and who stopped tipping here after getting used to it not being expected - but it has gotten a little weird/muddied of late. First it was Uber and the food delivery apps - and I did tip there because the app asked and I knew that in the gig economy the workers were not paid well (unlike others in Australia).

Then I have been to a few restaurants lately that the card machine (often a US-based one like Square) asks for a tip as a mandatory thing (i.e. you have to say no or type 0 to get past it). And the waiter/waitress will stand behind you watching/waiting with the machine they bring to your table. This never happened before - and I do admit that I have started leaving $10-$20 or something if I was happy with the service when this has been forced on me (depending on the size of the bill and the mood I've been in).

I did this with a work drinks with a customer the other day and my Aussie boss called me out on it "what is this tip on here - we don't do this in Australia". And I was like "I was in front of a customer the machine asked me - did you want me to say zero and possibly look cheap/unkind?".

So it is somewhat creeping into things here. Curious the views of other Aussies on how they are dealing with it? Am I just slipping back into this because I am an American and was used to it being a thing?

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hnick3y ago

You're correct, it's creeping in mostly due to cookie cutter POS machines setup for US market (I assume), and Doordash/Uber/etc apps and websites baking it in. I'd guess the payment machines can be setup to hide it, but management figures we have a "choice" (under light duress) to not tip so that's good enough. There are also a lot of international people working in hospitality so I guess they wouldn't be as against it as a lot of locals and just assume it's normal.

There are pretty much weekly hate threads on r/australia and similar places on Reddit about this as you'd expect.

One other thing I did notice - when travelling the US and reading reviews, a lot of people talk about the service. It's rarely mentioned in reviews over here in comparison unless it's an outlier. I personally found the fawning attention quite cloying in the US, but it's a different culture I guess. Wondering if that'll change if tips gain a foothold.

alwaysanonOP3y ago

Would you be comfortable as an Aussie just always zeroing it out when you see it here then?

hnick3y ago

If there's a presumptive pre-filled tip amount that I have to zero out that would annoy me a lot.

In most cases there is a tip button that I just don't press or I answer 'No' to the question on it. Sometimes the staff do it when handing it over. That doesn't annoy me as much and I don't usually feel much pressure since I've got a whole life behind me not tipping I guess. I do feel a bit awkward sometimes so I'd rather they not put me in the situation but I get over it.

Symbiote3y ago

In Denmark, half the time the waiters are embarrassed that their boss set up the machine to prompt for tips, and press 0 for you.

It's not Square doing this, it's the restaurant owner.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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hnick3y ago

There are pretty much weekly hate threads on r/australia and similar places on Reddit about this as you'd expect.

alwaysanonOP3y ago

Would you be comfortable as an Aussie just always zeroing it out when you see it here then?

hnick3y ago

If there's a presumptive pre-filled tip amount that I have to zero out that would annoy me a lot.

Symbiote3y ago

In Denmark, half the time the waiters are embarrassed that their boss set up the machine to prompt for tips, and press 0 for you.

It's not Square doing this, it's the restaurant owner.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse