If you are a waitperson you probably are concerned about the tips that you receive from customers. The tips you receive may greatly help you pay the bills. Your earnings from the job may seem much more reasonable with the tips you receive. Is there a way to increase tips? One simple way may be to compliment the customer.
Seiter (2007) investigated the effect of compliments on tipping in restaurants. There were two restaurants in his experiment, and two female servers collected the data in the experiment. The experiment involves only tables with two customers. In one condition, each of the two customers at a table were complimented. In the other condition, the two customers at a table were not complimented. He found that the females servers received, on the average, higher tips when they complimented the customers than when they did not.
Seiter and Dutson (2007) investigated the effect of compliments on tips received by hairstylists. In their experiment, two hairstylists colleted the data. There were three conditions in their experiment. In one condition, customers did not receive a compliment. In another condition, customers were told that their hair looked terrific. In a third condition, the customers just received a compliment that involved a statement about any hairstyle looking good on them. They found that the hairstylists received, on the average, higher tips when they a complimented customers than when they did not compliment customers. It did not matter which type of compliment the customers received. Both types of compliments appeared to increase tips. There was no statistically significant difference for the two compliment conditions.
The findings of these two experiments have important practical implications. Complimenting a customer may increase the amount received in tips.
References
Seiter, J. S. (2007). Ingratiation and gratuity: The effects of complimenting
Customers on tipping behavior in restaurants. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 37, 478-485.
Seiter, J. S., & Dutson, E. (2007). The effect of compliments on tipping
behavior in hairstyling salons. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
37, 1999-2007.