Tipping: Why is this a taboo subject between servers, managers and cooks?

Tipping is an institution and an informality, it 's a reward and a reward, it' s the excess of an expense and the injection of a salary, c & # 39; Is what remains under the glbad and the synonym for "stays with the change". The Royal Academy of Spain defines it as a "treatment of the agreed price and a sign of satisfaction given by a service". That's 10% of consumption in the collective imagination, it's more than that or it's the same nothing. But for those who live there, the tip is also a taboo subject.

Few people want to talk about tips. There is a secret, as it was about an uncomfortable subject. For gourmet establishments, it's a scruple, they do not end up admitting if it's something good or bad, whether it's ok or not. But it is generally considered part of the real wages of its employees.

A waiter who did not want to say his name or the grill of the neighborhood of Palermo where he worked recognized him Infobae who earns 25,000 pesos for five days of four and a half hours. And this trick represents more than 50% of your monthly income for your economy: "Duplicás or triplicás your salary. You live from day to day. And all the servers in all the restaurants are the same. That's where the arguments, the jealousies and our anger come from, that you did not leave any mango on the table. "

Disputes, jealousy and quarrels are the reasons why it is convenient to talk about the concept of tipping whispering. It is a sensitive issue because it directly impacts the quality of life of workers: it is to intervene in the pocket of servers. And in addition to the cooks, the single, those who serve the bar. Because the tipping circuit always starts in the diner's wallet and can end up in different hands.

In Buenos Aires, consensus is the own collection. In the Café Margot, emblem of the porteño in force since 1904 in the corner of San Ignacio and Avenida Boedo, the policy of the administration is not to interfere in the tip of servers. It occurs in most places of the city's gastronomy. They conceive it as a complement, a commission. In traditional bars, where the philosophy is to draw a relationship with the cafeteria customers, the waiters foster this sense of belonging and the link moves from the commercial category to the personal link.

"But customers come from the establishment," warn officials. This is why tips are informal but institutionalized systems. The server receives them under a service that also depends on other actors. Mirian worked at Margot eight years ago. He agreed to give his identity and his experience: "The advice is individual, we separate the sectors of the square, as they say here, and each keeps what the customer leaves him. I share some of my tips in the kitchen and barbut it depends on each server, and does not get the manager or the owner. "But, yes, it's a taboo subject. The conflict is still latent"He reflected.

The end circuit can create an almost mafia enclave. The client asks, the server indicates and the cook produces. What comes out of the kitchen is what the server brings to the customer. In this tour, the cook has an influence on the customer's consideration: this can delay the order, it may not meet the requirements of the orders. This intentional discomfort affects the last gesture of the dinner. That's why all food service workers understand that the tip is a communion, a kind of joint stock company.

If there is an agreement between the cook and the server, it is tacit. A manager who also did not want to say his name or the Colegiales neighborhood grill where he works has brought more clarity to this inter-commercial connection: "In general, yes, waiters and cooks enter into a type of contract. This is not said, but everyone knows it. It is a relationship between one and the other. But, of course, it generates conflicts between the same colleagues. The dispute is generated by coexistence. You live more time with him than with your wife, with your family. It happens everywhere. But I say you have to have rules in gastronomy. As long as these rules are followed, the business will work. "

There is another way to administer the tip. In jargon, this is called "in the chest"It is a common fund where all the advice of the day is accumulated, which is then distributed equitably among the employees, but this practice, little used, also has its vices."After a while, the trunk decomposes because there is one that is not sincere and does not leave all the tip.. And his client who left 500 pesos must share it with the other table that left only 100 pesos, "said the manager.

"If the waiter is alive, he knows how to behave, he is attentive, he responds well, he has empathy and charisma, he has the deserved tip," confirmed the man behind the counter . He stated that the Buenos Aires consumer was the most demanding (he listed the following statements: "you're beating my music", "you're lifting my air", "you're closing my window", "the bathroom smells strange "," are you sure this oil is olive? Can you change it? ") and that the most coveted customer of the waiters is the American:" Everybody wants to take care of the Yankee. Because it's automatic, it always leaves you over 15%. And they only want to eat well, they do not bother you, they do not call you at the table 36 thousand times. If you bring him what he asks, he is satisfied. "

The anonymous server said that charisma is much more important than knowing how to bring and bring dishes. "The dividing line between heavy and heavy is very thin, when you lower or mount something on the table, you have to know that people did not go to the place to talk to us"However, her audience is not the same as when she goes to a bar to have a coffee," Mirian perceives, with an opposite badysis: "I'm trying to be nice to people and to give them the opportunity to be invited, make a suggestion.The customer likes to talk to you a little bit.And it works for me as therapy: the customers who come alone every day, because they like the Atmosphere, they like to invite you to something, a coffee, a dessert, a cookie.This is a way to earn a tip and keep coming to the store. Sometimes it's better to stand on the client's side"

The client side, where the tip circuit begins.