Gratitude is a very good thing. It makes us happy. But this is what happens when Marriott and the corporate do-gooder police co-opt your feelings
If I still somehow retained any capacity to be surprised by the tone-deafness of corporate America, I imagine Id be pretty taken aback by the news that Marriott International has joined forces with a nonprofit called A Womans Nation to launch The Envelope Please, a campaign to encourage hotel guests to leave tips and notes of thanks for hotel room attendants in envelopes that Marriott will graciously provide. (You can contribute to Marriotts marketing budget sorry, I meant donate to A Womans Nation! here.)
As New York magazines Annie Lowery and others have pointed out, tipping is a terrible way to try to improve the lot of hotel housekeepers, whose work is stressful, debilitating, unseen and badly paid. On the one hand, tipping is basically useless as a way of encouraging good work; on the other hand, its incredibly useful as an excuse for employers to avoid raising wages. In the words of the National Review and how often does one quote the National Review approvingly when not under the influence of massive quantities of hallucinogenic drugs? how about just paying them more?
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