Have you noticed how tipping etiquette in America has changed since the pandemic? Well, New Yorkers are now reacting to 140 new etiquette rules published in New York Magazine’s The Cut that detail how much and how often you are expected to tip even at coffee shops, coffee carts, and corner store bodegas. According to the new etiquette guide, you are now supposed to tip twenty-five percent to servers at restaurants while tipping twenty percent at coffee shops and other quick-service businesses.
The Cut’s new list of etiquette rules is intended to teach New Yorkers how to act “politely” while dining out or buying anything from a service professional. The magazine quips, “Do you know how to behave? Are you sure?” The new etiquette rules do not just touch on the new landscape of tipping, but other social situations like friends and lovers, going out, staying in, texting, working, and how you should now interact with strangers.
The magazine writers surveyed people about situations that typically make them anxious or put them on the spot. The writers did exhaustive research and came up with “rigid, but not entirely inflexible rules.”
New York residents flew into a debate after they read the updated section on tipping. The guidelines suggest that diners should now tip upwards of twenty-five percent to servers at restaurants when dining in. If you’re ordering takeout from a joint, the guidelines suggest tipping ten percent. The tip should be made “whether you liked the service or not.”
The rules suggest that a tip below twenty percent for a restaurant server is downright rude. The writers also suggested that people who have more disposable income should tip even more than twenty or twenty-five percent when dining out.
In addition, the guidelines for New Yorkers suggest that customers at coffee shops, cafes, and bodegas should now tip twenty percent because the “tense environment” requires a lot of attention from workers, and they have to often deal with “complicated orders.”
The only thing that is “acceptable” for you not to tip for is when purchasing bottled water. However, the magazine does suggest that it is “miserly” not to tip for water if you can afford it.
As for other services like Uber and Lyft rides, the magazine says you should tip “twenty percent minimum. And always more if you can.”
The magazine did nod at how tipping etiquette has changed since the pandemic because “the old conventions are out.” The magazine took it upon itself to compile the list of new social guidelines for New Yorkers, so they can act kindly toward strangers whether they are dining out at a restaurant or ordering delivery from their favorite sandwich shop. Hint – you need to tip more than you want to.
In response to the etiquette guidelines, Kirsten Fleming wrote in the New York Post: “They’re wildly out of touch with real New Yorkers who are struggling to pay soaring rents and inflated food bills. The list should have been whittled down to a few useful ideas.”