New Yorkers feel the heat over tipping etiquette

More intimidating than a midtown skyscraper and more confusing than Leaving Cert maths — tipping sends Irish tourists into a cold sweat even as they are supposed to be enjoying the white heat of the New York restaurant scene.

Now, a study by Cornell University researchers seems to have shed controversial light on the intrinsic unfairness of the tipping culture.

Research by Michael Lynn of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell includes some home truths about more attractive wait staff, as well as the levels of generosity in tips (TIP ‘to insure promptitude’) that differ along racial lines.

Mr Lynn’s research has shown that blondes get better tips than brunettes; slender women get better tips than heavier women; and large-breasted women get better tips than smaller-breasted women.

And he found “blacks tip less than whites in this country [USA]”.

“They’re more likely to leave without tipping at all,” said Mr Lynn. “If they [black people] do leave a tip, it’s on average a smaller amount. They’re more likely to be flat tippers and not tip a percentage of the bill.”

Another study showed customers tended to leave smaller tips for black servers.

All this has led The New York Times chief restaurant critic, Pete Wells, to slam the practice as “irrational, outdated, ineffective, confusing, prone to abuse, and sometimes discriminatory”.

However, Neil Connolly, a Blanchardstown native who has worked in the catering industry on both sides of the Atlantic and currently runs the Pig and Whistle Bar and Restaurant in Manhattan’s Murray Hill, believes the tipping culture will always be a part of the city’s fabric. “It’s embedded in the scene here,” he told the Irish Examiner yesterday.

“New Yorkers love to tip big and maintain a relationship with their server, their bartender or their manager. Everything has a monetary value in New York and this is one of those practices that is really important.”

Reports suggest that a small but noticeable trend has developed whereby restaurants, particularly high-end operations, are experimenting or even fully implementing automatic surcharges on bills and switching their front-of- house staff — the erstwhile beneficiaries of tipping — to regular salaries more in line with the kitchen staff.

It has been found that whether a customer leaves a good tip or bad, the service will not change substantially and bad tippers will inadvertently punish all the staff who share tips instead of the target of their ire.

“The product should speak for itself,” said Mr Connolly, who is personally against the tipping culture. “Regardless of a 20% tip or whatever is decided, the focus should be on making sure the customer is catered for properly.”

The New York Times cited one example of a high-profile restaurant moving away from arbitrary tipping — Sushi Yasuda in Manhattan appends a note to credit card slips reading: “Following the custom in Japan, Sushi Yasuda’s service staff are fully compensated by their salary. Therefore gratuities are not accepted.”

Of course, the staff themselves will resist any change that will inevitably hamper their income, which can be lucrative as well as mostly tax-free.

It has been a system which has apparently benefited everyone: owners save on pay; workers can hustle for extra cash; and customers seem to think that if they tip more, they’ll benefit from better service.

However, while the acceptable percentage now seems to be 20%, the background staff who do a lot more of the perspiring — such as the cooks — can feel cheated by their consistently lower wages.

“Neither one is more important than the other,” said San Francisco chef Daniel Patterson. “So it doesn’t make sense to me that servers would make three to four times as much as cooks.”

Mr Connolly said the New York catering sector, which he said is the best in the world, would face into a sharp decline should tipping ever be phased out.

“The bartenders provide an incredible service because they know they will be paid well,” he said. “They can make as much as $100,000 [€76,000] a year but if that ever changed, most of them would either leave or become less interested in the career.”