When does tipping go too far?

This is a question that more and more people have been asking in recent years. What started out as a generous gesture and an unfortunate necessity for those working in certain professions has become something that seems to be inescapable whenever you pay for almost any kind of service. On the one hand, making a contribution that ensures somebody gets paid a fair wage is important; on the other hand, it probably shouldn’t have to happen in the first place.

As a customer, it can be annoying to feel like something that supposedly happens at your discretion is something that you are being pressured into instead. At the same time, nobody wants to come home from work with a fraction of the pay they thought they would get just because people were not willing to open their wallets. At the highest level, it feels like the entire system that has allowed tipping to become such an expectation in the first place is flawed, but that doesn’t stop it from being how large parts of the service industry function nonetheless. While it is nice to order takeout, go to a bar, or eat at a restaurant, we could technically count these things as being luxuries as well.