Persuasive Essay On Tipping

1045 Words3 Pages

Typically, Americans do not have a second thought when it comes to giving a tip at the end of each meal. They simply calculate how much percentage to give their waiter (whether it be 10 to 15 percent) or they simply lie down a couple of wadded up dollar bills. However, some complain that tipping should not feel like an obligation at every meal, especially if the service is poor. Others argue, why should they be responsible for paying the waitstaff humanly? The reason behind why we tip today is because waitstaff do not get paid efficiently since they go on tips alone for income. And with that in mind, we have a debate on whether the customer should be responsible for paying the waitstaff a proportional profit or if the employer should ban tipping …show more content…

According to the United States Department of Labor, “Restaurants in the United States pay servers less than minimum wage, as low as two dollars and change per hour.” For restaurant employees or any employee whose income is based on the tips alone, living on a low salary and whatever tips they manage to earn a night creates an unstable income. That might be okay for a teenager trying to earn some extra cash during the summer, but what about single parents who have to afford day-care services and put food on the table? In addition, in some restaurants, employers do not provide benefits such as health insurance. According to a March 2014 report from the National Economic Council, “...servers are nearly three times as likely as other workers to experience poverty” (Stuart). Plus, some waitstaff have to rely on welfare programs to survive alone. “Tipped workers are heavily reliant on public subsidies to help make ends meet,” reports research economist, Sylvia Allegretto, who studies at the University of California and is a former waitress. She elaborates, “Who helps them bridge the gap? Taxpayers” …show more content…

Customers argue that “ [tipping]... at its best, humanizes rather than commodifies the experience of eating” (Baggini). Julian Baggini, writer of The Philosophers Magazine, explains that “The bill covers the purely financial exchange, but the tip, as a purely voluntary gesture, is a sign that the evening has been more than just a commercial transaction.” However, numerous studies found out that the relation between the tip quantity and the service quality is weakly related (Lynn). A study at Cornell University found that the real reasons people tip more or less are basically arbitrary and that customers who receive great service tip on average just one percent more than customers who do not (CollegeHumor). Tipping can also result in discriminatory pay. Research shows that white servers are consistently tipped more than black servers across the board (Brewster). Michael Lynn says, “Waitresses with larger breast, smaller body sizes, and blonde hair tend to earn more tips than those without those attributes” (Stuart). In a tip-based system, non-white servers make less on tips than their white peers for equal work. And since discriminatory pay is against the law it’s kind of surprising that tipping isn’t straight up illegal (United States Department). Basically, since customers either tip because of what the server looks like or just randomly it does not give the waitstaff sufficient income to

Open Document