tip
Heartfelt instead of hard-hearted
Card payments and inflation are threatening the tipping culture. Let’s remember what Thomas Mann said about the galloping devaluation of money in Germany a hundred years ago.
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Despite inflation, in gastronomy, you should …
Daniel ArnetEditor of Sunday Blick magazine
Is that too much money? Or too little? Should I give anything extra at all? Or am I not allowed to? Tipping always raises questions and gets different answers from country to country. In Switzerland it is always included in the price of all services – in gastronomy since 1974. Despite this, four out of five Swiss people still round up the bill in restaurants.
That’s good. First, it’s a kind gesture of gratitude to the hard-working service staff, and second, it’s a token of appreciation for people in a low-income industry. Not only employees in the catering trade should benefit from tips, but also, for example, taxi drivers, hairdressers or postmen.
In Germany, this “well-rehearsed ritual is in danger of tipping over,” as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported. The paper locates the reasons in the increased payment with credit and debit cards – because only cash is real – and in the inflation, which was at times in the double digits in our northern neighbor and leaves many cash-strapped.
But in this situation we should remember what the German Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann (1875-1955) once said about the galloping devaluation of money in Germany exactly one hundred years ago: “Inflation is a spectacle that makes everyone cynical, hard-hearted and indifferent.” Let’s remain nice, cordial and interested towards waitresses, taxi drivers, hairdressers and postmen – especially since inflation is not that high in Switzerland.