Sam Herek

Composition

Ms. Emanuel

April 20 2021

Tipping?

Throughout the long history of the United States tipping has been a big part of many

industries, predominantly the restaurant industry. Most of us have been familiar with the practice

but has it ever crossed your mind to end the practice of tipping in the United States? Although

there are solid arguments to end tipping, tipping is a thing that is good for America and

something that needs to stay. Tipping drives workers to work hard, and rewards their actions.

To start off tipping has been a common practice for decades. Many people believe that

tipping can come across as an insult. I didn’t even consider this until reading about it. I look at

tipping more as a sign of showing gratitude to someone for working hard. The most common

argument for this problem, according to the New York Times, is to increase the wage of waiters

and waitresses. Many countries already do this including most places in Europe. The down side

to this is when waiters and waitresses know exactly how much they are making there is no

incentive to work hard and production would be a lot lower. According to Vanek Smith, a person

whose interviewed researchers about the topic, he said, “Tipping seems to be designed to reward

good service. So the better the service, you know, the higher the tip.” Another reason is places

that are high end restaurants would not be drawing top notch waiters and waitresses in. This is

because if they make wages and not tips there will not be nearly as much money made. The

money would be coming from the restaurant which would probably save the restaurant money

because they could raise the price of the food due to the fact there is no tipping. Though the
restaurant would save money the waiters and waitresses at high end restaurants would not make

as much. Tipping in Europe is also an example that is brought up as a counter argument.

According to Smarter Travel tipping at a restaurant is usually somewhere between 5-10%. This is

because wages are higher so tipping is less. I personally like this idea because if they do an

exceptional job then there is room for a bigger tip and if they don’t they still have the wage to

back up on, so it’s the best of both worlds.

One big argument to get rid of tipping is the customer who is tipping feels like they have a

lot of control which sometimes leads to sexual harassment. The customer feels as though they are

in control of the waiter or waitress and controls the amount of money they could make. Often

times this leads to sexual harassment. The customer will cat call or harass the employee in a

different way. Michelle Alexander, an African American lawyer who was once a waitress said, “I

had no idea that tipping was a legacy of slavery or that racism and sexism had operated to keep

women, especially Black women like me, shut out of federal protections for wage labor. I did not

question tipping as a practice, though looking back I see that I should have.” What’s she talking

about you might ask? Well many people are unfamiliar with the history of tipping and why it

started. Tipping started in the United States as a way to basically screw over mainly African

American women by paying them way below minimum wage and having them depend on tips.

As many of us know America has changed quite a bit and although it’s not where it needs to be

yet it is not nearly as segregated as it was back then. My response to this is pretty simple,

although harassment is horrible and something America needs to fix, ending tipping will not

solve harassment. According to Vox, Retail trade, Manufacturing jobs, and Healthcare and social

assistance industries are all above 10% in cases related to harassment in the workplace, all of
which do not rely on tipping. Waiters and waitresses have plenty of opportunity and if you do a

good job most of the time you will be paid well.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons to tipping. Pros being it’s a way to show gratitude

and say thank you for what you’re doing and it keeps waiters and waitresses working hard. A

few cons are you’re more likely to experience sexual harassment and pay could be lower. But

overall I believe tipping is one of those things that keeps the world going round. Leaving a few

extra dollars for someone can make their day and also without that some people wouldn’t be able

to leave some huge tips, like Shaquille O'Neal, who once left a 3000 dollar tip to a waitress who

did an excellent job.

Word count: 795

Works cited

Engle Jeremy, “Should we End the Practice of Tipping.” The New York

Times, Mar 9 2021,

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/learning/should-we-end-the-practice-of-tipping.ht

ml

Vanek Smith, Stacey, “Why Americans Can’t Quit Tipping.” NPR,

Feb. 20 2019, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/696421086

Zetlin Minda, “Why There Should Be No More Tipping at Restaurants.” Inc, Apr.

2021.https://www.inc.com/principal/new-legislation-delivers-economic-relief-to-business

es-and-individuals.html

Stewart Emily, “These are the Industries with the Most Reported Sexual Harassment

Claims.” Vox, November 21 2017,

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/11/21/16685942/sexual-harassment-industry-servic

e-retail

Knapp Kate, “Tipping in Europe: The Europe Tipping Guide.” Smarter Travel, May

25, 2017, https://www.smartertravel.com/tipping-in-europe-the-europe-tipping-guide/