The Torontonian and recent university graduate had just finished a run and wanted to rehydrate. The barista behind the counter handed Montelli the water bottle and turned the point-of-sale (POS) machine — with large tip prompts for up to 20 per cent — to him.
Montelli paid for the water without leaving a tip, and decided to share his experience on TikTok.
Would anyone tip in this scenario?
Tons of people do this for bartenders that open bottles for them, or poor liquid from the tap into a glass. coffee shops are similar enough settings that people will often do it out of habit.
The difference of course being that bartenders get paid barely anything and tips are expected to be the majority of their income while baristas are supposed to be paid regular wages.
Personally I would rather every job including service jobs be paid a living wage with tips going away entirely.
Are there any provinces that still have a lower minimum wage for alcohol servers? BC got rid of that years ago.
Unless you mean minimum wage in general is barely anything.
Minimum wage in general is barely anything, and traditionally tipped positions are likely to be minimum wage.
Even if wages were closer, the tipping mindset is going to be hard to shake for people who spent decades tipping those jobs. Habits are habits.
I tip at coffee shops but somewhat erratically. The frequency is creeping up.
I’ll tip at a coffee shop if I order something that they need to make that I know
a) Takes time
b) Takes skill
Drip coffee? No tip.
Pre-baked good? No tip.
Bag of beans? No tip.
Combination order – custom $amount (not percentage!) tip based on the value of the custom drink only (no need to inflate the tip from the +$25 for the bag of beans).
