I'm 16 and recently got my first job at a garden center in Texas. My technical job title is “loader” (loading the various plant, trees, and heavy bags of mulch, gravel, soil, and fertilizer we have to offer), and since it is a small, family owned and operated business my informal job title has stretched far beyond mere loader (I'm not part of the family btw). And I love it, my co-workers are fantastic, the customers are mostly kind, and I get compensated well for what I do by the owners. But my god tip culture is horrible. I was expecting shitty co-workers, bad customers, and poor pay going into my first work experience this year, but I never expected tip culture to be this bad.
It's been 105+ degrees for the past month here in Texas, with our long-lauded humidity closely following fahrenheit's every move, and during this hell of a summer I find myself outside all day long, 5 days a week trying to protect myself from it. Now, I have grown accustomed to it over the weeks, but just because I'm accustomed to it doesn't make it any less draining.
I only say that because during this dreadful summer, I spend my days loading people's cars 20 deep in 50 pound bags of saturated soils and the whatnot while only receiving a half-hearted smile and wave from their rear-view mirror in return. A tip is a rare occasion for me, that maybe… just maybe comes once a week and more often than not it doesn't come at all, and when it does come it's usually on a small order from very kind-hearted people.
(Additionally, being the small business that we are, we don't deliver too often. If you ask we'll do it, but it's not an outspoken custom of our's. Which is what made the one (and only) delivery I've made so baffling and frustrating. An older upper-middle class white couple came in a month ago asking to have a tree and three bags of soil delivered to their new house 5 miles away. I volunteered to do it and drove out in the middle of the day to their house and delivered it. All was well, and they were satisfied, but all I got in return from them was a quick “thank you” and wave as I stood there on their freshly paved concrete driveway covered in dirt and dripping sweat. Luckily I have an amazing boss that sympathized with my lack of tip and later gave me 10 dollars whilst thanking me for making the delivery.)
But it was only two weeks ago that I really began to take into true consideration the issue, and it was due to an older client that came in. He ordered something relatively small, like two bags of mulch, and when I loaded it in the back of the car he looked to me and handed me 4 dollars claiming it was all that he had on him that wasn't a 20. And as he handed it to me he asked if I get many tips. I said no, politely echoing some of the same sentiments I've written here, and he replied with something along the lines of (paraphrasing) “Well that's a shame, back in my time it was customary to tip people doing work like yourself”. I'm grateful for that man, whoever he is.
So that leads me to my ultimate question… why is tip culture so bad? Are people just assholes, or has it fallen out of society? I'm not asking to be tipped for every single thing I do, but why are people so resistant to toss a few bucks to the guy who just loaded their car full of shit they bought in the middle of this hot ass summer?
TL;DR: People don't tip.