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Tyler Poppe
ENGL 2010
Stacie Weatbrook
July 23, 2015
Commentary- Gratuities
There have been an uncountable amount of injustices in the service industry for
years and they all stem from the same problem, tipping. The gratuity system is unfair to
the employees and customers in this industry. In what other industry is the customer
expected to pay the worker providing them service? Why doesnt the business pay the
employees more? What is a good tip? These are just a few of the problems that come
from the gratuity system. A recent study showed that that almost 15% of the waitstaff in
America live in poverty, compared to only 7% of workers in all other industries (15
Things). It is unfair that workers depend on such a faulty system for their livelihood.
Workers should not have their wages decreased due to the receiving of tips.
Recently, LeSean McCoy of the Buffalo Bills was reported as leaving a $.20 tip
after his meal. McCoy said that this was a statement that he was trying to make for poor
service (15 Things). He even went on to say that he is normally a good tipper (15
Things). This made me think, if a multi millionaire athlete leaves this type of statement,
how often does this really occur? Is it right to make a statement in this way?
The government has allowed businesses to pay workers in the service industry as
little as $2.13 an hour. With these types of statements being all too common workers
often make less then deserved. The worker that provided service to McCoy probably did
deserve some type of consequence for his poor service, but this bad tip also affected the
other waiter as the tips are shared. The gratuity system allows the good workers to be
punished along with the bad workers. This is unfair.

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The workers in the service industry must also depend on an inconsistent income
that can changes due to variables that they cannot control. Why doesnt the company just
pay them normal wages and let the extra tip money be a bonus? It was, after all, intended
to be a bonus for prompt service where it originated in Europe (A History of Handing it
Over).
Some may argue that the company lowers the prices of the food with the money
that they save from not paying their employees normal wages. But is this really the case?
It seems that this is not the case as we can all see that the prices in restaurants continue to
allow the companies to make a considerable profit and the prices are not cheap by any
means for the average American.
The gratuity system is flawed it itself. The expectation of receiving money after
interactions in the service industry cheapens the employee-customer relationship. The
culture of tipping hurts business and it is unfair for the employees and customers. But
until this problem is resolved the best solution would be to pay the employees regular
wages. This would not only be the logical thing to do, but it would make the employees
less dependent on tips. If employees were less dependent on tips, and saw it as a bonus
that could come if they provide exceptional service, they would continue to provide good
service and would receive fair compensation that would lower the percentage of workers
that are in poverty within their industry.
It is clear that workers should not have their wages decrease due to the receiving
of gratuities. It seems that it is here to stay for some time though so until this problem is
fixed we will continue to be confused about when to tip, how much to tip, and who to
give the tip to. And with this confusion the workers will not receive fair compensation for

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the service that they have provided; for that sole reason, confusion. It is time to eliminate
this flawed system and pay them what they deserve and let them receive a bonus when
they provide extraordinary service. Hopefully this problem is resolved sooner rather than
later.

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Works Cited
Cook, Stephanie. "A history of 'handing it over'." Christian Science
Monitor 23 Oct.
2000: 14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 July 2015.
"15 Things You Didn't Know About Tipping." Time. Time. Web. 6 July
2015.