I recently had a pretty crappy experience at a restaurant for a few reasons, the last being their tipping system. You won't believe how they asked me to tip, it was mad.

There was no menu, I had to Google their name and find their website (which was some obscure subdomain on some obscure food payment site).
Their site didn't work in Chrome (on any of the phones we had with us), luckily I had a backup browser installed that worked.
I had to order and pay on my phone, unable to use the cash I had budgeted and brought with me for the meal.
It asked me how much I would like to tip, but this is paying DURING MY ORDER, when I had not yet received any service or food. I chose not to tip.

Tipping, here in the UK, is only something you do when you were very happy with the service (and have the extra cash you don't mind giving away as charity, basically). Our waiters, as with every worker in the country, are paid a real wage that isn't designed to be subsidised by begging.

So, being asked to tip for the good service BEFORE receiving the service? That's INSANE.

Due to the various ridiculous issues we had just trying to order food and pay for it, and the audacity of being asked to tip that way, I will not be going back there again.

What's wrong with the tried and true system of a waiter taking your order, you eat, they take your payment at the table either with a normal wireless chip-and-pin machine or by cash, and then you leave? It's simple, easy, smooth and fast 🤦‍♀️

[–] BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, that tipping before service idea has to be costing business. There are several places I avoid because they request tip before service. My local Foxtail coffee shop is one of those places, and the lowest tip option is 15%. On the 3 times I have tipped, they still gave me subpar service. Like, they didn't even do the bare minimum, let alone anything exceptional.

[–] Shush@reddthat.com 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Of course - what's the incentive? They got the tip money without having to do anything.

[–] BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I was assuming that they would have a commitment to earning that tip because of personal integrity and that they would expect to receive more tips in the future when I return.

[–] xX_fnord_Xx@lemmy.world -3 points 9 months ago

I understand where you are coming from, but haven't there been locales in the past where you tipped before service to let your server know you are magnanimous?

I could be wrong, but I swear I read this in a European travel guide from the late 90s.