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1. Introduction
It is a very usual view of dining customers leaving or handing a $5 or $10 (or any other currency) note on the table or to the waiter’s/waitress’s hand for service on a busy Friday or Saturday evening. Generally, such tips are given when the customers become happy toward the service provided by the staffs. Although the amount of tip vary depending on the customer’s ability, nature of service or the level of perceived satisfaction, as a whole, tipping is a common practice at dining restaurants. Such a practice by the customers is optional, and they are in no way bound to give such gifts as they are already paying the price of food or drink. Some restaurants even charge “Service Charge” as discretionary in addition to the original price plus tax, which is an unethical practice. However, such service charge is also not mandatory; rather, it is optional as the customers can refuse to pay it (Which.co.uk, 2013).
It has been estimated that tipping in America adds up to about US$40bn a year, larger than the entire health-and-fitness industry and double the annual budget for NASA (Freakonomics.com, 2019). In the UK, where the minimum wage is strictly set by the government, a customer is expected to add or pay 10%–15% of price as tip. The annual amount of tips the customers pay amount to almost GBP 56bn a year (The Daily Mirror, 2019a). In 2019, the then Tory Government passed a law compelling the restaurants and other service firms to pass 100% of the received tips to the employees equally, and the Queen Elizabeth II approved it (The Daily Mirror, 2019b).
According to Curry Culture, a weekly magazine focusing on the Indian restaurant business in the whole UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), till 2018, there were around 12,000 Indian restaurants across Great Britain, and such eateries can be found in almost all sizes of towns and cities (Curryculture.co.uk, 2016). According to a British website named Asian Voice, the curry industry contributes GBP 4.5bn to the British economy annually (Asian-voice.com, 2017). According to this website also, there are around 12,000 Indian restaurants in the UK (Newspaperhunt.com/papers/England/asian-voice.php, 2023). Such restaurants provide different Indian traditional curries and food items to the customers who...