Reader's Digest Taiwan Ebook Sampler June 2023

24 2023年6月號 讀者文摘 More examples from the study: party clowns get tipped more often than dental hygienists—even though t he lat ter bravely conf ront t he malodorous insides of our mouths. Limousine drivers get rewarded more often than fishing guides. And nobody can work out the reasons for these differences; don’t fishing guides go the extra mile, too? A ll t his is compounded by a phenomenon called “tip creep,” which coincides with the proliferation of portable pay machines that feature automatic tip prompts. They have moved beyond restaurant settings to places like car-repair shops, causing people to feel guilty if they hit the “no tip” option. I recently went to a card- only bakery and their debit machine had tip prompts—for selling me a donut. I tipped 15 per cent. Good luck with any consistency if you’re tipping in Europe. Research across seven European countries in 2020 found that Germans and Swedes are more likely to tip in restaurants than the Spanish or Swiss, while only 40 per cent of French consumers offer a gratuity. Norwegians are the least likely to tip: fewer than 15 per cent leave a little extra on the table. As for the size of the tip, it’s lowest in France and Norway (less than two per cent of the bill), and highest in Germany (7.5 per cent) and Sweden (nine per cent). “Froma service worker’s viewpoint,” lead study author Stefan Gössling of Sweden’s Lund University notes, “the most desirable tipping culture is probably in Germany, where minimum wages are high, tipping is a norm and tip percentages are high and mostly paid in cash.” In Spain, by contrast, “the situation for service workers is the least favourable; the minimum wage is low, as are tip percentages.” Compare that to the United States, where restaurant tips of up to 25 per cent are now expected for very good service; in Canada, it’s 15 to 20 per cent. Why? Because the restaurants pass a long wage st anda rds to consumers. It’s the diners’ job tomake sure servers can pay their rent. No one expects a tip in much of Southeast Asia (for example, Thailand or Vietnam) or Australia or New Zealand, beyond saying “keep the change.” In Taiwan and Hong Kong, a 10 per cent gratuity is added at most restaurants. Sometimes, that too can feel nerve-wracking. “Even when the server tells you about it up front, it’s awkward,” one friend who encountered this custom said. “Do you tip more if they were really good? What if they weren’t good?” It’s enough to make your head hurt, and that’s just fretting about cash—will we soon have to worry about tipping with bitcoin? I don’t even understand t he not ion of cryptocurrency, much less how to use the new tipping apps that are popping up around it. Maybe that’s how people used to feel about money itself, back when they traded goods and services with shells and weapons and sacks of rice. Back when there was no tipping.