Tipping the garbage man? Bizarre.

I have often reflected that our N.Am. culture, supposedly born and steeped in a free trade, pay-as-you-go philosophy, is relatively free of the culture of gratuities. Compare and contrast much more statist, if not downright socialist, countries where gratuities bump up hard against a definition of bribes, and are the only way to get anything done, even (or especially) from gov't employees who are working for the "people". Two acquaintances, one who lived in Africa and one in S. Am. could never get mail delivered without daily tipping the Postman. Civil servants in both places take it as the right and due of their position to have 'gifts' from those who are 'served' by them. Most people in N.Am. have little constant exposure to tipping other than with waitresses in restaurants.

"...in many areas in Washington the driver of the sanitation truck pounds the horn over and over as he drives through the neighborhood in order to notify residents that the truck is coming and that they should have the yearly gratuity at the ready. Again, I have no problem with any of this,..."

Really? Really?!

Seems your tip to a government employee is more of a bribe to ensure adequate service. Welcome to the third world.

captcha? "rhyme nor reason"

The base problem might be tipping people for a "job well done". I expect a job to be well done. I expect them to be competent. Did this idea of tipping someone for merely doing their job come from the school culture of rewarding mediocrity? I guess this is the equivalent of the "Attendance Award" in elementart school.

BTW, we tip the wait staff because their wage structure is based on tipping (something I have an issue with. Why wouldn't you properly reward the point-of-customer-contact?). Why would I tip a Union employee who is probably getting paid a lot better then 1/2 the residents in the city?

Maybe I should start tipping my mail carrier. Lord knows the system stinks where I live. I just don't know if it would improve things or make her think she is doing a great job and she "misplaces" more of my mail!

When I was in early elementary grades, I lived in an eastern city. My parents, and probably everyone whom they knew, were dropouts; the jobs were in trades or factory line work. Ike was president.

Being of smaller than average stature for a male was tragic for me, in that when I grew up (and presumably dropped out), I wouldn't b able to get a job with the city as garbageman. In those days, the metal trash can were big, and there was no robot arm to lift them into the truck. They had to be lifted and emptied by hand: two workers walking in back of a truck that was usually driven by someone who knew the Irish machine at city hall (I'm not Irish, either). That was a good job. Garbagemen drove Buicks.

Where I live now, garbage collection is contracted out to one of several large private companies that bid for the contract. Often there is only one worker, the driver, with a robot arm that lifts the small brown plastic bins and dumps them automatically. If overflowing, or trash on the side, it won't be taken. Judging from appearance and language, I've yet to see a trash collector who appeared to be born in the USA. Are Buicks still manufactured?

I live in D.C., and I have never heard of tipping the garbage man, ever. I'll ask around, but I would love some kind of source for this, Jonah... it seems like garbage.

You tip your garbage man?
You think it's expected?
That's insane!
It would still be insane even if they weren't highly paid already through your taxes.

I did it once, and even as a non-driver from a temp agency I got $16/hour, and that was about 15 years ago.

This is Jonah's opening shot to begin softening the culture to where people start tipping bloggers.