We should only leave tips if the service is better than excellent. Discuss.
In Japan, there is not a custom of leaving tips in restaurants, hotels, or taxis. However, some people leave paper money to their room attendants in Ryokan; Japanese-style hotels, when these services are better than they expected. The prices in restaurants, hotels, and taxis are set including service charges in Japan, therefore, people don’t need to leave tips. This is one of the reasons that many Japanese people feel annoyed when leaving tips when they travel to other countries.
We should leave tips in the US and Canada, however, the custom of leaving tips started in European countries. In the US, it is said that people started this custom after the Civil War. The US government abolished slavery after the Civil War, however, people from Africa or other developing countries were hired with low wages because they didn’t have high-level academic backgrounds. Their jobs were limited to servers at restaurants or porters at hotels and stations. Therefore, it is thought that the tip system spread all over the US at this point. Tips, as a part of their wages, were important for those people from developing countries at that time.
As previously mentioned, like in previous example of Ryokan, there is an action to express gratitude for workers like leaving tips in Japan, however, some workers don’t receive the money from customers. Service workers are pleased that customers are satisfied with their services. This is because Japanese people have an idea of “customer first” called “Omotenashi”. If customers are satisfied with services, they will visit the hotels or restaurants again. Furthermore, hotels and restaurants will acquire new customers due to the positive customer service reputation. That is, many Japanese workers expect that their hotels or restaurants will be loved for a long time by many customers with their wonderful services. I hope that the Omotenashi spirit will spread all over the world.
I think that waiters are most deserving of a tip. My reasons are…
1. The quality of service is different depending on the waiters. Therefore, it is reasonable to give them tips when they deserve them.
2. The wages of waiters are not high except for urban areas.
3. If waiters receive tips, it will encourage them and they will improve their customer service.