I'm obsessed with YouTube and I watch a lot of videos. One of my favorite YouTubers is Phillip DeFranco, who covers the biggest news stories that interest him on his channel four days a week. In this recent video
he briefly covered a story about a girl who was fired from her job because she posted online about how Mexican people don't tip well. Obviously this girl was racist and in the wrong and deserved to lose her job, but that's not what this article is about. This is about what I saw in the comments after watching this video. A huge argument broke out about American tipping culture and whether it's a good or bad thing.
I know that America is unique in that we tip for meals at restaurants and a lot of other things. I know that it can be confusing to people who are not from America and I don't blame people for being confused, so I'll do my best to explain for people who are not familiar with the system.
Why leave a tip?
When you pay for a meal at a restaurant, you are paying for only that: your food. The prices on the menu are more or less exactly the amount the food costs. Your bill does not include a price for the service you received: being seated, having your order taken, having someone promptly refill your drinks, check in on you, bring your food in a timely manner, bring you anything additional you ask for, basically do whatever you ask for the hour or two you're eating your meal. The reason you are not charged for your service is because it is supposed to be up to you how much you pay based on the quality of service you got, but it is an agreed upon social norm that you do leave a tip, a payment for your service from your waiter or waitress.
What if you can't afford to leave a tip?
Well, the understanding is basically that you won't go out and ask to be served if you can't pay for it. Going out to eat is seen as a luxury here, not a necessity.
How much should you tip?
Tipping isn't terribly expensive. Most people tip 10-20% of what they spend. The more you buy, the more you tip, and you also tip based on service-if you server did a great job, they should absolutely be rewarded. Tipping usually doesn't end up being more than $5 a person.
Don't servers already get paid?
Well, that's where it gets complicated. Sure, severs are paid by their superiors, but barely at all. See, tipping is so commonplace in America that employers expect their servers will be tipped and pay them accordingly. So servers are paid less than the minimum wage and this can be very low numbers. The current minimum wage for people who make $30 or more in tips per month is $2.13 an hour. Two dollars. For only 30 dollars or more a month. Think about it. These people wait on you for hours. They deserve more than that.
Why do people work for such low wages?
Because they have to. Obviously, if these people could find a job that paid them $20 an hour, they would work there! But people go out to eat a lot, and we need a lot of servers, and tips are usually decent. So waiting tables is a very common job especially for high school or college students who don't have a degree yet and need to pay for school, and with the value of a college degree going down rapidly in America, more and more older people with skills are turning to such jobs simply because they are jobs.
I hope it seems pretty simple now, but a lot of people in the comments on the above video were still confused or even upset about tipping culture.
"All these American waiters and waitresses complaining about not getting tipped. Even you Phil, what the f*** is wrong with your brain? How does your brain go: "OK! I'm not getting paid enough for doing my job, THAT IS THE FAULT OF THE CUSTOMER WHO IS PAYING THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING." Complain to your bosses not the f****** customers. American tipping culture is just stupid and backwards."
"I don't get tipping in America. They get annoyed when you don't pay them extra money that they are not entitled to."
There were tons of comments like the above on the video, and they are simply ignorant. Tips are not "extra" money. They are payment for the service you received. The "Exact amount of money they are supposed to be paying" is the price of food and that's all. There is nothing "entitled" about working a job with tips and being upset when you don't get tipped. And "complaining to your bosses" is a great way to get fired. It's not like the restaurant managers are behind the whole thing. It's bigger than that. It's a long held, agreed upon tradition that has become part of the culture. If you don't like it, don't come to America and eat out. Most of the people leaving these comments were Europeans, making their comments ethnocentric and elitist.
Obviously I am not saying you have to tip when a server doesn't do their job correctly and I am not defending the girl who made the racist comment. I am simply saying that it is ignorant and rude to dismiss tipping culture just because you don't understand it.
