A Way Of Rewarding America's Tipping Culture

In his New York Times article titled The Capitalist; The Case Against Tipping, Michel Lewis wonders whether tipping really serves any significant purpose. In his own words, "no lawful behavior in the marketplace is as disturbing to me as the growing appeals for gratuities." Lewis is convinced that people should not be rewarded for doing something they are paid to do in the first place.

I just wanna get off my table and go home, I don’t care about the change. But in America, it seems like tipping is pretty much mandatory, and not only is it mandatory, but you also get judged if you don’t leave a tip, like people will actually think you’re cheap, or a jerk

As a recent employee in the restaurant industry, first as a hostess and later as a waitress, I have had the opportunity to experience the system of tipping not just from a customer’s point of view.

“Tips are accepted not expected” not always the case. In certain restaurants management will automatically generate a 18% gratuity when there are larger parties being served. In a recent article on the 1010 wins.com website ( “tip dispute leads to arrests at soprano’s“ )the reporter tells of a story where people actually got arrested because they refused to pay the mandatory 18% tip. At some point consumers should have the right to draw the line when it comes to tipping. Michael Lewis says “ our natural and admirable reluctance to enter into the spirit of the thing causes the thing to lose whatever value it had in the first place”(23). Tip amounts should not be mandated by the size of the party. A gratuity should remain based upon the quality of the service that was provided.

If non-tipped employees were to be paid the amount they are demanding then we would most likely have less eat-in restaurants open around the U.S.A.. That would effect family time, get-togethers and, other special occations. As it states in Sever Wages Cannot Be Increased "If Waffle Now were required to pay servers the higher wage (they) I might need to raise the prices of our menu items to cover the wage increase." Most Americans do not like

When we had finished the dinner the waitress brought a bill, which costs me an arm and a leg.

In the essay “The Case Against Tipping” by Michael Lewis, Lewis strongly states his feelings against tipping and also whether tipping is an act of kindness or an obligation. One of his main views are, most food industries have eye grabbers that push customers to think about giving an extra tip. Lewis has very interesting arguments, but has very few examples; which makes his claims unsupported.

Which of the tips will be the hardest for you? The hardest tip for me would have to be tip 6 which states, “Recognize that you will be overwhelmed. I chose this tip being my hardest because being overwhelmed is not a word in my family. I get told “ No it's overwhelming it is just the way you're going about your time management”, “ That I'm whining” , “ I have to work harder to do better”, or even “that's not an excuse”. I know that when I do not live up to those expectations that are set by family, professors or even by me I blame myself. Knowing that I didn't achieve my expectations I feel like a failure because I see it as I let myself down when I know I have not reached what I have set up for myself. When it comes to family I know they

It is a privilege to be able to share with those who provided you with service. The mere are of tipping displays a level of appreciation for that which another has provided for you. Even if the service was not up to the standard, tipping the waitress/waiter operates as a form of forgiveness in that process. There must be some empathy extended to others when they have missed the mark, just the same as God has extended toward us when we miss the mark. Leaving a good tip speaks volumes for the tipper but also helps with recapturing relational capital that may have been lost by previous Christians.

This article highlight the issue of wage encountered by the people working in fast-food. In fact, the amount of money that can be received in an hour by waiters, waitress, bartenders or busboys pegged only 29,38 % of the minimum wage. Some protests to raise their salaries has been done but it didn’t change the situation. The tipped minimum wage law has fail due to random or meager tips. When Bill Moyers spoke with Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, he expresses his discontent about the topic.

The customer typically decides how much tipped workers will receive since customer take on the role of the manager while the tipped worker is the employee. The amount of the tip is contingent upon the quality of

Tipping is a form of gratitude and reward for your waiter or waitress. In some states, tips are waiters and waitresses only income. The other majority of wait staff does not earn a complete pay check, but only about half of minimum wage and they tend to bank on the bulk of their funds coming from their tips. Tips are not a form of compensating the wait staff, but because they are not paid enough it supplements a wage to help them survive on. Tipping is generally a part of corporate culture. Corporate culture usually encompasses the ways work and authority are organized, the ways people are rewarded and controlled, as well as organizational features such as customs, taboos, company slogans, heroes, and social rituals (Brickley, Smith, & Zimmerman, 2016, p. 366). Also, tipping gives the wait staff incentives to work hard to earn more money. Furthermore, this motivates them to make sure they give customers satisfactory service to ensure a hefty tip in return. Waiters and waitresses work harder than any other employee in a restaurant. They come in early and help to prep, clean, refill condiments, and ensure silverware is rolled

I chose to research this subculture because I was so curious about it. I have some friends that wait tables, but I hadn’t really thought about how being a waitress involves so many things aside from serving food. Waitressing is more about handling all different types of people, and learning to multitask successfully than just serving food. When I go out to eat, I usually only notice if the waitress or waiter is nice to me and my party. I make sure that all of the food and drinks come out the way we ordered them, and I also pay attention to how the food tastes. When I started my research and observation for this ethnography, I started to pay more attention the server when I was eating at restaurants. I started to notice how many tables the server waited on, I noticed how many times he or she had to take food back to the kitchen because someone thought it was wrong or not cooked right, and I also noticed how unhappy he or she was when they left a certain table. I have also

Also, when a waiter has all this cash in their pocket after work and home is twenty minutes away, it is very convenient to not have to go all the way home to change completely before going out for the evening.Working at a restaurant is also a very laid-back occupation. Not very many jobs enables an employee to interact with so many different people.

They expect me to be patient, clear with orders, not demanding, and aware of what is going on. I must know what food they just told me was done and where to take it, but first I need to pay attention to hear when my name is called. There is usually more tension between the kitchen and waiters than there is with any other workers. The roles are so different. The kitchen staff usually looks at servers as just wanting to get a good tip, and that we do not care the extremities the kitchen has to go to for us. It is important that servers respect the kitchen staff; they are in charge of the food we will be serving. “Servers, as mediators, need their food when their customers demand it: sometimes this is before the food is ready; at other times after. If servers demand food too early, cooks are stressed; but if they don’t pick up the food on time, the food is poor and the cook seems incompetent.” (Fine 105). This is the most true on Friday and Saturday nights. Everything seems to be more chaotic on these nights, since most people decide to go out. This is good because it brings in more business for the restaurant, but then there are always more unhappy customers on these nights as well. Overall, positive interaction with the kitchen staff can make amazing things happen.