Everyone expects a tip these days.
And I am not talking about the ‘advice’ kind of tip. I am talking cold hard cash.
Moolah. Dinero. Ka-ching.
- Servers and bartenders expect them, since that is how they make money,
- The valet with my car… expects a tip
- The bellman with my luggage…expects a tip
- My barber… expects a tip
- The newspaper delivery guy expects a tip
What flippin’ idiot came up with this idea of tipping?
Tipping—which may have originated in the taverns of 17th Century England, where drinkers would slip money to the waiter “to insure promptitude” or T.I.P for short
But don’t be too quick to blame the Brits.
There is a more nefarious, possibly more sinister beginning of the tip; slavery.
When tipping came to the United States, it had a real racial tinge to it, because, originally, the workers who earned tips were almost exclusively black workers—they were newly freed slaves.
There was this massive anti-tipping movement to protest the practice. What’s interesting is that that movement, the anti-tipping populist one, ending up spreading to Europe and succeeding, because the labor movement picked it up and said ‘we are professionals, and we shouldn’t have to live on tips, because we should be paid by our employers.’ That’s why you see so little tipping in Europe.
The US, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction. The restaurant industry, which was hiring newly freed slaves as tipped workers, really wanted the right to hire these workers but pay them next to nothing. So they put forth this idea that they were valueless and really shouldn’t have to be paid by their employers. They essentially made the argument that newly freed slaves should get a zero dollar wage.
History lesson over
Fast forward to today, 2021. We have not come all that far. The minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13/hr.
Restauranteurs continue to pay a vast majority of waiters next to nothing, while expecting patrons to fork over the wages (no pun intended).
Fine
I get it.
I used to be a tipped employee (Server and Bartender)
- But a tip jar at the oil change?
- Tip jar at the coffee counter in a hotel? (The coffee was self service, all she did was give me the cup)
- Tip jar at fast food restaurants? (Chipotle, Panera)
- Tip box at the car wash
- Tip for work on Upwork and Fivrr? Isn’t that why I paid you?
- Taxi cab or Uber?
Tip jars are popping up every where!
Look, I don’t have the answer.
But I am definitely leaning towards “tip abolishment”.
What do you think?
