Recently, the New York Times explored how an increase in apps used to pay for goods and services can lead to a decrease in tips for service industry workers, since fewer people carry cash around with them. Take Mark, for instance, an elevator operator in a tony Manhattan apartment building who says his tips have decreased from $400 a week to $100 a week in the past few years.
Midway through the article there’s a young woman who “hasn’t carried paper money since she was a teenager” and admits that she’s “embarrassed” that she doesn’t tip when she goes to the nail salon. Now, of course, this section is making the rounds online:
“Every time I go there without cash they miss out on their tips cause they don’t have the mechanism to put it on the credit card, and I always feel bad,” said Ms. Chung, a digital reporter at InsideEdition.com. Still, she can’t seem to remember to visit the A.T.M. before she goes. “I’m just not thinking about it because I’m so programmed to never have cash on me.”
Okay. What!
If you have a bank account, a card, and you can afford to do all of these things using apps and plastic then, please: take a few minutes of time to go to the freakin’ ATM and withdraw some money. Set a reminder on your phone if you need to. Now you even have cash to use at the office vending machine, if that’s your thing. Oh, and make sure to tip at least 20 percent. Happy holidays!
Update, 12/20: After Chung’s quote was picked up, the Times issued the following correction: “An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the spending habits of Maya Chung. She sometimes carries paper money; it is not true that she never visits the A.T.M. before the nail salon.”
