As a coffee shop manager, I agree that men tip better and because of this I am more likely to fast-track their drink. However, I would never hold up a non-tipper's drink.

But another, more likely, explanation is that men always order the same thing. So, if they are a regular customer, I don't have to wait to take their order. Normally I have it waiting for them by the time they get up to the counter.

My giving you a tip should not be a deciding factor in whether or not you fast-track my drink. I was just discussing this with friends and we are ALL tired of feeling obligated to tip for the most minor services these days. If I walk up to a counter and pay anywhere from $2 to $4 for a cup of coffee that takes someone 10 seconds to one minute to prepare...don't count on a tip. Customer are not responsible for subsidizing the salaries of counter workers.

When I do tip, it is between 20-25%. But never when I walk up to the counter - only if I am being waited on in a restaurant or cafe. By your logic, we should be tipping the clerk at the dry cleaners, the guy who hands me my popcorn at the movies, and the sales staff at the store.

Entitlement for pushing a cup of Joe? Ridiculous.

DebDeb:

Entitlement for pushing a cup of Joe? Ridiculous.

Exactly. I have never seen anyone tipping at a Starbuck's counter, or any other coffee place for that matter. I mean, if you have to sit down and order from a waiter, that's one thing, but a tip for pouring coffee into a cup and adding some whipped cream? Please.

I think it is getting to the point where people expect tips for every little service, no matter how mundane, and I say that as a former waitress and retail salesperson. Ridiculous!

Nobody is forcing you to tip. Most people don't tip, that's fine. Others are regulars who are friendly with their baristas, or feel they got exceptional service, or had an employee spend 20 minutes explaining the difference to them between the Komodo Dragon Blend and the Ubora Blend coffees.

If you really feel that tipping shouldn't be required for Starbucks employees, take it up with the IRS. They get taxed for an estimated tip income, whether they get it or not.

The point isn't whether people tip or not. For the sake of this study, there'd have to be some method for the barista to know whether you'd tipped. And in most larger coffee shops, a separate person handles the payment while the barista is a few feet away, working away behind behind the machine. Unless the cup had a star by your name or something to signify you tipped, there's no way they'd know. Consequently, tipping isn't going to have any affect on the speed of your service.

Also, from the study, it notes women are served slowest when only men are working in the coffee shop. The only coffee shop I've ever been in where men were the only employees is a tiny one down the block where the owner frequently works by himself. And, because of this, the service is quite slow in general. It's not that he's trying to be slow--he's just slower because he's all by himself.

I don't believe Starbuck's employees pay tax for estimated tips. That is for employees who have a larger part of their income for tips, and makes less than minimum wage. I know SB employees make more than minimum wage. Any SB workers out their to confirm this?

Tlgentile,

I know you're going to hate hearing this, but I don't tip people at counters, in most instances. I stand there, ask for X item, and the person then hands me that item and I hand him the money. Transaction is done.

What about the mere handing me the thing I asked for, warrants a tip? It would be like going to 7-11, buying a pack of gum, and then handing a tip to the guy who rang it up (and supposedly already made a profit from the transaction).

It used to be understood that tipping was about actual service, going beyond the mere handling of a simple transaction. Some time about 20 years ago, I noticed the sudden sprouting of tip jars everywhere for everything including say, coffee counters. I especially am irked by the "Good Karma Jar."

I have waited tables at low brow and very upscale restaurants and there is a difference between a waiter and a counter person. I have worked at a sandwich shop, wherein I simply took an order and handed it to the person and the transaction ended, and enver expected a tip of any kind, but for the rare occasion where I brought a big tray of sandwiches for a catered event.

For those situations where tipping is appropriate, I tip quite well. I'm an ex-waiter, one-time sous chef and know how tough that business is. But I can't just give money to everyone who hands me something across a counter.

As a woman, I am an excellent tipper. It should not matter if I am ordering a simple coffee with half and half or a complex coffee. A coffee shop is in business to cater to whomever is at the counter at the moment.

Now that I know how you feel about women not being the best tippers, I can relax and save my pennies. If you are reflecting the attitude to coffee shop owners, in general, I shall tip less and still get exactly what I have ordered. Perhaps you will work expediently so you can get to the man behind me in line for your big tip.

Wow. I never meant to suggest that I expect tips. I most certainly do not. I am paid plenty for what I do and so are my employees. However, as you all have suggested, it has become common practice to tip at coffee shops - including Starbucks. I never anticipate tip income and I am consistently shocked at the number of people who tip and the amount that they tip.

As I said, I would never prepare someone's order slower because they didn't tip. But if someone wants to pay me extra for exceptional service, I think it's only human nature to try to go out of my way to deliver their drink as quickly as possible - whether they are a man or a woman - and I can see how my first paragraph could have been misread.

However, I stand by my comment - which was the real reason I contributed to the discussion - that men generally order the same thing everyday. There are more than a few regulars for whom I am able to have a drink waiting for them instead of them waiting for a drink. These people all happen to be men. As a result of exceptional service, they have taken to tipping quite generously.

It's a vicious cycle to be sure - but isn't exceptional service the reason you should tip, not a sense of obligation? If you don't receive great service at my shop or any other, PLEASE don't tip. If you do get great service, you make the call.

Also, please note that my comment was not to be an insult to women either. I decided not to include the glib comment that men can't figure out that if they leave $1 for a $2 coffee, they're leaving 50% tip! Perhaps that was a bad decision...

TLG, you sound like a very nice person, and I'm sure I would enjoy a visit to your coffee shop. Yet now you have irked not only women, but men as well, saying they were too ignorant to calculate a tip. If I am going to leave a tip, it will never be 25 or 50 cents. I think a dollar is the minimum I would ever leave, in spite of the total bill. Anything less feels like a cheap insult.

As far as tipping in a coffee shop is concerned, as a man, I would expect good service as well as good coffee. I would tip if I felt the barista, (male or female) brightened my day with a kind smile, or friendly attitude. This is the same reason why men might tip barbers or bartenders.

I think the original article was trying to make something out of nothing. Come on, who notices twenty seconds unless it is on a computer?

"TIPS" stands for "To Insure Prompt Service." Could it be that men are tipping better because of the service they recieve. And by your logic, aren't you missing out on profit by not "fast-tracking" everyone. What shop do you manage? I'd like to know so that I can avoid it.

I think you are correct. Starbucks is fast food. Like any other fast food outlet, people typically don't tip, and the employees make somewhat more than minimum wage. If it had been a real coffee house where, like any other real, sit-down restaurant, you tip, then that would be a different set up and there would be estimated tip taxes involved.

I call Bulls*** on this comment. I managed an espresso bar for 5 years (and have more exp. as a barista than I care to admit) and I did not find that men tip better than women. Most of the customers, male and female alike, automatically tossed their change into the jar along with paper money if they were especially nice, or having a good day. Unless a barista really really sucks or is rude, they get tipped.

However, one thing I noticed with regard to the baristas is that the males were almost always slower in preparing drinks, and way too proud of what they'd made, as well as more easily flustered by a non-standard drink order.

I had to train all of the baristas and I won't say all, but MOST of the women were automatically more efficient around the espresso machine. Of course you'll always have the people who are incompetent no matter how much training they receive.

I would like to see a concrete study done with a larger, more documented base of information.

All restaurant employees, including coffee bars, pay tax on their perceived tips. Even at a coffee shop inside of a bookstore the sellers had to claim tips.

I think tlgentile is confusing the problem-- the reason men are regular customers is because they are served in a more timely manner. Thus, they continue to provide regular service. But if they are served better because of this, then the problem just seems to perpetuate itself.

As a prior waitress, I have always found women to be the better tippers, or the one who encourages their partner to tip more, but I would like to see a study done on that.