sophistiKate

What is frustrating to me about most of these comments is that those who know nothing about Starbucks and working as a barista think they know so much about it. It seems people have had bad experiences with some baristas, but that does not mean that everyone is to blame. I don't know where you guys live, but I have hardly ever been served by a polite, competent person at a fast food restaurant.

Starbucks is not fast food. A barista is a rough translation of bartender, meaning someone who customizes your drink order. It is not just grabbing a pre-made hamburger and putting it in a bag. Barista-ing is a skill. You will not see the same people working at McDonalds as Starbucks. Baristas are required to make a relationship with you, to remember your name, your drink, to be knowledgeable about all the products in the store, the coffee origins, and make the coffee shop feel welcoming. The environment is completely different.

Gen_Next

YouCanEatMe

Blujai

voodoofish

i also worked as a baby sitter, dog walker and part time catering to make up the income i needed. yeah it sucks but if your job isnt paying you enough to get by then you need to make it up yourself.

pink_orchid_martini

Uglyshoe

rocknrollunicorn

Tipping is not dissent. Take all that love, anger, civic duty, what have you and use it to actually do something besides reinforcing the fact that the businesses know there are enough people to tip their employees to keep them satisfied. Tipping makes employees happy. It makes businesses happy. It makes the tipper feel good. What it doesn't do is change the fact that employees shouldn't need tips to fucking live on in the first place and that businesses are happy passing the buck along.

ehlaren82

I also worked several years as a barista and it's unpleasant work with long hours and low pay. The first two can't be changed. But is it really my responsibility as the consumer to tip from my own pocket to make the barista's life better? Or is it the responsibility of Starbucks, the multibillion dollar international conglomerate to return some of that $4 I spent on coffee to its baristas in the form of a liveable wage?

itispunky

adrock75

treecut...will cut a beech

Meg

Those people deserve it way more than any barista/bartender who stands behind counter already getting paid for what he's doing.

iAlreadyHateYou

dirk1965

snclfe

JollyJumjuck

Having vision sufficient to legally drive, I can't help but notice that the stereotypes mentioned here about my more affluent neighbors is largely VERY true. To the point that I get just a bit paranoid, perhaps, that perhaps tipping is a "nice" tax disproportionately borne by a largely less-wealthy demographic.

memphis9

I've been paid measly wages in the past, low level positions pay that way, but I never ever got tipped because my jobs weren't the kinds that get tips. I never felt I was owed a tip, or owed more than I was paid.

Tipping comes with service above and beyond what the position calls for. It's a compliment on personalized service. If we follow the line of logic that the people at Starbucks deserve tips, then the burger flipper, bank teller, grocery store checkout person, and the bus driver also get tipped.

If you say no them, but feel compelled to tip at Starbucks, why?

Dillenger69

Face it, I like Starbucks fine and dandy but it's not worth it if every time I go, I know that the person is upset because I didn't throw them the quarter I need for laundry.

This way I can save money and not be told I am morally corrupt for not tipping the server. Then the money I save I can count as a tip for myself.

misselisa

taracita

When did it become law that I HAD to tip whenever anyone handed me a food or beverage.

I am grateful that where I live a standard 10% tip is included in the price. I can add more if I like but it certainly isn't expected. So servers can be paid a fair wage and I don't have the pretzel dude giving the stink eye because I didn't toss him a buck.

booglass

While tipping a waitress 10 - 15% for good service (less or none for poor service, more for excellent service), or a porter a few dollars for hauling baggage, is expected, anywhere where you line up and wait for your food to be handed to you over the counter is not a situation where the server should expect a tip.

I frequently tip at Starbucks, but I know the few cents in change I throw into the tip jar is something I do out of the goodness of my heart, and not any sort of social orgood manners requirement.

Workers, fight for a livving wage from your employer! Do not rely on the kindess of strangers to make ends meet. They have no obligation to you past the purchase of their goods, and if you work att a counter you are not providing tippable service.

Thee smiles are always FREE. Remember?

Phantom_Photon

rocknrollunicorn

a tip is not a subsidy paid by the consumer to the worker in order to supplement the worker's meager income and flip a $0.50 bird at capitalism. plenty of nice people have come to think of tips that way, but that doesn't mean the definition of "gratuity" has changed. consumers who feel angry at being guilted into tipping for more and more services of lower and lower quality are semantically in the right. low-wage workers aren't the only ones being nickel & dimed to death in america.

gra·tu·i·ty /grəˈtuɪti, -ˈtyu-/
1. a gift of money, over and above payment due for service, as to a waiter or bellhop; tip.
2. something given without claim or demand.

shmeh

I draw the line at tipping for any PICKUP counter service. It may now be a social expectation in the U.S., but it is still uncommon in other countries. For instance you don't tip at English pubs unless you get table service.

Sadly the tip expectation game reinforces the ability of businesses to pay low wages. Imagine what might happen with some customer tip payouts if all servers were suddenly paid prevailing "minimum" wages instead of a sub-minimum $2.42/hour.

bpierce

Grammar Police. Run-on sentence.

avconsumer

WildTurkey

I would never expect a tip for doing my job, especially when baristas at Starbucks are making at or above minimum wage. Waitstaff gets a low service salary, so I can see the point in a tip, but for you, I will give nothing.

PS. I have worked crappy jobs, too (3 hellish years a a cafeteria making and serving my fellow college students their food)...I never expected money for doing what was part of my job description. I dealt with a-holes and I dealt with complicated requests. It was PART OF MY JOB, and I never expected customers to tip me for doing that job.

iAlreadyHateYou

@4ster: Because this isn't Consumerist, they just cross-posted the story. We're in Jezebel country now.

drjayphd

It doesn't seemed to have helped much.

In the interest of full disclosure/confession; I did not tip pizza delivery drivers for a long time. My family never did (though they tipped for other types of delivery), and I honestly never thought of it. The point of pizza was largely the delivery of it, otherwise we would be eating something else so I just sort of assumed that the delivery of the pizza was part of the cost.

I have since mended my ways, but I can understand where some people are coming from... even though they be wrong (and/or close-minded and/or selfish).

Uglyshoe

I'm failing to see how tipping at Starbucks is any different from tipping at a bar. Both places you make drinks and deal with assholes. I give the bartender $1 just to fucking pour me a beer, and I imagine all of you asshole non-tippers do the same. What's the difference?

Also, I've worked as a barista in a rural midwestern town and in New York City. In the Midwest, I'd leave with$15-20 extra. NYC? $2, on a good day.

jeska

avianponcho

Roksana_Baiul

I have worked a variety of jobs both involving tips and not. While when I worked a job making sandwiches as a great addition to my salary, it was in no ways, as many people see it here and absolute necessity.

If someone threw me a tip, I would extra hard to make sure that things were nice for them, but if they didn't, oh well, they still got what they paid for.

I still tip at least 20% everywhere unless the service was grossly inferior, then I only tip 15%.Yes, an extra $0.50 is not much, but really, to demand that people pay tips is stupid. Especially when many times the service is not good.

If tips are the only thing keeping you from starving, it isn't fair but perhaps the thing to do would be to try and find a job that doesn't rely on tips, i.e. if you are making $2.30 an hour go work for McDonalds. At least you're guarenteed minimum wage. If you want guarenteed tips, then go work as a waitress at a sit down place.

Trust me, if you worked as a barista, you probably would be fine at those jobs as well. It just seems stupid to blame a customer for not giving tips when many times people screw up orders and then get huffy at the customer.

It's like any other job, if you are that unhappy with one aspect of it, quit and find another job. If you like your job keep it by all means but it doesn't meant that you complain about it.

misselisa

Also, the mom and pop coffee shops that I worked at were the first to get tip jars, not the chains like Starbucks. YMMV based on wherever you are I guess.

Also also, the richer the customer base, the shittier the tips. The closer to the poverty line your customers are, the better the tips. Maybe rich people are too busy philosophizing about how tips are going to bring down the economy. Maybe poor people know what it's like to have to choose between food and rent.

lisas

onestrawplz

Starbucks, and other food service companies, use tips as an excuse to pay hard-working people pitiful wages. They can keep their prices artificially low by squeezing pity out of customers and shifting the burden off of their profit margins.

Now, don't get me wrong... I tip, and I tip adequately to most and well to people who serve me well. But that doesn't mean that I think what I'm doing is really helping out my servers in the long run, because it's not.

The long-term solution is for baristas, waiters, waitresses, bartenders, and even the McDonald's counter help, to organize and demand higher wages. This organizing doesn't have to take place in a traditional union, but there are amazing unions like the SEIU that could improve the conditions of food service work immensely. And it's long past time for these workers to receive at least minimum wage, which is part of the reason I'm politically involved, even though I'm not part of the industry.

Berating non-tippers solves nothing, because even though they may be assholes, it's the corporate heads that are even bigger assholes and the real source of the problem.

These ridiculous fights over tipping are distracting us from the real goal, which should be fair pay for hard work. So get off your self-righteous asses and organize or lobby your elected officials so you can actually make a difference.

abkad

meneye

A-FUCKING-MEN.

LookyLoo

shananigans

beastybeatsy

Sev

I got paid more than enough money, and people at the rival stores actually got paid a dollar or two more an hour than I did. I didn't do anything special to make that coffee. We didn't even have automatic machines like Starbucks does.

I agree with the European system that a tip is a gratuity that you add on if somebody goes above and beyond. It is not my job to pay employees, it is the companies job. I tip waitstaff because America is so backwards that it doesn't realize that.

But I know the prices people get paid for different jobs in my area, and I know Starbucks employees are the better paid ones for the level of employment. They do not need an extra dollar for my drink unless I ask for something special or strange, or they are really courteous and nice beyond the call of duty.

Funny, I've never had that happen in a Starbucks. Or a coffeeshop chain at all. Just local places.

Meiran

Devonna

chiefbroad

i will tip if the person behind the counter was particularly friendly, helpful, or competent, but it's not an automatic. i tip if i noticed the person really took care with my drink, if they bothered to give me light ice like i requested, or if they just put in the regular amount (which is 90% of the time). when our regulars came in and saw me behind the bar, they tipped because they knew that i would make them their perfect drink with a smile on my face. if someone if putting out anything less, then there is no obligation to tip.

starbucks used to have this great attitude about the culture of the coffee shop, and creating a great experience for the customer, and i really think they've fallen away from that. most locations i go in to, i might as well have just gone to walmart for all the care the people have about the product. i think that's the real reason starbucks is falling in the market, not because of increased coffee competition. people never went to starbucks because the coffee itself was so much better.

rex_opolis

Why on earth does Consumerist feel it is necessary to insult one religion in this article? This story has nothing to do with religion. It's about coffee.

4ster

ChuckECheese

Do you tip the guy getting you your fries at McDonalds or the cashier for ringing up your items? Only bartenders/waiters should be tipped. This is getting ridiculous.

jaewon223

Tea Em Gee Eff

Tipping waiters is such a warped concept.. go tip your janitor they work harder, have a shit job, and get payed the same as a starbucks waiter. To say the least I dont have any sympathy for you as far as mandatory tipping but that sucks what starbucks did... another reason not to go there.

"A citizen of this country should not be fucking buying a $4 cup of coffee if he or she can't slip in a dollar" nobody should spend 4 bucks on coffee... support a kid in africa... send money to a charity... dont waste money when trader joes free trade "volcano" coffee is 10 times better and cheaper.

antirem

cockeye

cockeye

rainmkr

I am not going to tip you. It's not going to incentivize you to open the valve more carefully, or fill my cup differently.

hapless

SarojaGebronie

I've never worked in NY's service industry, though. Maybe things are different here. If esmemurphy is right then -- shit. That is either (a) not supposed to happen, or (b) NY sucks.

sugartitties

ShinyKate

Kojiro

Erica

cate3710

Guess what, you ARE the help.
And with your shitty attitude, it's a miracle you got any tips at all.

Don't make a "living wage"?
Get a second job.

WV.Hillbilly

funnyface

Like I said, I don't think it's mandatory to tip at SB, but it's a nice thing to do. And I would probably tip at McDonald's if I could, but since I can't, I usually put my change in the Ronald McDonald House box.

Meg

+ Watch video

I sat behind Steve on a flight once where the stewardess wouldn't stop kissing his ass. I leaned forward and told him she was just trying to get a tip out of him.

mikedell

ShoplifterOfTheWorld

The managers barred us from keeping a tip jar on the counter because they felt if they bookfloor didn't get tipped, neither should we. Customers would slide money across the counter anyway & each time we had a take/leave penny cup, we'd bank cuz ppl would throw money in.

@ThomasD3: It's hard to explain unless you've worked food service. A lot of effort goes into giving good service, it's not just "acting normal." If you're a good waitress/barista/McD's monkey, even on bad days where someone ran over your cat, you make an effort to pull the best damn cappuccino for your customer. You give 'em a smile. You ask about their family. Why? Because believe it or not, some of us actually really like serving you. You pay for service & we want to deliver the best.

And if you're on the receiving end of good service, you get a couple minutes of really nice interaction from a stranger.

It's not just about making rent, tipping is acknowledgment that our efforts are appreciated.

If in the middle of the morning rush at 7am I smiled at you, made your venti extra-hot half-caf double vanilla with a shot of hazelnut no foam latte exactly how you like it without you having to tell me twice and cleaned up the mess your kid left in front of the counter & you don't tip me, I won't resent you.
But it's really something to be able to appreciate the effort that people put into their jobs, even if they're just pouring coffee and making $6/hr.

ShoplifterOfTheWorld

Jim (The Canuck One)

grlnxtdr681

Meanmllemustard

tipping a person for doing their job, shouldn't be done. tipping someone for doing their job well, and going above and beyond what they are expected to do deserves a tip.

say you are at a restraunt, and you get seated. you don't get waited on for 20 minutes, you place you drink order, and it comes another 20 minutes later, and 30 minutes after that you get your dinner. this is a case where you honestly should NOT tip. however, if you are seated, greeted by your waiter, they have your drinks always filled, or another set on your table before you are finished with your meal, and your food is how you ordered it, tipping more then 15% is a good practice in this case.

now, in starbucks case, if a barista makes your coffee, and takes a while to do so, don't tip. now if she greets you, and makes your coffee fast, feel free to throw a buck or two in the tip jar after you enjoy your first drink.

skilled1

For those people: It's called a drive-thru. No tip expected!

dearheart

loquat

I am from Seattle so this might just be my own absurd pickiness, but often times a good cup of coffee is not all that easy to make. it takes skill, practice, and fine tuned machinery. The difficulty shouldn't really matter though. Tips are arbitrary fees for certain types of services.

Pick up an old etiquette book and you will be surprised. Tailors, for example are not tipped despite skilled labor and rather intimate services whereas baggage carriers are.

Furthemore, tips are not for "good or exceptional service." Good and exceptional tips are for good and exceptional service.

Finally, if you really expect the business to pay their employees more and raise prices, why not tip the difference? This puts more money into the pocket of the people that are really serving you and leaves the penny-pinching bureaucracy out of the loop.

Uglyshoe

I think tipping is part of the policy for paying for a luxury.

Uglyshoe

MyCokesBiggerThanYours

Don't like my no-tip? Well, it sucks, honey, but it's not up to me to make up for your lack of a good salary. That's why people go to school, you know. Besides, making and serving coffee is part of your job description. I do not intend to tip you for DOING YOUR JOB.

I worked at cafeterias and coffee shops during college, and it never even occurred to me to expect a tip for doing my job. What did you think you were hired to do? Stand there and stare at the customers? No, you were hired to make and serve coffee. So that's what you do, tip or no tip.

The sense of entitlement to a tip baffles me. Tips are for exceptional service, not an obligation (I only feel obligated to tip when it comes to waiters/waitresses because I know all of them make 2-3/hr and they must claim tips on taxes).

iAlreadyHateYou

This is something to note, that different parts of the country have a different culture of tipping, and different attitudes about it. I live on the East Coast, which is v work-oriented, and the attitude is "they didn't work hard enough, why should I tip them?" All of us coming together from our own areas could be sparking our disagreements.

nardo218

i always tip at least 20%, and the only time i tipped under that was when a friend and i were meeting my bf at a restaurant and the waitess was a straight up bitch to both me and said friend. when bf arrived 10 minutes later, she acted real sweet to him, asking him how everything was, etc etc, yet still continued to give me and my (female) friend attitude, never bothering to check up on us. not to mention she brought the food out cold (open kitchen that we could see from our seats, the food was sitting there but she was standing around doing nothing, and the place was dead). i mean, i've had horrible days at work before, but don't give me attitude when i've been nothing but polite to you, but then clearly change your demeanor every time you talk to my boyfriend.

onestrawplz

nardo218

FreudianSlip

I waited tables for about 3 years and I will toss my spare change into the jar at Starbucks, but don't tip like the staff are waiters, nor do I tip at Quiznos.

My family owns several quick-serve restaurants (that pay well above minimum wage and do not allow tips) so I have little sympathy for people feeling like they deserve tips solely based on the fact they have to deal with crappy people. Yes, folks can be assholes. It goes with the whole 'customer service' thing. On the whole, folks are OK. There are assholes in all fields of work, ya know?

I'd love a post of an investment banker who demands a larger bonus based on the fact that his clients are demanding dickheads. Heh.

stacy75

OTOH, why are all of the staff at Starbucks so f@*king happy? Duh: I know why. Starbucks over the last ten years has reduced the quality of their basic coffee beans, substituted cream, ice, sweeteners to reduce their coffee bean expenses. I now can buy beans from almost anyone but Starbucks and have a superior coffee, espresso, or latte from my own machine.

Still, I must reiterate, why, if working at Starbucks is so terrible, do the entire staff work like happy little elves?

BTW, I also agree that for a $5.00 coffee bill, a tip for the ethereal happiness of the staff is unecessary. Jebuz! Starbuck's profit on a $2 vente coffee must be all of $1.75. The markup in a restaurant on a bottle of wine is only x2 or x3 for prime wine. A markup of x8 for a cup of coffee is highway robbery.

Having written and then read this, I'm on the phone to my therapist. I must be coffee deranged to spend more on Starbucks coffee than I do on booze and wine.

Q

Quaoar

Although, I might tip if the coffee wasn't so horrible.

dandd

And starting to tip them is a slippery slope. Soon, starbucks will make the assumption that a Barista is really a tip based service job, and will ask the Department of Labor to make it such, meaning they can pay half/third pay and let empolyees be paid via tips, like waitresses, screwing it up for all coffeehouse employees.

cde

Crash1973

We have "Helping Hands" that keep the parking lots clean and clear, collect baskets at the end of registers, put out umbrellas for customers when it rains, do "walk-outs" and "drive-ups" when a customer has too much stuff or has their hands full with their kids.

We have produce, deli, meat, and seafood workers that give great advice on who to prepare meals and select the best product. Sub-shop and pizza workers to personalize and hand-make great meals for you.

None of these people who work in customer service get tips, but I'm supposed to tip a barista that just poured my coffee from a thermos or other similar device into a cup? And I have to add the cream and sugar myself? Fuck right off.

karmaghost

You think you're entitled to a tip because you made me a coffee? I don't think so. I would think about tipping a barista if they went above and beyond to give me good service - but guess what? Never happened. I have never been to a Starbucks where the person taking my order or making my drink hasn't acted like I've burdened them.

Waiters are different, they make minimal salary because of tipping, not so at a Starbucks - you already get your salary. If you're struggling at Starbucks and rely on tips, it's time to move on.

Seems like everywhere you go there's a freaking tip jar. 99% of people need to get over it, congratulations, you just did your job that you're already getting paid for.

Yes, I tip and I tip well - if and only if I receive good service. If everyone gets tipped for sub-par service, there's no incentive to improve.

Remember, tipping may be customary, but it's not mandatory and sometimes it's not necessary.

FromThisSoil

What a lovely expression!

ShinyKate

Oh, and sorry everyone if I came off as shrill in my first rant. Aspiringexpatriate, I wish to reiterate I do not think you're an ass.

I think coffee-shop tipping is a small kindness that can really make difference in a person's day, but if I see someone not tipping at SBX, I'm not going to taze them or sound an air siren or anything.

Not tipping waiters and general rudeness is another matter- Hell, that may be why I got a taser ;-)

ShinyKate

Naw, my beef is with folks who blame/punish the person in front of them (usually a server, barista, movie house usher) for their problems with the company even when the face-person had nothing to do with said policies/prices, etc. It just strikes me as very shortsighted, petty, and mean. Three of my big pet peeves (though the list is admittedly long).

Where you're coming from is completely different, and it's a place I completely respect. :)

ShinyKate

all this said, i tip the beejebuz out of everyone. cuz i like good service.

dvs

One of my favorite quotes about spending money came from "Hello Dolly!" where Dolly Levi says "Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow.

And it's good karma, too. :)

Tea Em Gee Eff

Frostberg

RagingServer.com

Digitamer81

And this health care plan they "offer" (not provide)doesn't make Starbucks some leader in employee health care. They're just the opposite!

Starbucks insures a lower percentage of its workforce than Wal-Mart.

WAL-MART out does Starbucks, with "offering" insurance to 47% of its workforce as opposed to 42 percent of the 'buck.!

Starbucks' 42% is not only worse than Wal-Mart's 47%, it's also worse than the industry average!

The barriers to health care for employees :

a) employees must work 240 hours per quarter to qualify to purchases health care through the company, no easy feat with no full-time workers and no guaranteed work hours, qualifying to purchase health care is far from assured.

b) workers must pay sHIGH premiums, co-pays, and deductibles to participate in the health care plan, making it a signifigant drain on a barista.

ShawnStruck

You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

ceejeemcbeegee

Agrado

We Don't Live in the 60s

A waiter? They deserve a tip. Not only are they managing my order, but their pay is dependent on me tipping. Its part of the social order, and I'm happy to play my part. Bartenders? I'll grant you, I feel some angst at this, especially when I'm just getting a bottle of something. But I assume most bartenders are underpaid with the assumption that they will make it up on tips, and I don't see the use of me breaking that social contract. Besides, bars aren't retail. You can tell because they are open past mid-night.

I'm sorry, but this "Its hard and doesn't pay well" rationale is BS. Lots of jobs are hard and don't pay well and know things for two seconds about tipping those people what they tip baristas. I worked at Target and made about what a Barista makes. I was on my feet the whole time keeping my section of the store orderly and easy to shop and literally racing to help out any customer who needed help. I took my job seriously, as did most of my co-workers. We wanted to help customers and make the store a more friendly environment for them. There was absolutely NO down time. No time to do homework or chat with co-workers. All our energy was put into serving the customers of the store in one way or another. I never got tipped. Never expected to get tipped. No one ever thought to tip me. No one will now, either. All you, "c'mon, tip them" people will not start tipping at Target or Walmart or Borders or other retail stores where the pay is the same and the work at least as demanding. And that's fine.

The sense of entitlement baristas feel is what bothers me. Look, I don't care if you want to tip. If I went to SB every day instead of every few months, I might want to tip for different reasons. But there is no reasonable expectation that everyone who walks in the door should be tipped. Its retail. When they start tipping at Target, they'd at least be consistent. Servers, I always tip generously. I'm one of those 15% means I thought you sucked types. I know they get a service wage and I'm fine with my obligation in that arrangement. I don't have that obligation with someone making a retail salary. Can you live off it for 40 hours a week? Not my problem. Don't make it your career, then. That's a decision you make, and its no one's responsibility to justify your own decisions in life.

BStu

pantsless

VoxPopuli

krismry

The tipping system in sit-down restaurants and at bars is different. A tip is standard practice in these situations (whether it "should" be is fodder for a different debate) and that's why companies pay waitresses and bartenders less than minimum wage. Just because both a bar and a coffee shop serve drinks does not make them comparable situations.

The independent Starbucks paying less than minimum wage, in one of the above comments, was probably breaking the law. A tip is NOT, according to any guide you'd find on where and when to tip, expected at a coffee shop where there is no table service.

The fact that minimum wage is so disgustingly low in this country does not change any of the above. The fact that someone orders an expensive drink at Starbucks does not change any of the above.

How do you know the guy ordering the drink doesn't ALSO make minimum wage somewhere where no tips are even a possibility? (any of the pissed off Starbucks employees above ever consider that?) Maybe he can afford to pay the price of the drink -- i.e., all he's obligated to pay -- but tipping every time, just because a Starbucks barista "should" make more money, goes above and beyond the call of duty.

I can think of lots of people, including myself, who "should" make more money.

girlontheqm1a

denises_24

Sorry, baristas. I occassionally throw in my change, but I really never knew it was expected, and I kind of have a problem with acting like it is. You're making SIGNIFICANTLY more per hour than waiters, and doing significantly less (sorry, but it's true).

BadenBaden

And I have to outright disagree with your cynicism on the 50c tip. Over a day, or a week, they will definitely pay then rent.

SkipToMyLou

wring

I hate my job. But it pays my rent. If it didn't pay my rent I would get another job or another two jobs that does. Why work in the service industry at all if it doesn't pay your bills? Isn't that the point of a job?

e.b.

traumaqn

You can capitulate while you're dissenting. You can dissent while you're capitulating. No change will occur unless both things happen pretty much simultaneously anyway, since ideally the job must go on, and the baristas must continue to eat, even while we are dissenting. If the job fails, there's nothing to work for. And there is no change if you snuff out the baristas while working for change.

And there is another value here, which is decency. If you have the means to be kind, then do so. You don't have to analyze the situation further than that really. And if you want to work at unionizing low-paid American workers, there's that option too. Refusing to tip, by itself, won't change anything at Starbucks. SB will still pay low wages; in fact, it will probably begin the slow slide into mediocrity that so many other U.S. businesses have slid.

Because when people are paid like they don't matter, they act like the product and the customer don't matter. Here's a tip: If you tip, you contribute to a warm fuzzy glow that you and the baristas can share. It's like they tipped you back.

@ThomasD3: This response is a hoot, the modern equivalent of "if you don't like it, move to Russia." Your choices are either being somebody's slave, or enslaving others. There are no other options available. America, land of the Hobson's choices.

ChuckECheese

i hate anytime someone makes a "slippery slope" comment, but it really seems like everywhere you turn this days there's a new tip jar, at the coffee shop, at a take out deli, i remember when it wasn't even a thought to tip people like hairstylists, nail technicians, etc, only when you were at the fanciest of spas did one tip. at this point i'm waiting for the tip jar at the gap and the like.

lastly, can i just be really cynical and add that regardless of what some people have been arguing, i'm sorry, your 50 cents - $1 isn't going to help some barista pay their rent, it's going to help them buy another overpriced item, perhaps even a coffee or maybe just a beer, it's just a matter of giving them a little extra for a treat, kind of the way my grandma would give me a dime for a piece of gum as a kid. don't get all high and mighty, your tips aren't going to save their asses 99.9999% of the time.

jane919925

If a "barista" needs tips to survive then that "barista" needs to find a new job.

If one spends 4 dollars on a latte, then maybe things are different. I want a simple cup of coffee, possibly with cream and sugar. This is such a mindless task that I will not even tip my change on a 1.99 order. Yes, in advance, BUG OFF entitled Starbucks employees!

sauceistheboss

When I was in college I went to a little coffee shop every day (this was in the late 80s / early 90s, before the Starbucks invasion). I would order coffee and a muffin. I would not tip. There was no tip jar. No one considered tipping, because that's something you did at bars and restaurants, not at coffeeshops.

Suddenly Starbucks came along with their tip jars, and soon every coffee shop had a tip jar. And before long little sandwich shops and donut shops added tip jars.

@clevernamehere: I also wonder when the Gap and CVS will add tip jars. I just had to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

I am confused about how much Starbucks employees' make. Is it the measly below-minimum wage, like waitstaff gets? Or is it at least minimum wage?

Also, my pet peeve is people who work in customer service and then throw their shoulder out of joint patting themselves on the back for being nice to customers. Being nice to customers is part of a customer service job.

End of rant. Don't get me started on doormen expecting Christmas bonuses.

Also if baristas in California get less tha