To Tip, Or Not To Tip...
I was born in South America, and raised in Europe. In 1999 I traveled to L.A., for the first time visiting the United States of America. And I was so pleasantly surprised...
photo by LuckyLife11 - source: pixabay.com
One of the lasting impressions from American culture was the way everybody generously tipped bar- and restaurant personnel. I was once again reminded of how the people of a country can be totally different than you expect, based on what you know about that country from the news, movies and other media; the world's greatest capitalist empire is full of the nicest and most generous people you'll ever meet! Here in Europe we only ever leave a tip if the service was exceptional, and even then the tip is whatever we're willing to give; there's no agreed upon percentage or anything...
Little did I know then about the so-called "tipped minimum wage"; only recently I learned about this in a video by Thoughty2. Now, I don't presume to know if everything he says is actually true in the sense of waiters being underpaid or not; as far as I understand the law, you're eventually supposed to earn at least the federal minimum wage, regardless if you live in a state that uses tipped minimum wages or not:
The American federal government requires a wage of at least $2.13 per hour be paid to employees that receive at least $30 per month in tips. If wages and tips do not equal the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour during any week, the employer is required to increase cash wages to compensate. As of May 2017, the average hourly wage – including tips – for a restaurant employee in the United States that received tip income was $11.82.
source: Wikipedia
photo by Dennis Crowley - Best tip jar ever! - source: flickr.com
So, take that with a grain of salt, or even better, if you have worked as a waiter in one of the states that has a separate minimum wage for tipped professions, let us know your experience in the comments.
Also Thoughty2 says that the word "tip" comes from an old acronym, t.i.p. that stood for "to insure promptness" or "promptitude", as he calls it. And although I love all that British babble, I can almost only find web-pages that explain why this is wrong: here's an example, and here's another example.
That's two mistakes I've been able to identify in just a quick checkup. Still, he makes an interesting case for not tipping and why this culture of tipping is ultimately not a good thing. This becomes most clear, for me at least, when he compares this with Japanese culture and how they regard tips.
I'd love for you all to take a look at this, and leave your thoughts in the comments:
The UGLY TRUTH About Tipping & Why You Shouldn't!
Does Thoughty2 make even more mistakes that I missed? Do you have first-hand experience with either the American or the Japanese ways of looking at it? I'd love to hear your thoughts on Thoughty2's theories! Whatever the case: none of it changes the fact that I am still to this day endeared by the American tipping culture and I still leave tips every time I eat or drink out, and have done so since my first visit to L.A. in 1999.
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Tipping is annoying . we do not tip in australia because we pay employees a fair wage.
just the tip
It's different from country to country.. I also know that it varies in europe from country to country. I think it's great if it's given on the check, that way you don't have to worry about it as long as the service was really good and not terrible :)