I’ll tip the waitress who politely put up with my dad as he makes a racist fool of himself over dinner. She doesn’t deserve that at work, she deserves compensation (and my dad wonders why we only go out once a year)

I’ll tip the barista who managed to pull some tables together and keep track of my 25+ coffee order as I attempted to wrangle all of my students into a Cafe when Melbourne decided to rain on our botanical garden excursion. No one in hospo wants a 25 top coming in unannounced, let alone a group as roudy as my students. They deserve a tip.

I’ll tip the restaurant that took the time to ask me clarifying questions about my allergies and make me something off menu after cleaning down the kitchen for cross contamination. I wasn’t expecting anything more than black coffee because I knew going in, there was nothing on the menu I could eat. It’s my friends favourite restaurant and it’s their birthday so I’m not going to reject the invite. I don’t expect the staff to cater to me, but they do, so I feel a tip is warrented.

Tipping has it’s place, I tip more than most, my friends will often make fun of me for how often I tip (look, I’ll be honest, I do tip a lot because I have allergies and as a customer I know I’m extra work) but the way the Australian service industry is trying to use Americanised tipping culture to compensate for wage theft and stagnated income rates is disgusting.