Exonians Sibi in Tipping Culture

Concerns voiced by local restaurants spurred Dean AJ Cosgrove to send an all-school email upon returning from break, reminding and requesting students to tip employees who deliver food to campus.“Most of these people’s paychecks are based on the tips they receive for food delivery. It doesn’t reflect well on our school if we earn a reputation for not doing something that is common practice and the right thing to do,” Cosgrove’s email read.Cosgrove said that he suspects that tipping practice varies among students, and that incidents of not tipping may be mostly accidental. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that some of our students are very generous, many tip normally, and some don't tip at all,” Cosgrove said.Tipping is a widespread issue because students across the PEA community order food daily to be delivered from Supreme Pizza, Szechuan Taste and other restaurants in Exeter and surrounding towns.Employees highlighted the prevalence of poor tipping practices. “In general, girls’ dorms [at the Academy] tip more than boys’ dorms, but I’d say nearly 50 percent of students tip me a dollar or less on an order,” one Supreme Pizza deliveryman, who requested to remain anonymous, said.“For me, personally, I receive the least tips from PEA students. I don’t think they’re inherently bad people, but it’s certainly a trend,” he continued.Typical tips in the United States exceed 15 percent for good service, and 10 percent is a general minimum. Additionally, delivery drivers in New Hampshire can legally be paid at 45 percent of the minimum wage, meaning that they may earn just $3.26 per hour. Tips are nearly always their only chance to make more than minimum wage.While tipping is a custom broadly practiced across the United States, some students highlighted the possible reasons for neglecting to tip due to a lack of cash and cultural differences.Prep Abhijay Bhatnagar said he usually tips 15-20 percent on his orders but knows many people who don’t. “Kids often don’t tip because they don’t carry a lot of cash on them, so it’s hard to come up with a tip.”Senior Arianna Salvaterra also agreed that many students believe that skipping tipping is acceptable due to not having the necessary cash. “Sometimes it’s inconvenient, when you don’t have enough cash to tip an order, or you don’t want to—but there’s really no excuse,” she said.She felt that it was especially important to tip because many people delivering food are often younger. “I usually tip 25 percent because people delivering food are often college students. If I were in their position, I’d really want people to tip me.”Workers at Luna Chics, Me & Ollies and D^2 agreed that PEA students have a positive effect on the community by providing traffic and income, as well as diversity.Josh Myers, a Me & Ollie’s staff-member said, “For the most part, the students that go to Phillips Exeter Academy are very nice. We never have any problems.”Matt Tucker, employee at D^2, said that most people “have a very positive opinion of the Academy and the business it brings to the area, the stability it brings to the area and the culture it brings to the area.”Most also acknowledged feelings of bitterness and rivalry, but said that it was not necessarily related to the way students interact with the community.“The general impression of the students [at Exeter] is that they’re all moneyed. That’s obviously not the case. Some people are a little bitter about that since it’s such a premier school,” Tucker said.“I think that Phillips Exeter brings in a wider selection of people,” he continued. “A lot of students come from far away that go to [the school] so there’s a little bit of a melting pot. You have a lot of ethnicities that go to the school that wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have [Exeter].”Kelsey Edwards, who works at Luna Chics, a small boutique in town, agreed. “I think it’s really unique because of where it is, and it’s a small town so you really get to connect with a lot of different people. It’s special that we have this amazing school here.”