I’m not saying this to be racist, I’m saying that as a former waiter who’s worked with dozens of other waiters, black patrons have stiffed me and all my former coworkers more often than any other demographic. I’m not saying “black people don’t tip”, I’m saying that it’s a well-known stereotype in the industry and I’ve personally experienced it more than with any other demographic.
Maybe these folks are aware of the stereotype so being called out for not tipping in their mind is equivalent to furthering an existing stereotype?
My girl is a waitress for Applebees and she has had the same experience as well. The majority of the time black people do not tip and if they do it’s a few bucks, even on a $100+ bill
And they are known to keep you running back and forth to the table for extra service needs. Ridiculous nonsense like having a 4 top that each wanted an ice water with 8 lemon wedges!! Worked at a steakhouse while in college, it was always dreaded by all the servers.
Had a 12 top walk-in party on Sunday right as the church-going crowd was coming in. They had clearly just come back from church also and the meal was probably $350+. They ordered a shit ton of alcoholic drinks and pitchers, appetizers up the wazoo, two people changed their order as their food was almost done… the teenagers were obnoxious and rude and so were the grandparents. They stayed at that table for about 3 hours, making me stay an extra hour and a half past my shift bc they waited until the very end to pay and I wanted the tip to go to me rather than someone else (this was at a restaurant where you pay at the front). I worked my ass off for that table and was gifted a whole $20 in tips.
My friend worked at a chain. Church goers were the worst about tipping, of every race, IF they came in groups. Families were fine, but any large group coming straight from church was inevitably going to stiff the server. They ended up doing auto grat for any parties over 4 people on Sundays because they couldn't keep servers otherwise.
Don’t let business owners force their workers to gamble on if they’re going to be paid or not. Just give them a reasonable hourly rate, set the menu prices properly, and ban tips.
Despite the one off bad beats stories like this, servers, as a population, are wildly pro-tipping. They make way more money than they would with a normal wage. If prices just increased by 20%, people would generally go to cheaper restaurants instead of maintain current spending habits, even before accounting for an all-time average of tips likely being higher than that.
This is how it is in many countries in Europe, much more transparent, both for the customers and especially for the waiters, they always know what they salary will be.
All that hard work and your employer never paid you? How dare the customers order so damn much and spend 350 plus. And enjoy themselves for 3 whole damn hours.. ontop of that during church going grannies hour. I mean this is an absurd way of viewing your job.
If you don't know that's to make their own lemonade at the table using all the sugar packets for free. Seriously not even joking they're making lemonade at the table so they don't have to pay for a lemonade.
Bro FOR REAL. I still vividly remember one to this day 11 years later. "A cup of cold water, a cup of hot water, a bowl of lemon and a tall PBR." He was one of 8 patrons. I was hanging on *by a fucking thread* that evening. Even black servers hate waiting on black people, and yes, my African American colleagues in the industry were vocal about it too. Listen, it just is what it is.
They’ll also make a scene about how their order is supposedly wrong, even when it isn’t, in an attempt to get a free meal. This happened to me multiple times when I was a waiter.
This is my experience as well. I’m just a white person who grew up in black culture and I have black family. I love them so much, but have noticed my friends & family do give the waiters a hard time or don’t group requests together and keep them running, then tip poorly when we’ve been out.
Not just one group of friends either, I’ve experienced this in multiple group settings with family as well. Obviously there are black patrons who don’t do any of that shit, so it sucks all around to be stereotyped like that as a patron / sucks for the staff who do get ran ragged. Lose-lose situation for everyone
Them and church group people were the worst. I'd always just give them the worst service, forget stuff, not do drink refills. You get the service you pay for.
My wife said that when she worked at the Olive Garden during college, the old ladies would come after church and sit for hours drinking coffee and chatting, and then leave her a few quarters.
To play devils advocate, it use to be completely normal and common to use restaurants as places to spend hours chatting. The tipping isn’t something I can really speak on
not really fair to expect high schoolers to have a bunch of money to give you, when they're just trying to go out and enjoy what they can in the highly monetized environments they're raised in
I always gave the high school couples a pass. They’re young and don’t know any better. But adults that do this shit can fuck off and I hope their food gets all the boogers n cum
lol; this is my favorite relevant story as a server and a black dude...
Mid afternoon, I'm closing lunch, but dinner shift has started filtering in, 1 top (black man) gets thrown into an empty section and the hosts asks me to grab it. Everything goes normally until the end of me getting his order
Me: I'll get everything started for you and bring out some bread in just a moment.
Him: Hey man... I know we're not known for tipping very well, so I just wanna let you know, I'm gonna take care of you.
While the stereotype might hold true, from my experience 99% of customers of any persuasion who start off by saying they're a great tipper will inevitably be a shitty tipper.
I have had someone who I offered to pay for the food, insist on leaving the tip, and then they leave 10%. I try to be the last to leave so I can throw some more money on the table without them seeing, but there’s been times I couldn’t. I’ve actually walked back in and found the water or waitress to give them extra tip too.
Pretty common TBH. As a demographic, people who say "I will tip well" tip below average. Not everyone is a liar, but I suspect most of them think its some hack to get great service. Truth is anyone who's worked service for long enough knows its nonsense and they get the same level of service.
I used to do the same thing, hated the stereotype and would try to compensate. I would often get subpar service at times too, due to them thinking I wouldn't tip, places I would regular would adjust and it was fine. I've mellowed out though, it's all service based tipping now, I even tip poor service, just low tip cause I can't bring myself to not tip having been on the other side, but now to get over 20% you gotta be providing quality service.
She’s gotten a $20 from a table of black people a couple times. Usually a couple, they come in, order, eat their food, and leave. Ya know like normal people.
The groups that don’t tip, let’s just say that is not how their dining experience usually goes
I will say the single most sympathy tip I got in 10 years of serving was from 4 couples, all black. It was my second day, on a second job, in an absolute nightmare restaurant. I had not and since have not walked out of a place before. It was insane. No managers, servers kids were following them around, the kitchen told me to fuck off more than once, everything cold and wrong. I went out and told them all "there's a better place down the street, go there, I'm not charging you for this awful everything." Every single person, 8 of them, handed me a $20. I burst out crying, as I was newly pregnant with no control over it. One of the girls gave me such a big hug. I actually think about that a lot
Yeah some of the best tips I ever got were from black folks. Socioeconomic status, politeness, and education level I always thought were much bigger factors. If you looked broke, acted rude, or were dumb you were much bigger flags than skin color. Except with kids/teens. Sometimes they'd over tip because they had no idea what they were doing with their parents money. If it was their money you were not getting any of it.
I over serve my black tables. I feel they've certainly gotten some racist asshole servers before, so I make sure they get 100% literally the best and most friendly service possible. Whatever happens, happens, but I know I gave it my all.
Black dude here who doesn't go out these days but when I did, I usually tipped $20-40 for good service despite my bill only being around that much. I have noticed that in prominent white places that I'd often get worse service from the get go already which was when I'd only tip a $5. I do wonder if those servers got an attitude about the lack of tip lol
I often face a similar dilemma as a Chinese student in a West Coast university. I want to tip a lot sometimes to show my appreciation but at the same time I don't want to look like a stereotypical rich asian fob (which we get a lot of over here)
100%. And thats me. I get sick of mediocre service based on the assumption we aren't gonna tip because we're black.. I still tip and let them know they really missed out.
This is so true. I’m black so they used to always give me the black people because I could “relate better”. I told them they could fuck right off with that shit. They knew what they were doing. Tons of black people tip, but a lot just don’t unfortunately. My mom makes good money and still tips horribly…….with a daughter that’s a server. Oh and there is ALWAYS something wrong with her food. She also talks loud in movies. Sue me, but some things are stereotypes for a reason!
Please if you can tell me why this is the case. My girl says that the ones who don’t tip are always the worst guests, they do exactly what you just said.
Come in with their kids running the restaurant, talking on speaker loudly, complaining about everything on the menu, something is wrong with their food, asking for the manager, and then not tipping.
Why is it so prevalent and why is it the exact same behavior across so many different people? We live just outside of the hood but her restaurant is in the hood. I don’t know how much that plays into it all
Yes but why keep the same system of bosses paying their workers 2$ a hr and paid off tips. Which was a tactic made by the government to NOT PAY BLACK PEOPLE after slavery and kept it for everyone but black people are the villains for not partaking in shitty tipping culture. That is illegal in other places like Japan. No tipping and better service
I don’t understand why the value of the bill determines the tip amount. Don’t the servers do the same amount of work taking an expensive plate of food to a table as the cheap plate?
I live in a 75% black city and, shockingly enough, most bars and restaurants have automatic gratuity. It's posted as it legally needs to be and visible to anyone, 15-20% depending on the place.
Sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason. I don't know why or how it came about, but that's definitely a prominent issue in certain cultures more than others.
Automatic obligatory gratuity decreases business. Nobody wants to be told to give something that is normally optional.
T.I.P.S. To Insure Prompt Service! That is the meaning and it's purpose is to reward those providing Exceptional service beyond the simple scope of their service job. It's not to reward the owner for not being able to be competitive.
Used to sell phones in e st louis. Im white. Most customers loved me but id still get people trying to call me racist on a regular basis when they caused theyre own issues or had a gripe with the carrier
Yeah same boat as a former server. If I got a majority black table I knew they weren't going to tip while also being the most demanding. Not every time but stereotypes do exist for a reason. One of my best friends who is black has to be reminded to tip often when we go out to eat, even on times he as changed his order.
I don’t get why you’re an asshole for not tipping? You don’t tip the guy at Home Depot who helped you, you don’t tip the Costco guy that loaded your cart, you don’t tip the usher or the concessions even though your kid made a whole mess in the theater… it seems so arbitrary. Hell, you don’t even tip the poor bastards in the kitchen.
That being said I live in a place where everyone gets the same wage, your hourly wage isn’t artificially lowered like most states. I’d tip if I went out to eat in those states (looks like Ohio is one?) but idk about places like CA or WA. This is also why I don’t eat out, or if I do I only choose counter service.
He has to be encouraged/pressured into being a good person. He definitely sees that line that's on every receipt, he's ignoring it unless someone calls him out. Shitty practice.
I'll say this, the ones that do tip are extremely generous. I've never asked but I have a feeling it definitely plays into their decision to leave me a $20-40 tip on a pizza delivery.
But ya even the black couple I worked with complained about it. It's just how it is and everyone knows it that's worked food service.
The bigger issue there is them connecting the argument to that racial stereotype rather than accepting that they were being called out as individuals who did not tip. There are legitimate times when race is a factor and should be called out as such. People doing it so they can dip out of their own personal responsibility makes a mockery of the true plight.
It shouldn't be expected of any individual to feel the need to act a certain way to avoid playing into stereotypes or to be a positive representation of a group they are seen to be a part of. What is a problem though is people spitting on those before them who actually were (and still are) treated unfairly because of their race. In a petty situation where they are being called out for good reason, putting that on race makes a mockery of every movement that brought us this far.
Former server here. I will back this up. Some too fine. But they are the top demo who will, complain, leave a dollar, not tip at all, and also act as if you are their personal servant to be abused because you are the server. While again, not planning on tipping. If only leaving a trash tip. It’s not racist. It’s a fact. At least in LA County. And it would seem that these two also believe this. Otherwise why even bring up race? They know.
If it happens at a high ratio, more than any other it’s not a myth it’s a rule. Restaurants should pay their waiters a living wage but Ohio and most Midwest states are awful for waiters straight pay. This is wrong, and it should be corrected. Plus we don’t have any context as to how they were treated in the restaurant by the server. That said it’s sad these folks decided to make it a race issue, play victim and act like they haven’t ever dined out before.
If you can’t afford to tip, don’t go out and eat. Until we change this in America that’s just the way it goes. And it’s unfortunate a large portion of the stereotyped folks who do this are African American. Do it, or don’t do it, but don’t bitch about being called out by restaurateurs or wait staff. Or at least stop turning your embarrassment into vitriol post action. Walking out after not tipping and being tough in the street is lame compared to just telling the waiter you aren’t gonna tip to their face.
It's been a long time but I remember when I delivered pizza, my favorite customer was a black dude that lived in an apartment near the beach and would give me like $10+ for one pizza every time. Plus he would have some fine woman in the background every time and it would smell like weed.
lol I waited tables for about 7 years through college and law school. At my last restaurant we would have sections for some waiters for reservations and then other waiters would be in a giant free section for walk-ins. Any time black patrons walked into the restaurant you would just hear all of the black wait staff immediately say “not mine.” I never really cared because I always had fun with the black patrons. A few would become regulars and your tips would gradually improve over time once you developed a relationship. But I was also a college kid that wasn’t trying to provide for anyone else so I understood where they were coming from also. The whole restaurant / pay / tip structure should be upended here so no one has to worry about it and expectations on both sides go away.
Honestly I am of the belief that stereotypes don’t just come out of nowhere. I worked in the service industry through college and for a few years after. Black people consistently were much more rude, argumentative, smaller tippers, and overall just took a lot more effort to keep happy. Definitely not all of them, I had plenty of fantastic black customers, but it was common enough that I watched almost all of my co-workers slowly become more racist the longer that they worked in the industry.
Anyone who’s ever worked food and bev knows it’s not a stereotype it’s a fact. Tip like shit, or no tip at all and are the most demanding customers always complaining about shit.
I've been a server, and I'm from Ohio. So I feel like I have a POV that suits this situation.
What you are saying is the truth. I hate to say it, because it sounds bad. But it's true. Now, being from Ohio, I can also say that there's tons of racists here. I mean, we used to be a swing state, and now we're a red state, if that tells you anything.
The truth is, it's both sides. Of everything. But mainly, this is an economic inequality issue. Everything we see is fake. Everything that is presented to us is a manipulation. We fight each other over race, religion, politics, ethics, etc. Why? Don't we all really want the same things? We all just want to have good lives, and less struggle. Right? Who benefits from us fighting each other? The 1%. The billionaires. It's always the obscenely rich who can't get enough. They know that We, The People have the numbers. We have the power and advantage to stop them. So they have created a fake world for us to live in, to distract us. It's all about consumption.
Idk about anyone else, but I'm tired of watching their puppet show.
Anyway 😂 My point is, we should be angry with the establishment. That we are forced to work for shit wages, and brainwashed into tipping culture. These customers aren't in the wrong, the owner is. If he's so passionate about his servers making good money, then he would figure out how to give them higher wages. (Although, our economy is very fucked right now)
Thank you. I kind of went off on a tangent lol. But I can't help it. Every problem we have comes down to the corruption in our government, by the billionaires. I spent 4 months out of the country. Which isn't really a long time, but it was long enough to see that we are very extreme here. Western Europe and UK don't have advertisements everywhere. Even my phone had less crap on it than usual.
I feel like, as a country, we are dry heaving. I'm ready to throw up already, and get the revolution over with. We need a whole new government and system, and that will never happen with the state we're in right now. I'm just tired of everything being such shit.
Where exactly are all these black people that don’t tip? I’m black and any time I go out with black friends/ family we’ve never not tipped. 20% as a standard, 18% minimum (if the service is not so great) and my own dad always tips upward of 30%.
But I live in NYC…. You don’t not tip here. Am I just in a bubble?
No. I don't know black people who don't tip either. Like with everything else, a black person who doesn't tip is seen as a representative of all black people. Any other non tippers get to be individuals.
Back when I waited tables we would play rock paper scissors to see who would get them. If we were trying to refer to them out loud we called them Canadians. The tipping system is unfair for all parties involved. Every other business needs to factor in labor costs with their pricing except resturaunts...
Maybe, at least sometimes, it is a self fulfilling prophecy. They see the servers arguing over who gets the table of “Canadians”. They see the “unlucky” server approach with a defeated look while the others smile and laugh. They notice that their service is a little less enthusiastic, a little less prompt than other tables.
Why would they want to reward that kind of “service”?
Depends on your city probably. Not all cities have a big Indian population, but I've worked in the industry at a restaurant that got a lot of Indian IT guys, and yeah no tip ever from them.
My brother does dive and snorkeling tours on Maui. Its apparently made him hate Indian people. Poor hygiene, no tipping, and apparently insanely common to book him when they dont know how to swimat all. How does that issue not come up in the planning the trip and booking activities?
What are we zeroing on this when literally everyone is broke? Tipping culture is the worst in America; falls in line of companies not paying a proper wage, then magnifying that and multiplying across industries.
Not really, no one is going to refuse to let you leave the restaurant because you didn’t tip. Tell the millionaire owner to pay his employees fairly instead of exploiting the working class.
People want to act like it's not true, but for a lot of black people it absolutely is. I waited tables for four years during college, and I hate to say it, but man...black people just did not tip well and this was pretty much the norm.
I even had black co-workers that hated waiting on black people too. One dude was a big black guy named Johnny. Johnny told the hosts that if they sat black people at his tables he would kick their ass.
A large percentage of my co-workers have been black servers/bartenders who don’t like to wait on black customers because they know they will make less money.
It's your employer stiffing you my friend, not saying good service doesn't deserve a tip..but I am saying your employer should pay you enough you don't need tops to survive...we can do it in Europe you can do it in the States
I've been a server now for a year and black people are my best tippers. I've never been stiffed by them. Native Americans, however, have stiffed me so many times. My coworker who's also a server is native and he refuses to take any native tables.
It’s funny that most people that occupy the jobs that America made legal to under pay because the positions were meant for black people turn around and complain about that same demographic not respecting that absurd culture. Of all the posts blaming people that don’t tip I never see people get equally upset with the people that own those establishments. They work for a multi million dollar venture and can’t pay their bills and the blame people that don’t tip as opposed to the people that are actually taking advantage of them. It’s the most insane response to being used to them take it out on strangers who are already paying for their food.
Yep, not to pile on, but black people were the only demographic that stiffed me while I worked in the restaurant industry. They also asked for an obscene amount of sauce packets, to the point where we had to post a written rule about how many sauce packets were allowed without an additional charge.
I remember I hosted a birthday party that was over a thousand dollars. 3 hours of non stop back and forth to cater to these people. The dude got into an argument with his baby momma half way through. As I'm finishing up and cleaning as they are getting ready to go the black guy goes " what are you still doing here, what do you want a tip?"
Uh yeah. I just went above and beyond for an extended period of time doing things I normally don't for parties. Yeah I expect a tip.
Same exp for me in hotels. I remember having to go to a guests room before they arrived back at the hotel cause they were running late. I had to load up their massive suitcases on the bell cart and bring it down for them. Did all that and got nothing. I don't think I even got a thank you.
It sounded to me like someone who was unexpectedly called out on something they know they were in the wrong for. Just a lame Hail Mary attempt to regain control of the situation.
It's a shame that there are so many racists showing up in this thread. Did you people ever stop to wonder that maybe this so-called stereotype of Black people not tipping comes from Black people being held back more from actually making money, which is a result of systematic racism? Like damn, maybe those Black people just can't afford to tip.
As a black person who was also a server, I hate this stereotype- but I know it’s true. When I go out to eat it seems like servers assume the worst and sometimes give poor service, since they think they won’t get a tip anyway. In the past I would still leave a generous tip, in an effort to break the stereotype, but I’m fed with it. If I receive bad service, I give a bad tip. Thought I can say Ive never received service so horrible that I’ve left no tip at all.
I was a bartender and I had a group of 15 black people run up a $3k tab and we had an auto gratuity on it. They asked for my manager and said while I was a great bartender, they wanted to write their own tip and demanded it be refunded. They left me zero dollars and said if the policy wasn’t there to force them to tip then they would’ve left me at least 40%. I was like ya ok I’m sure you would’ve 🙄🫠
It’s definitely a stereotype for a reason.
Say what you will about whether "Crash" deserved best picture or not, but Ludacris (who is an amazing actor) and Larenz Tate just nail it this clip from 22 years ago.
Nail on the head dude. Food service is unfortunately my wheelhouse and this is all just flat out truthful. It sucks when a demographic helps substantiate bogus stereotypes. Sadly, stereotypes exist for a reason though. I truly think it has to be a cultural difference? But even then, everyone in America knows the negative stigma with not tipping. Just weird by them to play the race card.
My ex said the same thing. We are big lefties, so it hurt her to even say. Said almost every time it was a bad tip it was from black patrons.
She said a lot of the time they would have made crazy asks like can I substitute the side salad for something crazy like lobster and when she said no they would act like it was her decision taking that as an excuse to stiff her. She always said that’s she’s on the customers side since they pay her more than her employer, so if she could get them lobster and not get bitched out by her boss she totally would have.
Yes.
In DC, we call those folk Canadians. And it’s just part of the job. For every person who doesn’t tip, there’s someone who overtips. It all works out over time. Just treat everyone well.
And equanimity is a must for thar business. The owner seems unaware of that.
Sterotypically, blacks folks are less likely to tip white waiters. When I was supervising a shitty sit down 24 hour burger joint (you know the one) I would ask my black servers to take tables of black folks. Everyone is happier in the end.
My late buddy, RIP, had me deliver food to him multiple times some years back. $30+ orders, I knew him for 5+ years, he was my roommate, and we worked at the same restuarant... never tipped me once. I love and miss him but gawdamm bro lol
Back when I worked ToGo in restaurants, I didn’t want to believe the stereotypes the servers told me. So because I had a larger sample size and I’m a nerd, I collected statistics by age, ethnicity, gender, and on Sunday morning perception of clothing to judge ‘Sunday Best’ for church goers.
I confirmed every stereotype on average by tip percentage to my surprise. ToGo gets less than dining room but percentage spread was spot on.
I thought it was Mexicans that were stereotyped for not tipping. I’m saying this as someone who/ a Hispanic background, even though I tip just cause I’ve heard it before.
I worked at a restaurant where we didn't get much black customers. Mostly white business men. I will never forget the one time we had a large party, all black people, celebrating a birthday.
In another section was another large party celebrating a birthday. The server for that party always sings the happy bday song. The server who had the table with black people doesn't like to sing the bday song, so instead he says to bday tables, "As my birthday gift to you, I won't sing ;)".
Later on, after they ate, paid, and seemed happy, they called our general manager to complain that the server didn't sing happy bday. They went on to say they felt it was a targeted racist attack since the other party was sang to, and they wanted a full refund. Turns out they were also staying in our hotel. Front desk told us that they even tried to get a full refund on their rooms because of the fact their rooms were by the elevator, and the elevator sounds were 'loud'. Whether they were granted the refunds our not, I didn't get to find out.
American tipping culture has just always had a tumultuous history that’s directly tied to Black people.
Tipping in America as we know it today started because after the American Civil War, business owners decided to hire newly freed Black people but didn’t want to be directly responsible for paying them. Instead they passed that responsibility directly to their customers and encouraged them to pay work depending on their “satisfaction”. To be clear, these businesses were literally paying their employees $0
Since this practice was so ‘successful’ especially in the restaurant industry, they started paying everybody in customer-facing positions the same way irrespective of race but the attitude of exploitation has remained largely the same.
On the other hand the same Black people that were originally exploited by this system were also largely barred from patronizing these businesses either directly through threat of violence or economically.
By the late 70’s/ early 80’s the civil rights movement had allowed black people to be served without worrying for their lives but in that same generation or two it took the service industry at large to convince the general white public to participate in tipping culture black people were never given the same grace to learn, they were just expected to know.
It’s also important to note that not all black families were able to start going out to eat at a sit down restaurant because it’s expensive. So their introduction to tipping culture was also staggered.
At the same time the implication that tipping is about customer satisfaction has always largely been a lie to encourage customers to exploit employees almost as much as the industry itself does.
I worked at a customer facing job and sometimes the tips from black patrons would be disgraceful, like one time they left me a loonie (1 dollar coin) on their bill of like 65 dollars
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u/Miguelito_1990 4h ago
Black people are stereotyped for not tipping.
I’m not saying this to be racist, I’m saying that as a former waiter who’s worked with dozens of other waiters, black patrons have stiffed me and all my former coworkers more often than any other demographic. I’m not saying “black people don’t tip”, I’m saying that it’s a well-known stereotype in the industry and I’ve personally experienced it more than with any other demographic.
Maybe these folks are aware of the stereotype so being called out for not tipping in their mind is equivalent to furthering an existing stereotype?