Tipping nowadays feels like a force of habit, but that seems to be changing. No one should feel obliged to tip, if they do not want to.
The tipping culture has grown into an uncomfortable topic for the public. It is starting to feel as a necessity rather than just a token of appreciation for good customer service. Along with that, a recently approved legislation in Tokyo given the name of “kasuhara” which translates to “customer harassment” has been introduced due to the rise of staff abuse in Asia. Both go hand in hand and highlight a much bigger issue at stake.
Kasuhara will be enforced after April of next year. The Japanese government felt this was essential that it would become set in law, as the amount of harassment experienced from customers was getting out of control. Before “kasuhara”, Japan has also introduced similar legislation, matahara (maternity harassment), pawahara (power harrasment) and jenhara (gender harassment). Kasuhara is not the first to be established to combat a wider problem. The other forms of legislation mentioned above shed light on a wider issue. It shows that it deals with these on the same scale as “kasuhara”. Thus, the Japanese government felt the necessity to address the issue of harassment.
With an increase in public incidents, including one meltdown over the expiration date of tofu, it became clear that the issue was worsening. This trend seems linked to the concept of “tipping culture”. Workers feel the need to go out their way to deserve or receive one. In particular, one female worker admitted that she needs to compliment women and flirt with older men to get a tip. This takes away the entire point of tipping in to begin with. In the US, a tip is not always distributed fairly amongst the staff. Instead of tipping the member of staff who served you directly. Essentially, they do not receive the tip, and this could well go to someone else. It feels slightly unfair.
Tokyo’s new enforcement is intended to alleviate the current issue of bad behaviour from customers. The government in Japan hopes that this will make its residents think of hospitality and retail staff as being equals to them. After all, they are humans too. A tip should not feel like a moral obligation, which highlights the problem. Not leaving a tip should not imply that the service was bad or that you were unhappy with the staff member. However, this is how we are conditioned to think. While tipping may be considered an optional gesture in some countries, in a country like the US, receiving regular tips can be the deciding factor in whether or not an employee can afford to pay their rent.
In the US, those who earn tips as a part of their wage earn a lot less than the average person. This would equate to around $2.13 an hour. The average hourly wage in the US is $7.25 an hour. As a result, staff must work particularly hard in order to earn enough via tips to make ends meet. Knowing this fact almost forces customers to give a tip. This means that customers are effectively supplementing employees’ wages via tips. Customers are already paying for their food, with sales tax on top of that in many states. The expected tipping amount is generally around 20% of the cost of the bill. Ensuring that staff are paid a living wage should not be the customer’s responsibility. This should not be a source of stress for the staff either – hoping that they can get by relying on the empathy and politeness of customers.
Meanwhile, before Kasuhara comes into place, multiple companies and businesses have commented on its development. A retail department store in Tokyo said that if they come into contact with abusive customers, they will ban them from entering the store. Nintendo confirmed a similar approach, in which they will not engage with any threats to their staff. Consumerism and greed are to blame for such behavior, it seems. What is evident is that both customers and staff are strongly pressured by social norms. It’s most likely that tipping will remain a part of the culture of the United States. In Japan, however, this may become a distant memory.
