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Should we give to beggars? Several years ago on a visit to New York, I was in a stretch limo travelling through a part of Manhattan where the streets were full of homeless people huddled in doorways, laying on the pavement or sitting by the kerb with begging cans. We’d stopped at traffic lights and I had my window down, which my driver advised me not to do. As I was about to close it, a dishevelled fearsome looking guy appeared out of nowhere, stuck his can under my nose and said ‘spare a dime’. I was speechless for a moment and then said, "I’m terribly sorry old chap but I have no change" and without skipping a beat, having heard my English accent he said with a smile, "I’ll take sterling!" I was so taken aback by his quick response, I told the driver to wait a moment while I looked for some coins, which I gave the poor soul and wished him good luck. I was told there are over 100,000 homeless people in New York. 38,000 sleep in New York City shelters, 16,000 of whom are children. The rest sleep on the street. Which is hard to believe in a country known as the Land of Opportunity. I was given cause to remember this incident recently after reading an article in the press about beggars in the UK and the dangers of sparing change to those we see on our city streets - particularly London - with many claiming to be homeless. Those in authority say we shouldn’t do it; claiming that passing the panhandler your pennies perpetuates their dependency and they will only spend it on booze and drugs. The more benevolent among us disagree, arguing these poor street people are victims, deserving of whatever crumbs of redistributed wealth come their way. But what of those with no firm opinion either way? Those like myself who give occasionally, but more often than not hurry guiltily past the sign reading hungry and homeless, trying not to catch the supplicants’ pathetic eye. And by supplicant, I refer not necessarily to your typical tramp or vagrant but in far too many cases, young people of both sexes. Quite often when I cross Old Street via the subway, I’ve seen young women who look as though they are still in their teens, huddled in a blanket – begging. I’m often in two minds whether I should give something or not and by the time I’ve thought about it, I’ve walked well past. But why the delay in deciding? What exactly am I afraid of? It can’t be parting with money; most of us can afford to part with loose change. Nor the time it takes, because reaching into my pocket takes but seconds. One reason I think is the fear of being too close to someone so demonstrably worse off. The fear of catching their bad luck. Or is it perhaps when we do give, we do so as a means of being able to rid ourselves of guilt and are able to forget about the beggars more easily as if they don’t exist? What I don’t do, however, is assume that all beggars are drug addicts, alcoholics, lazy, thieves and rogues. I thank God I’ve never been homeless, so I am in no position to judge. Is
tipping begging? |
DaC’s Marketing executive, Allen Togwell, asks: Is there a difference between begging and tipping? |
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 which is what a tip is if nothing is done over and above the norm to warrant it. In some countries, such as Australia, it isn’t customary to tip taxis, hairdressers or restaurants, which is probably the reason why so few Aussies tip cab drivers in London. Yet in the UK, everybody in the service industry expects a tip irrespective of whether the service they give deserves it or not. How many people, even hard up pensioners, have a haircut and don’t give a tip? How many people get a lousy service in a restaurant, yet still leave a tip? How often do we hear the phrase in the cab trade that the driver only got a legal? I can understand the logic of giving a tip for a service you use regularly such as a hairdresser, because you want to make sure your hair looks as good as possible and in the style the hairdresser remembers from your previous visits. But when using taxis for example, how likely are you to hail the same driver more than once? Restaurants can be the biggest culprits when it comes to tipping, especially many of the upmarket restaurants that leave a space at the bottom of the bill for a gratuity when a 15% service/cover charge has already been added. And where’s the logic of giving a tip at a restaurant where no personal service was given, for example at a Carvery, where having collected the food yourself, the only connection you have with a waiter is to ask for the bill? Conversely, consider the personal service you get from flight attendants, in many cases over a lengthy period if it’s a long haul flight. Yet how many get tips? I would guess very few - if any. Personally as a cab driver, I disliked the principle of tipping. I disliked being told to wait while the passenger rummaged through their pockets or purse for loose change totalling fifty pence. I would rather no tip and accept it as the person’s principle, than a meagre amount bordering on insult. I remember many years ago an incident that many of you, I’m sure, have had one similar to. I dropped a guy and a very attractive lady at Quaglinos restaurant. As he paid me, he said in a booming voice ‘keep the change driver’ no doubt hoping to impress the lady, and when I looked at what he had given me, I just couldn’t resist responding. So I called out in an equally booming voice, which attracted everybody outside of the restaurant: "Excuse me Sir, I think you need this thirty pence more than I do." It was childish on my part, but I got a lovely smile from the lady. Many cab drivers of my generation would remember the bowler-hatted gents in the City who used to carry threepenny bits |
(1¼ p) in their waistcoat
pockets, which they used as tips when travelling in a cab. And
it’s probably in the City of London where one could say the
tradition of tipping began. As for the origins of tipping, it’s
difficult to be exact. Like
so many things, in the mists of antiquity, there's evidence that
tipping goes back at least to the Roman age, but human nature
being what it is, it could just as easily date from the
invention of money. For me, the most charming explanation refers us back to the days of Dr Johnson and his eighteenth century circle of wits. Upon entering his local coffeeshop for a session of epigram-flinging, Dr Johnson (or rather, one presumes, his flunky, Mr. Boswell) would drop a few pence in a box labeled "To Insure Promptness" (TIP--get it?) in order to encourage a greater display of vigor on the part of the generally listless attendants. Americans are usually big on tipping and it seems the custom spread from England to colonial America up until the revolution, after which it was frowned upon (temporarily) as a hangover from the British class system. One only tipped one's social inferiors, which, lest we forget, did not exist in the brave new world. In recent times before the minimum wage was introduced, the low-paid, particularly in the service industry, depended on tips for a substantial part of their income. But this no longer applies, especially in the cab trade. In fact it is a charge that is often treated with derision by account clients, the gratuity especially on the night rate is a viable amount that the offer to discard it during the economic downturn, would have been a welcomed ploy when attempting to generate new business. Instead of resorting to the only area available to us, fixed prices, which when comparing like for like with PH - particularly to destinations such as airports - we often found it hard to compete. A question was asked at this year’s AGM by one of the 51 members present, about what could be done to win back the work now the recession is coming to an end? One answer and one that doesn’t have a negative affect on your pocket, is for every member of this Society to play their part in putting Emphasis on Quality. There will always be a market for quality and Quality is our Strength. I’m not suggesting you wear a shirt and tie, heaven forbid, even though that one act alone would give us a front page spread in the Evening Standard! No, I refer to how we distribute our work; make every trip AD and non-rejectable. In addition to improving service during the busy periods and every trip being equal, it would be a selling tool that we have never been able to use in our 57 years of trading. It will never happen of course, because being a friendly society, when it comes to progressive decisions, the management will always be shackled by political restraints.
Allen Togwell |
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