Tips

Over the past two days, there have been a lot of letters to the editor surrounding the practice of tipping.

The fact is that a lot of people who are waiters/waitresses rely on tips to make up some portion of their income. Like it or not, that's how the industry is structured.

Tipping has some good points. It's one of the few ways in which customers can give monetary feedback on how well someone in the service industry has performed their duties. I actually wish that more service positions worked that way.

Commission is a similar concept, but in reverse. It gives equivalent feedback to the personnel, but the source of the feedback is the organization, rather than the customer. In this case, the feedback is based more on units sold rather than on customer experience. The two are linked, but not as intimately as tipping.

Tipping is ingrained in our culture. It needs to be looked on less as an obligation and more as an opportunity to let people know how well they're doing.