Interesting lunchtime conversation and subsequent musings: This question can be addressed from two very different perspectives.
“If you were absolutely by yourself, in a town you had never been in, and would never be in again, would you leave the server a tip?”
When asked in one way, the question is one of game theory, and points to a response of “why would we leave a tip?” When asked in another, it is about giving somebody what they deserve (which has an extensive biblical foundation) and points to a response of “why wouldn’t we leave a tip?” Do we behave like game theorists in part of our lives but not in others? When do we give people more than they deserve?
2 comments:
Being one who plays a lot of games, or used to at least, this intrigued me. My first thought before even reading the 2nd paragraph was "Why wouldn't you leave a tip?" It's all about ethics and doing the right thing no matter whether someone will or will not see you doing it. Plus, society for the most part has condition us into always tipping.
In a game, ethics only apply insofar as following the rules (although that goes right out the window as soon as a player is sure he can get away with something.) All other actions are then determined by what gives the player the most benefit. You don't have to tip, and it doesn't benefit you, so why should you tip at all especially since there will be no repercussions as you won't visit said restaurant again?
My third thought was, "I just hate the idea of tipping." I can't think of another industry that expects you to pay for a service no matter what, yet doesn't put the cost on the bill. I'm already being overcharged for food that isn't that great (most upper-scale chain restaurants are switching to pre-prepared easily reheated frozen meals), my service isn't usually that great, and I'm really only paying for the convenience of not having to prepare it myself. I always tip 15% or more, but sometimes I just want to give it up completely and force restaurants to pay them out of their profits or raise prices.
I don't purport to have a full understanding of game theory, so maybe there are some technicalities to this question that have passed me by, but it seems to me that the question only involves game theory if one previously accepts that "winning = acquiring physical wealth." I would say that someone who didn't leave a tip for a service rendered would leave the diner a poorer person for it.
You can ask whether a tree falling alone in a forest makes a sound and one answer is "no" because sound as a concept is dependent on a receiving ear. But morality is--at its highest form--internalized and self-regulated. The lack of someone who knows one in the vicinity doesn't mean that one is free from society's and one's own rules of conduct, which it seems is a concept religious people are especially comfortable with.
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