touching is a powerful form of interpersonal behavior that can communicate affection, appreciation, dominance, social support, or other meanings depending on the context in which it occurs. In commercial settings, casually touching customers has been shown to increase the time they spend shopping in a store, the amounts that they purchase, and the favorability of their store evaluations. These positive effects suggest that being touched may also increase the tips that customers leave their servers. April crusco and Christopher Wetzel tested this possibility at two restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi.
Three waitresses at two restaurants randomly assigned their customers to one of three touch conditions. Customer either were not touched, were casually touched on the shoulder once for about one and a half seconds, or were casually touched on the palm of the hand twice for about half a second each time. All touches occurred as the waitresses returned change to their customers at the end of the meal. Eye contact was avoided during this process.