Gratuity

, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), in 1913 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "tip" originated as a slang term and its etymology is unclear. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the meaning "give a small present of money" began around 1600, and the meaning "give a gratuity to" is first attested in 1706. The noun in this sense is from 1755. The term in the sense of "to give a gratuity" first appeared in the 18th century. It derived from an earlier sense of tip, meaning "to give; to hand, pass", which originated in the thieves' cant in the 17th century. This sense may have derived from the 16th-century "tip" meaning "to strike or hit smartly but lightly" (which may have derived from the Low German tippen, "to tap"), but this derivation is "very uncertain". The word "tip" was first used as a verb in 1707 in George Farquhar's play ''The Beaux' Stratagem''. Farquhar used the term after it had been "used in criminal circles as a word meant to imply the unnecessary and gratuitous gifting of something somewhat taboo, like a joke, or a sure bet, or illicit money exchanges." The etymology for the synonym for tipping, "gratuity", dates back either to the 1520s, from "graciousness", from the French gratuité (14th century) or directly from Medieval Latin gratuitas, "free gift", probably from earlier Latin gratuitus, "free, freely given". The meaning "money given for favor or services" is first attested in the 1530s. The practice of tipping began in Tudor England. In medieval times, tipping was a master-serf custom wherein a servant would receive extra money for having performed superbly well. By the 17th century, it was expected that overnight guests to private homes would provide sums of money, known as vails, to the host's servants. Soon afterwards, customers began tipping in London coffeehouses and other commercial establishments". However, until the early 20th century, Americans viewed tipping as inconsistent with the values of an egalitarian, democratic society, as the origins of tipping were premised upon noblesse oblige, which promoted tipping as a means to establish social status to inferiors. Six American states passed laws that made tipping illegal. Enforcement of anti-tipping laws was problematic. Also, proprietors regarded tips as equivalent to bribing an employee to do something that was otherwise forbidden, such as tipping a waiter to get an extra large portion of food. Contrary to popular belief, tipping did not arise because of servers' low wages, because the occupation of waiter (server) was fairly well paid in the era when tipping became institutionalized. ==Reasons for tipping==

Tipping researcher Michael Lynn identifies five motivations for tipping: • Showing off • To supplement the server's income and make them happy • For improved future service • To avoid disapproval from the server • A sense of duty A 2009 academic paper by economics professor Steven J. Holland calls tipping "an effective mechanism for risk sharing and welfare improvement" which reduces the risk faced by a customer when purchasing a service of "uncertain quality", because the customer can decide whether or not to tip, thereby "making part of the price of the service discretionary". Tipping is sometimes given as an example of the principal–agent problem in economics. One example is a restaurant owner who engages servers to act as agents on his behalf. In some cases, "[c]ompensation agreements [can] increase worker effort [...] if compensation is [...] tied to the firm's success" and one example of such a compensation agreement is waiters and waitresses who are paid tips. Studies show however that, in the real world, the size of the tip is only weakly correlated with the quality of the service and other effects dominate. ==Tronc==

A term primarily used in the United Kingdom, a tronc is an arrangement for the pooling and distribution to employees of tips, gratuities and/or service charges in the hotel and catering trade. The person who distributes monies from the tronc is known as the troncmaster. In the UK, where a tronc exists, responsibility for deducting pay-as-you-earn taxes from the distribution may lie with the troncmaster rather than the employer. ==Mandatory tipping==

Tipping may not be expected when a fee is explicitly charged for the service. A service charge, or fee assessed, is determined by and paid directly to the company. The charges may be for services rendered, administrative fees, or processing cost. In the United States, criminal charges were dropped in two separate cases over non-payment of mandatory gratuities. Courts ruled that automatic does not mean mandatory. Some cruise lines charge their patrons US$10 per day in mandatory tipping; this does not include extra gratuities for alcoholic beverages. ==By region==

Inconsistency of percentage-based gratuities s cleared the way for rich people to cross the road without dirtying their clothes and they were normally tipped for this service (London, 1893). A similar service in modern times is offered by "squeegee men" who clean vehicle windshields while stopped for traffic lights (often without the consent of the driver). In countries where tipping is the norm, some employers pay workers with the expectation that their wages will be supplemented by tips. Some have criticized the inherent "social awkwardness" in transactions that involve tipping, the inconsistency of tipping for some services but not similar ones, and the irrationality of basing tips on price, rather than the amount and quality of service (a customer pays a larger tip to a server bringing a lobster rather than a hamburger, for example). Travellers following home rather than local customs Some nationalities, such as people from the United States, are used to paying tips, and often do so even when they visit countries where this is less of a norm. In contrast, tourists from such countries may neglect or even refuse to pay tips when they visit countries such as the US where tips are expected. This is particularly common in American cities along the Canadian border, and is seen as a problem by many in the hospitality sector. Discomfort Tipping might be discomforting to some people because it adds the necessity of figuring out the tip amount each time, which is made harder by the fact that the tip amount the service provider is hoping to receive, is in general, unknown to the customer. A lack of or too low a tip might offend the service provider, this adds the discomfort of creating an unpleasant social encounter to each service transaction which might involve the expectation of tipping. Tipping might be discomforting also to some service providers as they might view it as derogating to their occupation, as "a token of inferiority". William Scott in his The Itching Palm study wrote: "The relation of a man giving a tip and a man accepting it is as undemocratic as the relation of master and slave. A citizen in a republic ought to stand shoulder to shoulder with every other citizen, with no thought of cringing, without an assumption of superiority or an acknowledgment of inferiority." Discrimination In the episode of the Freakonomics podcast Lynn found that "attractive waitresses get better tips than less attractive waitresses. Men’s appearance, not so important". Lynn's research also found that "blondes get better tips than brunettes. Slender women get better tips than heavier women. Large breasted women get better tips than smaller breasted women. Surprisingly, at least in the studies I’ve done, women in their 30s get better tips than either younger or older women.” A woman server interviewed for the podcast episode stated: "lost my job because my manager said that I didn’t fit the look of the company, or the restaurant. So I don’t know if it was because I’m a lot more curvier than the other girls or because my skin is darker. I don’t know". ==References==