It wasn’t until I struggled to find cash to tip a barista for making my coffee at a drive through location, that my 15 year old son asked ‘What are you doing?’ When I explained I needed a dollar for a tip, his second question of ‘Why?’ was followed by ‘You don’t tip when you drive through to get a burger, why are you tipping because you are getting a coffee?’ So began our debate of the topic.
This got me thinking about how and when tipping got started and how it has evolved over the years. So I googled the topic and came across several sites with information on the history, etiquette and in general the business of tipping, and the business of tipping generates billions of dollars each year.
My first job as a teen was working at a national fast food chain and I worked the drive through window. This was in the mid 70’s and we never received tips. My second job was working as a hostess, then waitress at a nationally known restaurant chain and my first exposure to receiving tips. Keep in mind when I entered the tip receiving industry, I thought it was great. Not only did I get a paycheck I was able to make extra money / cash every day I was at work! This was during a time before the IRS seriously enforced the reporting and regulating of tips. I only worked in a restaurant industry for four years and it wasn’t until my last year in this industry that the IRS was figuring out ways to better track the income received through tips.
One of the first things I learned starting out as a hostess, was hostesses never received tips, only waitresses did and they in turn tipped the bus boys at the end of their shifts. Just like the theory of customers who tip ‘BIG’ get better service, so was it believed that the waitress who tipped bus boys the best, got the best service when it came to getting their tables cleared, cleaned and set up first. I always wondered why hostesses weren’t included in this thought processes, since they potentially had the power to slam your section setting the waitress up for failure or success. I am aware there are some establishments that the tip money collected is shared amongst all the service workers (i.e., waitress, hostess, busboy, dishwasher, etc.)
I always had believed the reason for tipping was because back in the day people working in the service industry were only paid through tipping or was a way to supplement their income since the made less than minimum wage. In my research I came across a site that shows what the different state laws are for minimum wage and how it applies for those in the tipping industry.
http://www.paywizard.org/main/Minimumwageandovertime/MinimumWageTIPRecevers
Tipping originated in Europe sometime between the 1500’s to 1700’s in a pub and was meant to be a token of appreciation to buy the server a drink, so was known as ‘drink money’, it is said that eventually pubs labeled containers “To Insure Promptness” and eventually was shortened to TIP. The tradition of tipping wasn’t introduced to the US until after the Civil War.
Depending on the country and their culture determines the tipping expectations/practices. From what I’ve read tipping is most prevalent and socially expected in the United States and Canada. Most locations throughout Europe if heavily populated with tourists accept tips, yet other places look at tipping as unethical, and the business of receiving tips is not just for the wait staff at your favorite restaurant, tipping can also include;
Shuttle Drive
Limo Driver
Taxi Driver
Porter/Doorman
Bell Staff
Hotel Staff
Room Service
Maids/Housekeeping
Valet Parking
Wine Steward
Buffet Servers
Hair Stylists
Manicurists
Massage Therapists
Bartender
Cocktail Waitress
Concierge
Baristas
I do believe tipping has gotten out of control. With labor laws and employee rights, it is less likely today that employees in the service industry are being taken advantage of. Everyone makes a wage for their job in the state they live in. When you are hired to do a job, that wage is to compensate you to do the best you can do. It is NOT to pay you to just ‘be there’ and then you are rewarded for doing your best via tips.
Consider the following; if you had to tip everyone to receive good customer service, that means going to the bank to make a deposit you should tip the teller, taking your car in to get new tires, your oil changed or breaks fixed you should tip the mechanic, what about car salesmen, teachers, doctors, nurses, secretaries, cashiers, movie concession workers and the list can goes on.
I realize some will argue with me that most of those occupations I listed above are considered higher paying jobs and tipping is to help offset the lower paying jobs. Then I go back to what my son said, why aren’t we tipping the person at the fast food window? Also if other professions took the same mentality, like myself at my current job as an administrative assistant and only did the bare minimum required of me and gave exceptional service only because I might be compensated more … I would lose my job.
I’ve always tipped well and generally more than what is expected. I chalk that up to my experience in high school working as a waitress, being young and needing the extra income. But I also don’t have a problem not tipping if my service and server isn’t up to my expectations.
Now since having this debate with my son, and researching the topic, I find myself asking in today’s society should the consumer be the financially responsible party compensating restaurant owner’s employees with tipping so they make a decent wage when ‘most’ restaurants have a HUGE mark up on the products they serve or why should a consumer have to pay extra to get good service? To be a successful profitable business good customer service can make or break a business regardless of the industry you are in. I don’t see tipping going away in the near future but ask yourself where do you draw the line when it comes to tipping?
Shannon Tripp©
**Originally written September 2014**
http://www.paywizard.org/main/Minimumwageandovertime/MinimumWageTIPRecevershttp://www.billshrink.com/blog/7156/the-history-of-tipping/http://culinarytravel.about.com/od/planningculin
arytravel/qt/History_of_Tipping.htmhttp://hotels.about.com/od/hotelsecrets/a/tipping-etiquette.htmhttp://able2know.org/topic/123887-1http://money.cnn.com/2001/10/07/pf/tipping/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_%28gratuity%29http://thetyee.ca/Life/2004/08/16/TippingTrouble/http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-we-tip-for-some-professions-but-not-others.htminsult and would be offended to receive a tip.
(c) Shannon Tripp
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