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How to Tip Properly

2011-12-31 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Economics · explainer learning

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

Hank shares his personal tipping rules, admits he tips mainly because it's 'the thing to do', and argues tipping doesn't actually reward good service, unlike countries where waitstaff don't depend on tips.

What is said

00:00:00 — Tipping as a peculiar, illogical American practice: Hank gives money to people not asking for it and doesn't know why; goat sex and fictional soccer teams

  • ★★★ Hank calls tipping a peculiar American practice, illogical, economically troubling and psychologically dubious: he gives money unasked and not required by law, without knowing why he feels he should. (playful) — 00:00:00 · United States

00:00:29 — Hank's personal tipping rules: a dollar in the jar, 15% minimum for table service, three ways up, at least $2 per person

  • ★★ Hank's rule for a restaurant with a tip jar: a dollar goes in the jar if he has a single; if he doesn't, 'you're screwed'. (playful) — 00:00:37
  • ★★★ Hank says if you sit down and someone brings you food and talks to you, that person deserves at least 15%, usually raised by good service, his mood, or rounding up hard math. (playful) — 00:00:45
  • ★★ If the tip is still under $2 per person, Hank gives $2 per person; a 25% tip on a $3 bill is not good tipping. — 00:01:11

00:01:23 — Why Hank tips: wanting to make people happy vs. lesser motives (waitstaff live on tips, small town reputation) and above all 'the thing to do'

  • ★★ Hank would like his reason for tipping to be making happy the people who make him happy, but believes lesser motives are more responsible. (hedged) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank says waitstaff make less than 50% of their living from wages, most of it from tips, so not tipping would make him feel bad. — 00:01:39
  • ★ Hank lives in a very small town where his server is probably a friend of a friend, and he doesn't want to be known as a jerkface. (playful) — 00:01:45
  • ★★★ Hank thinks his number one reason for tipping is simply that it's 'the thing to do'. (hedged) — 00:01:52
  • ★★★ Hank realizes nearly everything he does is because it's the thing to do, without knowing why; his brain is encapsulated by culture, though most things to do are pretty cool. (playful) — 00:01:57

00:02:23 — Tipping doesn't encourage good service (ethnicity, gender, weather, bill, smiley faces matter more); 96% of Americans tip; Japan, China, Europe; the market, QI, Doctor Who and 'tipping kills Time Lords'

  • ★★★ Hank says tipping is supposed to encourage good service but doesn't: the server's ethnicity and gender, the weather, the meal's cost and a smiley face on the check influence tips more. — 00:02:23
  • ★★ Hank says a smiley face on the check raises waitresses' tips by 9% and lowers waiters' tips by 3%. — 00:02:45
  • ★★ Hank says 96% of Americans tip every single time, while in lots of other countries tipping isn't done. — 00:02:53 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says in places like Japan and China tipping is considered insulting. — 00:02:59 · China
  • ★★★ Hank says in Europe service charges on the check, higher wages and inexpensive or free medical care mean waitstaff don't need tips to stay above the poverty line. — 00:03:02 · Europe
  • ★★ Hank ties US tipping to the American idea that everything should be controlled by the market, then comically links it to the UK getting QI and Doctor Who while the US gets History Channel apocalypse documentaries. (playful) — 00:03:12 · United States, United Kingdom, Doctor Who

00:03:28 — Most interesting comment wins the Winnie the Pooh poster; see you Monday for the fifth anniversary; sign-off: tip at least $2 per seat

  • ★ Hank asks for the most interesting comment, which wins his Winnie the Pooh wall poster (the 'Pooster'). (playful) — 00:03:30
  • ★★ Hank will see John on Monday, when John celebrates the brothers' fifth anniversary. — 00:03:33 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★ In his sign-off Hank tells viewers in America to tip at least $2 per seat. (playful) — 00:03:39 · United States

Humor (significant)

  • Hank, admitting he is kind of an insane person, gives an example of how he spends his afternoons. — 00:00:25 > «I spend many of my afternoons watching videos about goat sex and fictional soccer teams.»
  • The third way a server's tip goes up: the math is difficult, so Hank rounds up. — 00:01:07 > «My personal inability to do math in my head is probably responsible for my most generous tips.»
  • Hank rebels against 'the thing to do', telling it to get out because he makes his own things to do. — 00:02:13 > «I don't!»
  • From the American belief that the market should control everything, Hank jumps to the UK getting QI and Doctor Who while the US gets fictional-apocalypse documentaries. — 00:03:25 > «is why tipping kills Time Lords.»

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