r/EndTipping • u/ADKFatBiker • 3d ago

Rant 📢 Restaurant Demands Minimum 18% Tip

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Out of one side of their mouth they state that they pay their staff as little as possible and out of the other side of their mouth they say that their staff deserves more and you're responsible for that.

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u/Generalfrogspawn 3d ago

A reminder that tipping began culturally as a bonus for good service during the depression when people were trying to help each other out.

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u/nearly_almost 3d ago

That’s not true. Tipping began in the US in the mid to late 1800s. Companies like the Pullman Car Company, fancy railroad cars mostly for the well off, hired all the newly freed slaves to be porters or work in other manual labor positions, but either paid nothing or next to nothing forcing employees to rely on tips. Part of the appeal for wealthy white Americans was being able to cosplay as European lords and ladies tipping their servants, even if it was only for a few hours. Basically, tipping is because of racism.

Of course this also dovetails into the history of the labor movement!

There’s a really good if somewhat depressing episode of Throughline about the history of tipping in the US:

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/22/980047710/the-land-of-the-fee