Tipping Culture: We're Supposed To Tip The Kitchen Staff Now, Too?

Southwest Florida is home to many great restaurants. I get seafood in Naples. Great pizza in Cape Coral. Sushi in Fort Myers. And great Thai food - Estero. But there's a term that's been circulating around the internet that has a lot of people upset. Tipping culture.

Common practice in the United States has always been to tip your wait staff. Then it moved to tipping everyone in the service industry such as barbers, hairstylists, and more. I'm absolutely fine with that. But the latest trends prompted a CBS article entitled “Are tip requests getting out of hand?”

My latest experience of tipping culture came from a trip to Orlando. I was staying at one of the theme park resort hotels. So I went to the cafeteria/store to pick up a couple of drinks. I went to the refrigerated case, grabbed a Diet Coke and a juice and took them to the counter. The woman rang up the purchase and I saw my total and a place for a tip. That's when I put in zero. I looked up to see if we were finished. She glared at me like I had just done her wrong. You did the definition of your job. You rang up two drinks that I got myself. Am I really supposed to tip for that? And where does this end?

Oh, it looks like this Tipping Culture trend is just getting started.

This Reddit user posted a picture of a receipt from a New York restaurant.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/133byh3/now_im_suggested_to_tip_the_kitchen_as_well/

That's right. They want you to tip the kitchen help as well. There's literally two lines for tips on the receipt. Has anyone seen this yet in Southwest Florida? If we haven't yet, I can assure you, we will.

I'll leave you with this. In a few hours I'll be ordering a pizza for the family. I'm picking it up since the place is 3 minutes from my house and if it's delivered, adding in a delivery fee and tip, a $14 pizza quickly becomes $25. When the person behind the counter hands me the pizza I'll be shown a screen where I can add in a tip. What do I do?

26 Mexican Restaurants In Southwest Florida To Celebrate Cinco De Mayo

So, why do we celebrate Cinco de Mayo anyway? According to National Calendar Day, Cinco de Mayo is a yearly celebration held on May 5, commemorating the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Here in the United States, we have Americanized it and given ourselves another reason to go out and party, have some drinks and delicious food, all on a week night (at least this year it's a Friday). It's like St. Patrick's Day in May.

In fact, Cinco De Mayo is more celebrated in the United States than it is in Mexico. That's why we put together this list of 26 Mexican Restaurants In Southwest Florida For Cinco De Mayo.

Florida isn't too far from Mexico, but there are tons of places to hit up for a margarita (or three) and some tacos on May 5th. Several of the local restaurants listed below are hosting a Cinco De Mayo celebration of their own next week. Be sure to stay tuned for details on those. And, if there's a restaurant we've missed, let us know.

Check out the list below and make plans with your amigos for next Friday, May 5th!