In discussions of the custom of tipping, you never hear typical consumers wish that they were expected or asked to tip their service providers in more industries. Yet Square, a service that lets small businesses accept credit card and direct mobile payments on phones and tablets, gives any business the opportunity to prompt customers for a tip.

Of course, Square’s standard plan collects a percentage of all payments that their customers receive, so collecting a few extra bucks on every transaction is a boon to them. Letting merchants decide whether to ask for a tip or not is a useful feature, though, and has led to businesses prompting people to tip where it may not be expected.

Those businesses include health care settings, like doctors and dentists. Sure, we expect to tip in the hospitality business, and people who provide some personal care services…but why do we tip a massage therapist and not a dental hygienist? Why do we tip the dog groomer who might clean a pet’s ears, but not the vet tech who gives rabies shots?

The person in charge of Square Register says that providers of professional services (think lawyers, accountants, and business consultants) that use Square to collect fees like being able to add a tip line to the in-person checkout process, and that their customers appreciate it, too. They do? Is secretly wanting to tip your attorney a thing?

Would you tip your dentist? [CNN]

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