Do You Need ‘The Machine’? Tipping in Canada Is Unconscious (Part I)

Constantly on the lookout for Canadian mathematics education matters, I recently experienced a major personal tipping point. The juxtaposition of two different customer service situations was simply too much for me to handle. Now through the looking glass, it was abundantly clear that tipping in Canada is unconscious, and the evidence was everywhere. The current state of financial literacy education in Canadian schools, the opportunity that COVID-19 has provided for us to renew Canada’s implied gratuity guidelines, and an investigation into pre- and post-tax bill totals all supported my assertion that the tipping culture in Canada is a habit in many senses of the word. A look back at how tipping in Canada has evolved from parting with a few coins every once and a while, and a look at the evolution of the point of sale terminal, which I refer to as ‘The Machine’, helped me realize that I am unable to move on and start looking for other Canadian mathematics education matters just yet. After all, if Canadian mathematics education matters, then Canadian mathematics education matters. As such, Part II of this article follows in the next issue. Stay tuned.