The Tipping Misgivings

It is almost Christmas and I tipped my doormen. This is the first time that I have given the year-end tip to the doormen of my new apartment, therefore it is important and difficult for me to choose the right amount. Too little, the doormen can be unhappy and that will jeopardize my relationship with them; too much, it will set an expensive precedent that I will have to follow in the years to come, and that may jeopardize my wallet -- there really are quite a few door staff for my apartment. I did some research, and decided to err, if I would, on the generous side. Nonetheless, the moment I handed the tip to a doorman I dreaded my next encounter with him. Did I tip enough? From the body language, facial expression, and tonal voice in the doorman's next greeting, I looked for clues of his satisfaction. Was he making more eye contact or less? Did the vowels in the "Good night" get longer or shorter? Was he two seconds later in opening the door?

Year-end tipping is really undemocratic, since there is no mechanism for the tippers to act on fair ground. Each tipper, especially the inexperienced tippers, has to guess the amount with insufficient information, and that causes unnecessary anxieties, and often, because most people would rather be generous than stingy to avoid attrition with the recipients of the tip, inflation of the tip. By the same token, bribery in a corrupt society causes unnecessary economical attrition.