SPREAD OF TIPPING.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18238, 24 November 1924, Page 14

SPREAD OF TIPPING.

HEAVY TAX ON THE PUBLIC.

an undesirable practice. Only a few years ago the giving of "tips" or gratuities was practically unknown in New Zealand, but times have changed until to-day it is almost impossible to take a train journey or stay at an hotel or boardinghouse anywhere in the Dominion without giving money gifts to those who are paid for the service they render. The increase in tipping is unfortunate from the recipient's point of view, for there is undoubtedly something degrading m the system. Until a tip passes, the man who is to receive it is just as good as the man who is going to give it, but the "greasing"'of any mail's "palm brings him down, not only in his own estimation, but also in the estimation of the person who patronises him. The Btory is told of a young man who, on his first visit to London, confessed to a friend that lie was actually afraid of the impressive hotel porter. "I can give you a cure. 5 ; replied his friend. "Just slip a shilling .into the porter's hand, and yea will be amazed at the change." When the young man returned to his hotel and was again b coming overwhelmed by the majestic head porter, he hastened to make the experiment. It worked magic. Tho giant in uniform shrank almost visibly to a cringing creature, while the patron felt as if lie-had added six inches to his own height. He had certainly never spent a shilling to better advantage to himself. ■ It is difficult, of course, to know jn every case whether or not a tip is expected, and it is possible that many New Zealanders have a mistaken r.otion as to the extent to which tuey need practise their sometime* illdirected generosity. At the same tii.ic. there is no doubt that among .taxi-in.n, •carriers, railway porters iiotcl servants and other workers there are those who expect and show that * a tip. To say that all workers m tnese! occupations look for gratuities v> be absurd and unfair, but a little leaveneth the whole," and with the idea of keeping everybody sweet ana

securing the best service, tho average man. pays out all round, and feels rather mean if lie does not do so. , On the Overseas Boats. The stewards on some boats have a somewhat obvious system, whereby they manage to .waylay passengers going ashore. If one steward notices a cabin being vacated a' sharp rat-tat-tat on the metal liandiail of the companionway is an effective signal to the steward concerned, and the passenger aa a rule meekly forks out, even when there have been no services rendered. On the overseas boats, of course, the stewards have more opportunities of ingratiating themselves into the good graces of the passengers, and in most cases the tips are as well earned as tips can be. The family man who takes a long sea voyage has quite a heavy tax to pav by way of gratuities even before he gets on board, and by the time he has finished his trip the.sum is really substantial. Among the recipients are the cabin steward and stewardess, the bath steward and stewardess, the children 's stewardess, the deekmen, the smoke room steward, the dining saloon steward, the children's dining saloon steward, the bo.ots, and so on. In most cases where the trip has lasted, say, six weeks, the tips run from 10s upwards, by 10s jumps. Tipping in hotels has become an absolute nuisance in many countries, and attempts have been made to solve the problem-in Europe bv a "service" tax of ten per cent, on all bills. This method certainly saves visitors,a tremendous amount of worry and bother in regard to the amount of tips, and also aa to their distribution, for some people never acquire the art of giving a tip gracefully. It is possible to do a kindness in such a way that, the recipient will hate the donor ever after. There is also an art in receiving a tip. People hate to make a fuss in giving a gratuity, and if the receiver is clumsy, and, perhaps, allows the coin to fall as at is being slipped into his hand it is almost as bad as biting the hand that fed him! —Auckland "Star."