零工經(jīng)濟(jì)再無(wú)小費(fèi)？

I have been puzzled by the way that different cultures approach service workers’ pay ever since I was involved in an awkward stand-off over a tip with a taxi driver during my first trip to Tokyo.

在我的首次東京之旅中，我曾因?yàn)樾≠M(fèi)問(wèn)題，頗為尷尬地與一位出租車司機(jī)僵持不下。自那以后，我對(duì)于不同文化處理服務(wù)業(yè)員工報(bào)酬的方式一直感到困惑。

“No tip necessary, no tip necessary,” the driver kept saying in broken English. But I continued on bullheaded: “No please, please, do take this.” In the background my husband was shaking his head, as a small scene developed at the hotel doorway. He had, of course, warned me this could happen. “I told you so!” he snarked, as I finally conceded.

那位司機(jī)一個(gè)勁地用蹩腳的英語(yǔ)說(shuō)：“不用給小費(fèi)，不用給小費(fèi)。”而我堅(jiān)持己見：“不，請(qǐng)你一定要收下。”我們?cè)诰频觊T前發(fā)生了小小的爭(zhēng)執(zhí)，我丈夫則在后面搖頭。他當(dāng)然警告過(guò)我會(huì)發(fā)生這種事。在我最終屈服后，他帶著挖苦的語(yǔ)氣說(shuō)道：“我跟你說(shuō)過(guò)吧。”

I was clueless to the fact that in Japan tipping is considered an insult. The price is the price. I had stupidly tried to force some yen into the taxi driver’s hand.

我完全不知道在日本給小費(fèi)會(huì)被認(rèn)為是一種侮辱。價(jià)格是多少就是多少。我卻愚蠢地試圖強(qiáng)行把一些日元塞入出租車司機(jī)的手中。

Why is tipping deemed essential in, for example, the US but judged to be merit-based and discretionary in Europe? Such cultural differences I once put down to local quirks or regulations. But a recent experience in the gig economy, which is trying to do away with tips altogether, has made me realise that those differences may be closely tied to how career-minded we expect our service workers to be.

為什么在美國(guó)等一些國(guó)家小費(fèi)被認(rèn)為必不可少，而在歐洲卻被認(rèn)為可以視服務(wù)質(zhì)量隨意給的?我曾把這種文化上的差異歸因于當(dāng)?shù)亓?xí)俗或者監(jiān)管規(guī)則。不過(guò)，最近在“零工經(jīng)濟(jì)”(這種經(jīng)濟(jì)模式正試圖全面取消小費(fèi))領(lǐng)域的一段體驗(yàn)讓我認(rèn)識(shí)到，上述差異或許與我們對(duì)服務(wù)業(yè)員工敬業(yè)程度的期望密切相關(guān)。

This year I spent time working for Deliveroo, a UK food courier service, for research into a story I was writing for the Financial Times. I wanted to figure out how responsive workers needed to be to earn lucrative “surge rates”, where workers are paid more when demand increases. Because surge rate periods cannot be predicted, workers must be on call all the time.

我今年在英國(guó)一家名為Deliveroo的送餐服務(wù)公司工作過(guò)一段時(shí)間，為了做一些研究用于撰寫打算發(fā)表在英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》上的一篇文章。我想知道的是，員工需要多積極才能賺到“高峰工資”(surge rates，需求大幅上升時(shí)員工報(bào)酬也升高)?由于這種高峰工資時(shí)期無(wú)法預(yù)測(cè)，員工必須一直處于待命狀態(tài)。

I also wanted to see if it would be possible in the gig economy to earn more than the minimum national wage of £7.20 per hour, as companies such as Deliveroo and Uber often claim.

我還想知道，在零工經(jīng)濟(jì)中，有沒(méi)有可能像Deliveroo和優(yōu)步(Uber)等公司時(shí)常聲稱的那樣，賺得超過(guò)全國(guó)最低工資標(biāo)準(zhǔn)(每小時(shí)7.2英鎊)。

I discovered that surge rate periods were too few to supplement the basic rates. Meanwhile, the one element of a low-paid service job that had traditionally compensated for low rates — a tip for a job well done — had largely been done away with.

我發(fā)現(xiàn)能夠賺取高峰工資的時(shí)候很少，不足以對(duì)基本工資構(gòu)成補(bǔ)充。同時(shí)，在低薪服務(wù)業(yè)崗位，傳統(tǒng)上對(duì)低工資起補(bǔ)償作用的一個(gè)因素——干得好有小費(fèi)——基本上被取消了。

In their effort to end the necessity for cash and create the perfect, frictionless experience, app developers for Deliveroo and others like it had dehumanised the transaction to such a degree that tips had become inconveniences. Uber even encourages riders not to tip drivers.

為了終結(jié)現(xiàn)金必要性、創(chuàng)造完美無(wú)摩擦的體驗(yàn)，Deliveroo及類似企業(yè)的應(yīng)用開發(fā)人員把交易過(guò)程變得十分不人性化，從而讓支付小費(fèi)變得很不方便。優(yōu)步甚至鼓勵(lì)乘客不要給司機(jī)小費(fèi)。

To maximise earning potential, gig economy workers often become jacks of all trades, signed up to as many different task apps as possible to capture surge rate opportunities as best they can. Yet when they do so, they undermine their own economies of scale. From the need to invest in multiple tools and equipment to the burden of having to turn your hand from one trade to the next, multitasking introduces new costs.

為了把盈利潛力最大化，零工經(jīng)濟(jì)的員工往往會(huì)成為“多面手”，他們會(huì)盡可能多地登錄不同的任務(wù)應(yīng)用，以便盡最大可能抓住賺取高峰工資的機(jī)會(huì)。然而，當(dāng)他們這么做的時(shí)候，他們會(huì)削弱自身的規(guī)模經(jīng)濟(jì)效應(yīng)。從需要投資于多種工具和設(shè)備，到從一單交易轉(zhuǎn)到另一單交易帶來(lái)的負(fù)擔(dān)，多任務(wù)同時(shí)進(jìn)行會(huì)帶來(lái)新的成本。

What the gig economy really does is undercut seasoned service workers who have learnt through experience that it makes sense to smooth prices across low and high peak periods for the sake of professionalism. It has replaced them with amateurs with no capacity to plan ahead — and little time to hustle for compensatory tips.

零工經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)際上讓服務(wù)業(yè)熟練員工降低了身價(jià)，他們從自身經(jīng)驗(yàn)中明白了一點(diǎn)，從專業(yè)化角度來(lái)講，讓低峰期價(jià)格和高峰期價(jià)格保持平穩(wěn)是有意義的。零工經(jīng)濟(jì)卻用沒(méi)有能力提前計(jì)劃、也沒(méi)有時(shí)間去爭(zhēng)取補(bǔ)償性小費(fèi)的生手代替了這些熟練員工。

In the US, waiting staff depend on the discretionary kindness of strangers to make a living wage. Some might say that leads to better and more responsive service workers.

在美國(guó)，侍應(yīng)生要靠陌生人酌情給予的善意賺取生活費(fèi)。有的人也許會(huì)說(shuō)，這會(huì)提高服務(wù)業(yè)員工的素質(zhì)和積極性。

In continental Europe the service cost is always included in the bill. Yes, critics could argue that is why France has so many shoddy and obnoxious waiters. Incentives matter — and French waiters do not have any. But it is also true that in France, service work is considered a legitimate and respectable career choice for everyone — not just students, migrants or casual workers. In the gig economy, where workers struggle to make the minimum wage but cannot rely on a cash exchange to generate a tip-giving opportunity, the discretionary system just does not cut it.

而在歐洲大陸，服務(wù)成本始終包括在賬單里。沒(méi)錯(cuò)，批評(píng)人士可能會(huì)說(shuō)，這正是法國(guó)為什么有這么多差勁而討厭的服務(wù)生的原因。激勵(lì)機(jī)制十分重要，法國(guó)卻沒(méi)有針對(duì)服務(wù)生的激勵(lì)機(jī)制。不過(guò)，在法國(guó)，服務(wù)業(yè)工作被視為合法、受人尊重的職業(yè)，適合每個(gè)人——而不只是學(xué)生、外來(lái)移民或兼職員工。在零工經(jīng)濟(jì)中，員工很難賺到最低標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的薪資，又不能指望從現(xiàn)金交易中得到收小費(fèi)的機(jī)會(huì)，自愿給小費(fèi)機(jī)制完全不適用。

The traditional US restaurant industry bypasses regulation because of a local quirk: no one dares not to tip a minimum 20 per cent of the bill. This amounts to a culture of respecting the true cost of professional service.

美國(guó)傳統(tǒng)餐飲行業(yè)在這方面無(wú)需監(jiān)管，是源自當(dāng)?shù)仫L(fēng)俗習(xí)慣：沒(méi)人好意思不支付最少為賬單20%的小費(fèi)。這實(shí)際上是一種尊重專業(yè)服務(wù)真實(shí)成本的文化。

The digital economy will have to develop the same culture if it is to avoid intervention by regulators. If not, the career waiter or waitress will be consigned to history. That would unleash a bitter race to the bottom, undermining all our living standards.

如果數(shù)字化經(jīng)濟(jì)要避免監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)的干預(yù)，就必須發(fā)展出同樣的文化。如果不能做到這一點(diǎn)，全職服務(wù)生將會(huì)成為歷史。這會(huì)引發(fā)“競(jìng)次”(race to the bottom)現(xiàn)象，從而降低我們所有人的生活水準(zhǔn)。