Transaction Transparency

Jul 04, 2009

A tip-jar in our most excellent local pho restaurant - the Vietnamese proprietor takes credit cards but suggests to customers to tip in cash.

As an artifact this tip jar is so stacked with intrigue, playing off numerous cultural and contextual assumptions: whether tipping is socially acceptable; whether it's acceptable to show or hold money; the likely denominations of money that is used to tip and whether those denominations are considered too dirty to display on a counter; whether the amount of money in the jar should be revealed - is a paying customer more or less likely to tip/tip well if the jar is perceived to be empty/full; and particularly transaction transparency - whether the size of the tip can be seen by proprietor as it travels towards the jar, and once it is placed the jar? Is the covered jar an attempt by the Vietnamese proprietor to be particularly sensitive to his (mostly Asian) cliental? - tipping being less prevalent in Asia than the US.

Simply beautiful.