When will it all stop if we are expected to start tipping FA's? The checkout staff? The petrol station? The doctor's surgery?
I echo the sentiments of others here. Australian wages are high compared to many other countries, the perks that airline staff get alone is worth a lot more than some company bonus schemes (or many other organisations don't even have a bonus!)
I am highly against tipping money and think the new generation of workers out there need to knuckle down, work hard and be consistent in what they do.
This debate has been very interesting given that only a month ago I travelled overseas with a friend and it was he that tipped a cabin crew member (wasn’t QF as per this post) who impressed him with her attention (to us and other passengers) in J cabin.
I must admit, I cringed at the idea but was too slow to stop him as he didn’t deliberate over his move – an interesting thing here is that my friend is a hospitality professional who is used to tipping in return for good service.
But please don’t interpret this as expecting to be tipped because he moves around exclusive and often closed to general public establishments where base wage doesn’t need to be supplemented by tips.
When I asked him to qualify his gesture, there wasn’t a single word around monetary value that the bank note represented but simply a currency of thank you, in hospitality talk.
Whilst I personally still wouldn’t choose to tip a cabin crew member, my friend’s gesture somehow resonates with a similar spontaneous gesture I resorted to just yesterday when in a random restaurant I asked for chips to be so well done it may as well be burnt. I can’t help that I like burnt chips and normally can’t get it anywhere near the way I like it – yesterday however, this chef did exactly as requested. I was so impressed I asked to see him and tipped him as a way of saying thank you. As it were, the tip came to about 25% of the total dinner price (inclusive of wine) but the value did not play any part in my gesture.
Also, it didn’t even cross my mind if the chef is paid well or not but in the spontaneity of the moment I wanted to express my gratitude in a little different way by tipping the chef instead of the waiter, hoping that this departure from the ‘norm’ would demonstrate to the chef just how much I appreciated his departure from his norm by taking the ‘risk’ of serving burnt chips.
So, maybe those few individuals who wish to tip a cabin crew member are simply impressed enough to want to give something away. In some cultures it is not completely unusual for a person to take a piece of personal jewellery off to give to another person as a way of showing gratitude for the received hospitality, so why not gift in a form of the tip?
I accept the practice of tipping is misaligned with the Australian ways but if tipping is seen as gifting, is it still unacceptable? On a practical note however, for those who are subject to Australian income tax laws, ATO does have a view on tipping and would expect such amounts to be declared as a part of one’s income.
Whether appropriate or not in one’s eyes, tipping of cabin crew, however practical for the giving party, could be certainly very impractical for the receiving party.
I personally shall continue to write in to the airline’s management, trusting that my compliment about a specific outstanding individual not only reaches them but also ends up on their file for when they are looking for promotions or career opportunities down the track.
