Gratuitous Gratuities
Everybody loathes it, but everybody does it. A recent poll showed that 40％ of Americans hate the practice. It seems so arbitrary, after all. Why does a barman get a tip, but not a doctor who saves lives?
In America alone, tipping is now a ＄ 16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting rationally ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The conventional wisdom is that tips both reward the efforts of good service and reduce uncomfortable feelings of inequality. The better the service, the bigger the tip.
Such explanations no doubt explain the purported origin of tipping-in the 16th century, boxes in English taverns carried the phrase " To Insure Promptitude" (later just " TIP" ).But according to new research from Cornell University,tipping no longer serves any useful function.
The paper analyses data from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The correlation between larger tips and better service was very weak: only a tiny part of the variability in the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service. Customers who rated a meal as " excellent" still tipped anywhere between 8％ and 37％ of the meal price.
Tipping is better explained by culture than by economics. In America, the custom has become institutionalized: it is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In a New York restaurant, failing to tip at least 15％ could well mean abuse from the waiter. Hairdressers can expect to get 15～ 20％ , the man who delivers your groceries ＄ 2. In Europe, tipping is less common; in many restaurants, discretionary tipping is being replaced by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all.
How to account for these national differences? Look no further than psychology. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell paper's co-author, countries in which people are more extrovert, sociable or neurotic tend to tip more.Tipping relieves anxiety about being served by strangers. And, says Mr Lynn, " in America, where people are outgoing and expressive, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off." Icelanders, by contrast, do not usually tip--a measure of their introversion, no doubt.
While such explanations may be crude, the hard truth seems to be that tipping does not work. It does not benefit the customer. Nor, in the case of restaurants, does it actually incentivise the waiter, or help the restaurant manager to monitor and assess his staff. Service people should " just be paid a decent wage" may actually make economic sense.
没有道理的小费
人人讨厌它，但人人这样做。最近一项民意测验表明，40％的美国人憎恨付小费。毕竟，这种做法好像毫无道理。为什么酒吧招待能拿到小费，而救人生命的医生却得不到呢？
仅在美国，小费这一行当每年的总额高达160亿美元。合理消费的人们在为得到的某项服务必须付费外，不该再掏腰包。小费现象不应该存在。那么，为什么它一直流行呢？公众的一般看法是，小费既是对优质服务的回报，又可以减轻不平等地位的那种不舒服感。服务得越好，得到的小费就越多。
这些说法毫无疑问地解释了有关小费起源的传说。在16世纪，英国小酒馆里都放着一个匣子，上面写有一条短语"确保快捷"，后来这3个英文词的首字母就组成了"小费"一词。但据康奈尔大学新的调查结果，小费现已不再具有任何实用的功能。
这份调查报告分析了在20家不同餐馆用餐的2547组食客支付小费的数据。较多小费与良好服务之间的联系是非常微弱的：小费的多寡中只有很小一部分同服务质量有关。称赞饭菜"味道好极了"的顾客支付的小费仍然在餐费的8％至37％之间。
小费现象最好从文化角度来解释，而不是从经济学角度。在美国，这种习俗已经制度化：人们把它看成是一项服务的认可价格的一部分。在纽约的餐馆里，没有支付至少15％小费的顾客很可能会遭到侍者的辱骂。理发师可以得到15％～20％的小费，送外卖的可以得到两美元。在欧洲，付小费没有那么普遍；在许多餐馆，标准服务价格取代了随意支付的小费。在许多亚洲国家，付小费从未真正流行起来。
如何解释这些国与国之间的差别？那就从心理学的角度来看一看吧。据康奈尔大学的那份调查报告的作者之一迈克尔•林恩说，其国民性格较外向、爱交际或易激动的国家，往往小费付得较多。付小费可以减轻接受陌生人服务的不安心理。林恩先生说，"在美国，人们开朗大方，喜欢表现，支付小费是社会认可的。如果你掏的小费少，人们就会看轻你。多掏小费是炫耀、表现自己的机会。"相比之下，冰岛人通常不付小费，这无疑体现了他们的内向性格。
尽管这些解释也许不很成熟，而事实看起来就是，支付小费并不能起到什么作用。它对顾客没有什么好处。在餐馆里，它实际上既不能起到鼓励侍者的作用，也不能帮助餐馆经理监督和评估手下职员。从经济角度而言，只有对服务人员"支付体面的工资"可能才有意义。
关键字:双语阅读
生词表:
Everybody loathes it, but everybody does it. A recent poll showed that 40％ of Americans hate the practice. It seems so arbitrary, after all. Why does a barman get a tip, but not a doctor who saves lives?
In America alone, tipping is now a ＄ 16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting rationally ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The conventional wisdom is that tips both reward the efforts of good service and reduce uncomfortable feelings of inequality. The better the service, the bigger the tip.
Such explanations no doubt explain the purported origin of tipping-in the 16th century, boxes in English taverns carried the phrase " To Insure Promptitude" (later just " TIP" ).But according to new research from Cornell University,tipping no longer serves any useful function.
The paper analyses data from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The correlation between larger tips and better service was very weak: only a tiny part of the variability in the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service. Customers who rated a meal as " excellent" still tipped anywhere between 8％ and 37％ of the meal price.
Tipping is better explained by culture than by economics. In America, the custom has become institutionalized: it is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In a New York restaurant, failing to tip at least 15％ could well mean abuse from the waiter. Hairdressers can expect to get 15～ 20％ , the man who delivers your groceries ＄ 2. In Europe, tipping is less common; in many restaurants, discretionary tipping is being replaced by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all.
How to account for these national differences? Look no further than psychology. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell paper's co-author, countries in which people are more extrovert, sociable or neurotic tend to tip more.Tipping relieves anxiety about being served by strangers. And, says Mr Lynn, " in America, where people are outgoing and expressive, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off." Icelanders, by contrast, do not usually tip--a measure of their introversion, no doubt.
While such explanations may be crude, the hard truth seems to be that tipping does not work. It does not benefit the customer. Nor, in the case of restaurants, does it actually incentivise the waiter, or help the restaurant manager to monitor and assess his staff. Service people should " just be paid a decent wage" may actually make economic sense.
没有道理的小费
人人讨厌它，但人人这样做。最近一项民意测验表明，40％的美国人憎恨付小费。毕竟，这种做法好像毫无道理。为什么酒吧招待能拿到小费，而救人生命的医生却得不到呢？
仅在美国，小费这一行当每年的总额高达160亿美元。合理消费的人们在为得到的某项服务必须付费外，不该再掏腰包。小费现象不应该存在。那么，为什么它一直流行呢？公众的一般看法是，小费既是对优质服务的回报，又可以减轻不平等地位的那种不舒服感。服务得越好，得到的小费就越多。
这些说法毫无疑问地解释了有关小费起源的传说。在16世纪，英国小酒馆里都放着一个匣子，上面写有一条短语"确保快捷"，后来这3个英文词的首字母就组成了"小费"一词。但据康奈尔大学新的调查结果，小费现已不再具有任何实用的功能。
这份调查报告分析了在20家不同餐馆用餐的2547组食客支付小费的数据。较多小费与良好服务之间的联系是非常微弱的：小费的多寡中只有很小一部分同服务质量有关。称赞饭菜"味道好极了"的顾客支付的小费仍然在餐费的8％至37％之间。
小费现象最好从文化角度来解释，而不是从经济学角度。在美国，这种习俗已经制度化：人们把它看成是一项服务的认可价格的一部分。在纽约的餐馆里，没有支付至少15％小费的顾客很可能会遭到侍者的辱骂。理发师可以得到15％～20％的小费，送外卖的可以得到两美元。在欧洲，付小费没有那么普遍；在许多餐馆，标准服务价格取代了随意支付的小费。在许多亚洲国家，付小费从未真正流行起来。
如何解释这些国与国之间的差别？那就从心理学的角度来看一看吧。据康奈尔大学的那份调查报告的作者之一迈克尔•林恩说，其国民性格较外向、爱交际或易激动的国家，往往小费付得较多。付小费可以减轻接受陌生人服务的不安心理。林恩先生说，"在美国，人们开朗大方，喜欢表现，支付小费是社会认可的。如果你掏的小费少，人们就会看轻你。多掏小费是炫耀、表现自己的机会。"相比之下，冰岛人通常不付小费，这无疑体现了他们的内向性格。
尽管这些解释也许不很成熟，而事实看起来就是，支付小费并不能起到什么作用。它对顾客没有什么好处。在餐馆里，它实际上既不能起到鼓励侍者的作用，也不能帮助餐馆经理监督和评估手下职员。从经济角度而言，只有对服务人员"支付体面的工资"可能才有意义。
关键字:双语阅读
生词表:
- arbitrary [´ɑ:bitrəri]
a.任意的；专断的 四级词汇 - conventional [kən´venʃənəl] a.常规的；协定的 四级词汇
- economics [i:kə´nɔmiks, i:,-] n.经济学 四级词汇
- waiter [´weitə] n.侍者，服务员 四级词汇
- expressive [ik´spresiv] a.有表现力的 六级词汇
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