Tyranny of Gratuity

I’m writing this in India. Indians probably didn’t invent tipping, but they’ve certainly discovered a serendipitous number of ways to accept and extract below-the-line considerations. They have as many ways of slipping cash as they have deities. This is a traditional hierarchical society that is maintained by a filigree of obligation and patronage. No one accepts a tip with silkier aplomb than an Indian.

I don’t want to blackguard India. It is a nation I love and admire, and the tipping here isn’t special or singular. It would be a special and singular society where you weren’t expected to tip, so that would be Iceland. Scandinavians in general don’t expect it or indeed take to it graciously. Everyone else in the world does. But should we?