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| A receipt. Photo: Rick, Flickr |
"Writers of almost all the nations in the world have denounced the custom, but there will never be any change, for the reason that there is not enough profit in the restaurant business to allow paying the waiters good living wages," wrote bartender extraordinaire Harry Johnson in 1882.
In the eyes of many, the practice of tipping is inequitable but unavoidable. Some even find the custom downright strange: Outside of restaurants, it's pretty much impossible to procure any goods or services without first committing to pay a certain price. For example, try paying for your next movie ticket after the film.
If a restaurant patron bolts without paying his bill, he's committed a crime. Even if he thinks his steak was overcooked and his salad was soggy, protocol calls for him to ante up for whatever he ordered (unless he's sent it back). But if he stiffs his server, he's exercised his prerogative.
So here's a radical suggestion: Why not make service a menu item?
Many American restaurant-goers still flinch at the thought of what in France is called a servis compris system, in which a gratuity -- usually 20 percent -- is automatically added to a bill. This is perhaps because it violates our national "earn your keep" ethic (or because it's sometimes exercised in a sneaky fashion). Particularly in this economy, it's hard to fault the consumer for blanching. Diners are looking for a way to stay in the driver's seat, so what if we considered the opposite of servis compris -- pre-tipping.
Pre-tipping would require diners to commit to a certain tip percentage up front, as in "I'll have a glass of Pinot Grigio, the chicken Caesar and 20 percent worth of service." While the advantage for servers is obvious (they know how much time to devote to a table), such a system would also create tremendous flexibility for eaters, especially those on a budget, by allowing them to save money on tips.
In an ideal scenario, the diner could tip, say, 5 percent so long as she was willing to do things like fetch her own water pitcher and wait longer for plates to be cleared. On the flip side, she could ensure a more special evening by pledging a 30 percent tip. (Of course, this would require a good leap of faith on the part of the diner that the server would come through).
It's a fairly out-there idea. What do you think? If you're someone who always leaves 20 percent, would it trouble you to announce your intentions before the meal? Do you think this would cause the caliber of service to decline, or could pre-tipping help mitigate the sometimes testy relationships between servers and customers?
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