Editing Gratuity (section)

{{Short description|Sum of money customarily tendered to service sector workers}}
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[[Image:20151007 174039-S.jpg|thumb|350px|Leaving some change on the restaurant table is one way of giving a gratuity to the restaurant staff.]]

A '''gratuity''' (often called a '''tip''') is a sum of money customarily given by a customer to certain [[service sector]] workers such as hospitality for the service they have performed, in addition to the basic price of the service.

Tips and their amount are a matter of social [[convention (norm)|custom]] and [[etiquette]], and the custom varies between countries and between settings. In some countries, it is customary to tip [[Waiting staff|server]]s in bars and restaurants, [[taxi]] drivers, [[tattoo artist]]s, [[Hairdresser|hair stylists]] and so on. However, in some places tipping is not expected and may be discouraged or considered insulting.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Saunders |first=S. G. |date=2015 |title=Service employee evaluations of customer tips: an expectations-disconfirmation tip gap approach |journal=Journal of Service Theory and Practice |volume=25 |issue=6 |doi=10.1108/JSTP-07-2014-0148 |pages=796–812}}</ref> The customary amount of a tip can be a specific range or a certain percentage of the bill based on the perceived quality of the service given.

It is illegal to offer tips to some groups of workers, such as U.S. government workers<ref name="5CFR2635">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2008-title5-vol3/xml/CFR-2008-title5-vol3-sec2635-204.xml|title=Code of Federal Regulations|chapter=5. Administrative Personnel|date=January 1, 2008|access-date=May 11, 2014|title-link=Code of Federal Regulations}}</ref> and more widely [[police officer]]s, as the tips may be regarded as [[bribery]].<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/08/nigeria-sergeant-sacked-motorist-bribe-filmed|title=Nigerian sergeant sacked for attempted bribe-taking caught on cameraphone|place=[[Lagos]]|date=August 8, 2013|access-date=May 11, 2014|last=Mark|first=Monica}}</ref> A fixed percentage [[Mandatory tipping|service charge]] is sometimes added to bills in restaurants and similar establishments. Tipping may not be expected when a fee is explicitly charged for the service.<ref name="usatoday.com">{{Cite news |last=Bly |first=Laura |date=August 25, 2005 |title=The Tipping Point: Will Service Charges Replace Voluntary Gratuities? |url=https://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-08-25-tipping_x.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050909143017/https://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-08-25-tipping_x.htm |archive-date=9 September 2005 |url-status=dead |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=26 August 2022}}</ref>

Giving a tip is typically irreversible, differentiating it from the reward mechanism of a placed order, which can be refunded.<ref name="Commerce Clearing House">{{cite book|last=Morgan|first=Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-v6RAQAACAAJ|title=Employees and Independent Contractors|date=1990|access-date=October 21, 2017}}</ref> From a theoretical economic point of view, gratuities may solve the [[principal–agent problem]]<ref name=videbeck /> (the situation in which an agent, such as a server, is working for a principal, such as a restaurant owner or manager) and many managers believe that tips provide incentive for greater worker effort.<ref name=graham/> However, studies of the practice in America suggest that tipping is often discriminatory or arbitrary: workers receive different levels of gratuity based on factors such as age, sex, race, hair color and even breast size, and the size of the gratuity is found to be only tenuously related to the quality of service.<ref name="freak">{{cite news|url=http://freakonomics.com/2013/06/03/should-tipping-be-banned-full-transcript/|title=Should Tipping be Banned?|date=June 3, 2013|publisher=freakonomics.com|access-date=July 21, 2017|archive-date=March 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322154343/http://freakonomics.com/2013/06/03/should-tipping-be-banned-full-transcript/|url-status=dead}}</ref>