Do tips make for better service?
The evidence is mixed—and the practice varies widely across the world
DAVID FRANK started working for tips when he was 11 years old, delighting restaurant diners in New York with his magic tricks. As a teenager he would make an average of $60-70 in an evening—not bad, but he wanted more. So he started reading research on tipping, and found a study showing that servers who left a sweet at the end of the meal could up their pay. He tried handing punters a playing card at the end of his act, hoping that the memento would persuade them to part with more cash. It worked.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The point of tipping”
From the January 13th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from International
Paris could change how cities host the Olympics for good
The games will test the success of new solutions to old bugbears
Could America fight its enemies without breaking the law?
The speed and intensity of prospective conflicts could test the laws of war
How China and Russia could hobble the internet
The undersea cables that connect the world are becoming military targets
Trump and other populists will haunt NATO’s 75th birthday party
Threats to Western alliances lie both within and without the club
The rise of the truly cruel summer
Deadly heat is increasingly the norm, not an exception to it
Brainy Indians are piling into Western universities
Will rich countries welcome them the way they did Chinese students?