This is the web archive for Anthropology 125S, "The Anthropology of Money." Anthro 125S was a class at the University of California, Irvine, in Winter 2008 by Prof. Bill Maurer. Use the Label tags on the left to navigate around this site.
Click on "Final Projects" to the left, below, to read the results of the students' research, and feel free to post your own comments!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tipping
This is the project space for the tipping project: Gianna Linnert, Angela Cheng, Janali Torres, Angelina Fierro, Daniel Jimenez and Debbie Anderson.
i think we need to get the interview completed by class tomorrow. hopefully we'll have time then to talk about it. we can divide up the duties then. otherwise i think we should find a time to meet up before the end of the week so that we have the weekend to go out and do our research and interviews. see you in class
Here are some brainstorming questions for our interviews, some are inspired by Prof. Maurer, **When did you first learn to tip? **How has it changed over the year? **Do you tip because it is an institution or to reward good service? **Do you tip a set percentage or based on level of service or mood? **Do your tipping amount based on quality of restaurant, fancy or casual? **Do your tipping practices change at restaurants where you are a regular customer?
I know we are set to meet on Monday afternoon, but since that is a few days away I wanted to clarify our weekend plan. So we are each going to find an older person to interview, or an immigrant.
Prof. Maurer's advice was to ask the questions and have a conversation with the interviewee and take note of the quality of the responses and nature of their stories. **I plan to do my interview on Saturday so I hope to get some good question suggestions from you guys. Thanks! Gianna
-when and do you find it necessary to tip? -has there been times when you opted not to tip -have you ever been to places where tipping is not a custom? -how do you prefer to tip? with cash? do you hand the cash personally to the person? -do you think tipping makes the interaction more personal or less personal? -has your tipping style changed overtime? why?
-do you find that you tip out of obligation? or do you genuinely tip to thank the person for their service? is it possible that you or other people tip to establish social status?
Gianna
I think what you said is the plan so far. We're all going to try to get at least one interview done by Monday using the guided by the questions and ideas posted on this blog. If you can't find an old enough person or an immigrant, you can talk to a younger interviewee and ask them to describe the tipping practices that they have observed from their parents or grandparents.
here's a thought as well: could we also interview waiters that have been in the same job for over 10 years?
-where and when (if any) have you seen tipping practices that differ than customary/ what you personally are used to? If so, how did that affect the way you tipped (if it did at all)?
-What is the most interesting or unusual tip /tipping practice you have seen someone else do? -What is the most unusual tip you personally have left? -What is the most interesting tipping practice you have participated in and how many similar stories have you heard of?
-When tipping someone, what is the factor most influences how much you tip?
-Do you think that tipping should be a more personal or impersonal practice than it already is? Should it be changed and how so?
I figured these might help gear toward more personal / experienced based interviews.
I agree about interviewing servers who have been at their jobs for longer periods of time and people who are "regulars" at particular resturants to see how their tipping practices have changed over time at that particular resturant.
hey everyone, So i got a pretty interesting interview today. Definatley something to talk about tomorrow. I interviewed my rommmate's dad who grew up in Iran and has been all over Europe. He had a very opinonated view on tipping in the US. I also found some crazy articles today so here they are... http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2006/08/31/bartender-gets-10000-dollar-tip-on-26-dollar-tab/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fnews%2F2006%2F08%2F31%2FD8JR9I800.html&frame=true and
I thought the presentation went well today. =) I still have the origami-dollar cranes...was wondering if it would be easier if I just took the pictures and posted them (or something)? And maybe some pictures of the tip jar? Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks again for an interesting presentation -- loved the variety of stories from multiple interviews!
I really do wonder about the upside of tipping -- what happened to it, if it ever really existed, and how it might be brought back? Did tipping start out as a nice gesture, a little gift, the reward (to the giver) of which is in the giving? Is it now typically a rote and empty gesture?
Speaking of rote gestures, what if there was a credit card service that automatically filled in a 15% (or whatever) tip whenever you charged for a service? I.e., instead of my having to manually write on the charge slip, the charge slip would come back to me with my pre-defined tip already filled in (or something like that). What would your interviewees make of such an attempt to automate tipping? Labor- (and maybe embarrassment-) saving and benefitial, or making a bad/depersonalized situation even worse?
Finally, this made me think about tipping or lack thereof in e-commerce. It's pretty rare that one even has an option to intentionally overpay, isn't it? One interesting counter example: the "pay what you want" idea that got some press late last year when Radiohead announced they were using this scheme to sell their latest album online, for as much or as little as each fan thought it was worth. Try googling "pay what you want" -- some interesting material out there. It's kind of like having the price be 100% tip, 0% fixed/official, I think.
So now that we don't have class on Tuesday how do you want to get our writings together? We could meet during the usual class time and organize our papers, have a little meeting. We don't need the whole time, but maybe we could meet at 10 or 10:30? I will plan to have my interview portion written up and the history page also. Whatdya think? Gianna
Hey. Tue at 10:00 sounds good. Sorry I missed class on Thur. but I wasn't feeling well. I hope I didn't miss anything important about the project! I finally got a good interview in, but I guess I can tell you all about that on tue.
23 comments:
Hey all...
Is the immediate plan to bring one or two questions to class tomorrow so we can compile them for interviews?
I can interview my father in law this weekend. He has been tipping for a long time (80+yrs old).
Do we want to take on specific duties?
How do you all see this project moving forward? Gianna
hi gianna
i think we need to get the interview completed by class tomorrow. hopefully we'll have time then to talk about it. we can divide up the duties then. otherwise i think we should find a time to meet up before the end of the week so that we have the weekend to go out and do our research and interviews. see you in class
janali
Here are some brainstorming questions for our interviews, some are inspired by Prof. Maurer,
**When did you first learn to tip?
**How has it changed over the year?
**Do you tip because it is an institution or to reward good service?
**Do you tip a set percentage or based on level of service or mood?
**Do your tipping amount based on quality of restaurant, fancy or casual?
**Do your tipping practices change at restaurants where you are a regular customer?
I know we are set to meet on Monday afternoon, but since that is a few days away I wanted to clarify our weekend plan.
So we are each going to find an older person to interview, or an immigrant.
Prof. Maurer's advice was to ask the questions and have a conversation with the interviewee and take note of the quality of the responses and nature of their stories.
**I plan to do my interview on Saturday so I hope to get some good question suggestions from you guys.
Thanks! Gianna
those are great questions gianna.
here are some that i was thinking about:
-when and do you find it necessary to tip?
-has there been times when you opted not to tip
-have you ever been to places where tipping is not a custom?
-how do you prefer to tip? with cash? do you hand the cash personally to the person?
-do you think tipping makes the interaction more personal or less personal?
-has your tipping style changed overtime? why?
oh and another:
-do you find that you tip out of obligation? or do you genuinely tip to thank the person for their service? is it possible that you or other people tip to establish social status?
Gianna
I think what you said is the plan so far. We're all going to try to get at least one interview done by Monday using the guided by the questions and ideas posted on this blog. If you can't find an old enough person or an immigrant, you can talk to a younger interviewee and ask them to describe the tipping practices that they have observed from their parents or grandparents.
here's a thought as well:
could we also interview waiters that have been in the same job for over 10 years?
Hey everyone!
Here's a few questions that might be useful...
-where and when (if any) have you seen tipping practices that differ than customary/ what you personally are used to? If so, how did that affect the way you tipped (if it did at all)?
-What is the most interesting or unusual tip /tipping practice you have seen someone else do?
-What is the most unusual tip you personally have left?
-What is the most interesting tipping practice you have participated in and how many similar stories have you heard of?
-When tipping someone, what is the factor most influences how much you tip?
-Do you think that tipping should be a more personal or impersonal practice than it already is? Should it be changed and how so?
I figured these might help gear toward more personal / experienced based interviews.
I agree about interviewing servers who have been at their jobs for longer periods of time and people who are "regulars" at particular resturants to see how their tipping practices have changed over time at that particular resturant.
Ok....will post more ideas if I think of them.
-Angela
ok here are some questions not already listed..
Do you think you have to have a good relationship with someone in order to have a good tip?
Do you think money is personaized when you tip?
What do you think the tipping practice signifies??
How do you personally feel about tipping? Do you wish it was not the norm??
Does "who gets this tip" ever cross you mind when you tip?
Are there places/times when you question whether a tip is necessary?
Do you think cash is always a better tip?
When did you learn, how did you learn, and can you remember who taught you the tipping practice?
When you tip well, does it make you feel like you've done a good deed, and hence make you feel a bit powerful, even for a momment?
If you knew the person you were tipping was down on luck, would you tip more? what if the service was just ok??
this is a start I'll post more later, and a few of these questions were Danny's. Have fun this weekend interviewing!
-Angelina
thanks for all the great questions.
they will help me a lot when i interview this weekend.
i am going to ask my interviewee if
it is ok to bring a voice recoder.
gianna
hey everyone,
So i got a pretty interesting interview today. Definatley something to talk about tomorrow. I interviewed my rommmate's dad who grew up in Iran and has been all over Europe. He had a very opinonated view on tipping in the US. I also found some crazy articles today so here they are...
http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2006/08/31/bartender-gets-10000-dollar-tip-on-26-dollar-tab/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fnews%2F2006%2F08%2F31%2FD8JR9I800.html&frame=true and
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22424002/ and
http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2006/08/31/bartender-gets-10000-dollar-tip-on-26-dollar-tab/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fnews%2F2006%2F08%2F31%2FD8JR9I800.html&frame=true
enjoy, these should be good for us.
DANNY
alright so my links didn't post as I had intended, I'll post them as clippings on the main wall sorry
I have a good interview too.
My subject is a female, 80ish y/o,very sweet and thoughtful.
See you all at 3:00 today!
Gianna
Hey everyone,
I thought the presentation went well today. =) I still have the origami-dollar cranes...was wondering if it would be easier if I just took the pictures and posted them (or something)? And maybe some pictures of the tip jar? Let me know what you guys think.
-Angela
Thanks again for an interesting presentation -- loved the variety of stories from multiple interviews!
I really do wonder about the upside of tipping -- what happened to it, if it ever really existed, and how it might be brought back? Did tipping start out as a nice gesture, a little gift, the reward (to the giver) of which is in the giving? Is it now typically a rote and empty gesture?
Speaking of rote gestures, what if there was a credit card service that automatically filled in a 15% (or whatever) tip whenever you charged for a service? I.e., instead of my having to manually write on the charge slip, the charge slip would come back to me with my pre-defined tip already filled in (or something like that). What would your interviewees make of such an attempt to automate tipping? Labor- (and maybe embarrassment-) saving and benefitial, or making a bad/depersonalized situation even worse?
Finally, this made me think about tipping or lack thereof in e-commerce. It's pretty rare that one even has an option to intentionally overpay, isn't it? One interesting counter example: the "pay what you want" idea that got some press late last year when Radiohead announced they were using this scheme to sell their latest album online, for as much or as little as each fan thought it was worth. Try googling "pay what you want" -- some interesting material out there. It's kind of like having the price be 100% tip, 0% fixed/official, I think.
Hi Guys,
So now that we don't have class on Tuesday how do you want to get our writings together?
We could meet during the usual class time and organize our papers, have a little meeting.
We don't need the whole time, but maybe we could meet at 10 or 10:30?
I will plan to have my interview portion written up and the history page also.
Whatdya think? Gianna
Hey! Well like I said I have class from 8-920 and my other one right after our class so Ill be there tuesday so just let me know when and where.
Let's meet at 10:00 on Tuesday!
How about in front of Langston Library, the area between the Library and Gateway where there are trees and benches???
Ok??? Gianna
should we take a hard copy of our portion of the paper on tuesday or just send it as a file to everyone?
Hey. Tue at 10:00 sounds good. Sorry I missed class on Thur. but I wasn't feeling well. I hope I didn't miss anything important about the project! I finally got a good interview in, but I guess I can tell you all about that on tue.
It looks like some of us can meet tomorrow.
Angela can't meet and she thinks Janali is in N.Y.
If Debbie and Daniel and Angelina want to meet, I will just go to the meeting place at 10:00 since I don't know if everyone is reading this message.
Since we won't see Angela and Janali I assume we will talk to them at least by Thursday?
Gianna
sounds good!.
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