20 沒有道理的小費(fèi)(doc)
18 Gratuitous1 Gratuities2 Everybody loathes3 it, but everybody does it. A recent poll showed that 40％ of Americans hate the practice. It seems so arbitrary4, after all. Why does a barman5 get a tip, but not a doctor who saves lives? In America alone, tipping is now a ＄ 16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting rationally ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The conventional wisdom is that tips both reward the efforts of good service and reduce uncomfortable feelings of inequality. The better the service, the bigger the tip. Such explanations no doubt explain the purported6 origin of tipping-in the 16th century, boxes in English taverns7 carried the phrase “ To Insure Promptitude8” (later just “ TIP” ).But according to new research from Cornell University,tipping no longer serves any useful function. The paper analyses data from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The correlation9 between larger tips and better service was very weak: only a tiny part of the variability in the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service. Customers who rated10 a meal as “ excellent” still tipped anywhere between 8％ and 37％ of the meal price. Tipping is better explained by culture than by economics. In America, the custom has become institutionalized11: it is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In a New York restaurant, failing to tip at least 15％ could well mean abuse from the waiter. Hairdressers can expect to get 15～ 20％ , the man who delivers your groceries ＄ 2. In Europe, tipping is less common; in many restaurants, discretionary12 tipping is being replaced by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on13 at all. How to account for14 these national differences? Look no further than psychology. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell paper's co-author, countries in which people are more extrovert15, sociable or neurotic16 tend to tip more.Tipping relieves17 anxiety about being served by strangers. And, says Mr Lynn, “ in America, where people are outgoing and expressive, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off18.” Icelanders, by contrast, do not usually tip--a measure of their introversion19, no doubt. While such explanations may be crude, the hard truth seems to be that tipping does not work. It does not benefit the customer. Nor, in the case of restaurants, does it actually incentivise20 the waiter, or help the restaurant manager to monitor and assess his staff. Service people should “ just be paid a decent wage” may actually make economic sense. 沒有道理的小費(fèi) 人人討厭它，但人人這樣做。最近一項(xiàng)民意測(cè)驗(yàn)表明，40％的美國(guó)人憎恨付小費(fèi)。畢 竟，這種做法好像毫無(wú)道理。為什么酒吧招待能拿到小費(fèi)，而救人生命的醫(yī)生卻得不到 呢？ 　　僅在美國(guó)，小費(fèi)這一行當(dāng)每年的總額高達(dá)160億美元。合理消費(fèi)的人們?cè)跒榈玫降哪?項(xiàng)服務(wù)必須付費(fèi)外，不該再掏腰包。小費(fèi)現(xiàn)象不應(yīng)該存在。那么，為什么它一直流行呢 ？公眾的一般看法是，小費(fèi)既是對(duì)優(yōu)質(zhì)服務(wù)的回報(bào)，又可以減輕不平等地位的那種不舒 服感。服務(wù)得越好，得到的小費(fèi)就越多。 　　這些說(shuō)法毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)地解釋了有關(guān)小費(fèi)起源的傳說(shuō)。在16世紀(jì)，英國(guó)小酒館里都放著 一個(gè)匣子，上面寫有一條短語(yǔ)“確保快捷”，后來(lái)這3個(gè)英文詞的首字母就組成了“小費(fèi)”一 詞。但據(jù)康奈爾大學(xué)新的調(diào)查結(jié)果，小費(fèi)現(xiàn)已不再具有任何實(shí)用的功能。 　　這份調(diào)查報(bào)告分析了在20家不同餐館用餐的2547組食客支付小費(fèi)的數(shù)據(jù)。較多小費(fèi) 與良好服務(wù)之間的聯(lián)系是非常微弱的：小費(fèi)的多寡中只有很小一部分同服務(wù)質(zhì)量有關(guān)。 稱贊飯菜“味道好極了”的顧客支付的小費(fèi)仍然在餐費(fèi)的8％至37％之間。 　　小費(fèi)現(xiàn)象最好從文化角度來(lái)解釋，而不是從經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)角度。在美國(guó)，這種習(xí)俗已經(jīng)制 度化：人們把它看成是一項(xiàng)服務(wù)的認(rèn)可價(jià)格的一部分。在紐約的餐館里，沒有支付至少 15％小費(fèi)的顧客很可能會(huì)遭到侍者的辱罵。理發(fā)師可以得到15％～20％的小費(fèi)，送外賣 的可以得到兩美元。在歐洲，付小費(fèi)沒有那么普遍；在許多餐館，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)服務(wù)價(jià)格取代了 隨意支付的小費(fèi)。在許多亞洲國(guó)家，付小費(fèi)從未真正流行起來(lái)。 　　如何解釋這些國(guó)與國(guó)之間的差別？那就從心理學(xué)的角度來(lái)看一看吧。據(jù)康奈爾大學(xué) 的那份調(diào)查報(bào)告的作者之一邁克爾·林恩說(shuō)，其國(guó)民性格較外向、愛交際或易激動(dòng)的國(guó)家 ，往往小費(fèi)付得較多。付小費(fèi)可以減輕接受陌生人服務(wù)的不安心理。林恩先生說(shuō)，“在美 國(guó)，人們開朗大方，喜歡表現(xiàn)，支付小費(fèi)是社會(huì)認(rèn)可的。如果你掏的小費(fèi)少，人們就會(huì) 看輕你。多掏小費(fèi)是炫耀、表現(xiàn)自己的機(jī)會(huì)?！毕啾戎拢鶏u人通常不付小費(fèi)，這無(wú)疑 體現(xiàn)了他們的內(nèi)向性格。 　　盡管這些解釋也許不很成熟，而事實(shí)看起來(lái)就是，支付小費(fèi)并不能起到什么作用。 它對(duì)顧客沒有什么好處。在餐館里，它實(shí)際上既不能起到鼓勵(lì)侍者的作用，也不能幫助 餐館經(jīng)理監(jiān)督和評(píng)估手下職員。從經(jīng)濟(jì)角度而言，只有對(duì)服務(wù)人員“支付體面的工資”可 能才有意義。 1.gratuitous[⊥ρΕ5τφυ:ιτΕσ]adj.無(wú)理由的，不必要的 2.gratuity[⊥ρΕ5τφυ:ιτι]n.小費(fèi)，賞錢 3.loathe[λΕυΤ]vt.厭惡，憎恨 4.arbitrary[5Β:βιτρΕρι]adj.任意性的 5.barman[5βΒ:μΕν]n.酒吧間男招待 6.purported[π∴:?πΡ:τΙδ]adj.傳說(shuō)的，謠傳的 7.tavern[5τ“πΕ:ν]n.小酒店，小旅館，客棧 8.promptitude[5πρΧμπτιτφυ:δ]n.敏捷，迅速 9.correlation[7κΧρι5λειΦΕν]n.聯(lián)系 10.rate[ρειτ]vt.認(rèn)為，評(píng)估 11.institutionalizedadj.制度化的 12.discretionary[δΙσ?κρεΦΕνΕρΙ]adj.自由決定的 13.catchon流行起來(lái)，被人接受 14.account[Ε5καυντ]vi.(與for連用)作出解釋 15.extrovert[5εκστρΕυπΕ:τ]adj.外傾性的 16.neurotic[νφυΕ5ρΧτικ]adj.易激動(dòng)的 17.relieve[ρι5λι:π]vt.減輕 18.showoff炫耀，表現(xiàn)自己 19.introversion[ 7ιντρΕυ5πΕ:ΦΕν ]n.內(nèi)傾性 20.incentivise[ιν5σενδφΕριζ]vt.刺激，鼓勵(lì)
20 沒有道理的小費(fèi)(doc)