Einstein Bagels begins a tipping revolution

I've complained before on WalletPop about how everyone and their brother expects a tip these days. A tip jar at the dry cleaner? A tip jar at Starbucks after I buy a $4.00 coffee??? I'm sick of everyone expecting tips for merely doing their jobs, and someone at Einstein Bros. Bagels agrees with me.

I stop there several times a week for coffee, and am used to the tip jar on the counter. On occasion I drop something in, but since their coffee is self-serve, I don't feel too obligated to contribute. And today that all changed... I paid for my coffee and told the employee to throw my change in the tip jar. And he said they didn't have one anymore.

What? Sure enough, there's even an official sign on the counter, telling customers that no tips are to be left because Einstein Bagels wants their employees to offer good service all the time. The employee reinforced what the sign said, "Management doesn't want us to give good service just because we're getting a tip. They want us to be nice to all the customers."

Someone has heard my plea. Thank you to those at Einstein Bagels who made this decision. I know a tip is just a buck here and a buck there, but it's nice to know that a company believes a customer should get a good product and good service because that's what they pay for.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.