6 reasons to outlaw tipping
Posted by staff / June 23, 2013 decent wageElizabeth Gunnisonminimum wage
Anyone who’s ever worked for tips knows the frustration of coming up short at the end of a long day.
Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn published her six reasons why tipping should be outlawed in the U.S. over at Esquire, and — fear not, service professionals — they’re not based on workers being undeserving of a decent wage.
1. People don’t even understand what a tip is
If you are of the belief that a tip is an optional kindness you’re doing for your server, you might be surprised to hear that you are not in France. Here in America, the practice is voluntary only in the legal sense of the word. You are not technically stealing if you don’t tip the customary 15 to 20 percent, but that’s probably the best that can be said of you. The tip you pay is a sort of wage: federal law allows tips to be used to make up the difference between a server’s salary and minimum wage, meaning they can make as little as $2 to $3 per hour from their restaurant employer. Tips are absolutely depended upon to make up the shortfall…
2. Doctors don’t live on tips. Nor do flight attendants.
Tip confusion is understandable, because it’s not the way we choose to compensate most of our other people-facing professions. Imagine if when you went to the doctor, you decided how much he got paid based on how happy you were with the diagnosis; or if actors and musicians were paid discretionary sums by the audience, post-performance. Even within the context of the restaurant, some roles receive salaries and others rely on tips. Why do I tip the bartender who made my Manhattan, but not the line cook who grilled the excellent steak I’m eating with it? It’s completely arbitrary. Servers, whose job demands are not fundamentally different than that of hard-working office assistants, or hotel concierges, or spin instructors, or flight attendants, should be paid the competitive wage for what they do and how well they do it, and that cost should be factored into menu prices.
Full story at Esquire via Kottke.
Photo credit: Fotolia
According to the IRS, most service workers who rely on tips for the majority of their income do far better than the minimum wage. In fact service workers are some of the most highly compensated blue collar workers. When I was a waiter in college it wasn’t unusual to make $40 an hour – pretty good for someone with my level of experience and age.