Tipping Over The Edge

In England the standard gratuity for restaurant service is 10%. This is generally added to your bill and referred to as a ‘Service Charge’. If you are of the opinion that your server was less than satisfactory, you can request that the charge be removed, or indeed remove it yourself. This is not common practice, but it remains an option.

A few years ago, following very poor service in a diner in the US, I left no tip. My American husband was appalled. Even bad service, it seems, must be rewarded with a tip of at least 10%. The now common practice of counter staff swivelling digital payment screens towards their customers, with an invitation to add a gratuity of up to 25% on an already over-priced cup of coffee, leaves me speechless and furious. I feel a twinge of shame when I press the ‘No Tip’ option but my sense of indignation wins out … every time.

Americans tip more than any other country and 20% is now standard.

We are currently staying in a remote, although popular region, several hours north of Seattle. The general store is expensive and everything, from a punnet of blueberries to a piece of locally-made pottery, has an eye-watering price tag. Over the past two weeks I have sometimes opted to drive an extra 11 miles to the nearest supermarket. As a rule, however, it’s simply too hot or too far and then, reluctantly, I drop by the general store and make a few necessary purchases.

At the counter is a notice to ‘loyal customers’ informing them (and me), that an additional 12% service fee will be added to baked goods, deli foods and hot drinks because our employees work hard to create and serve house-made products and this provides fair compensation for their dedication. No additional tipping is necessary (although, just in case you want to extend your appreciation even further, there is a Tip jar, full of dollar bills, strategically placed beside the check-out).

In effect, the proprietors of this grocery store, who are, I suspect, making a tidy profit, have arranged for their ‘loyal’ customers to subsidize the wages of their ‘dedicated and hard-working employees’. This frankly disingenuous arrangement ensures that it is the prosperous customers who pick up the financial slack and thereby provide the ‘fair compensation’ employees rightly deserve.

Tipping originated, not in America, but in Europe. Guests visiting country homes in 18th century England for example, were expected to leave gratuities for butlers, footmen, coachmen, cooks and parlour maids. The 1776 American Declaration of Independence severed all political connections with England, asserting that ‘All are created equal’. Tipping was considered to be servile and, therefore, ‘un-American’.

In the aftermath of the Civil War however, things changed dramatically when four million enslaved people became free. Many of them had no education, no land and no jobs. Increasingly they were hired by restaurant owners who did not pay wages and expected their workers to earn a living through tips. *

In 1938, Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Minimum Wage Law, set at 25 cents per hour. Several sectors, including restaurants, were not included. Although this inequality was eventually addressed in the 1966 amendments, other detrimental changes were introduced, including an employer’s right to credit a percentage of tips towards an employee’s minimum wage.

In 1996 the Federal Minimum Wage was set at $2.13 per hour. Today it is $7.25. The tipped wage rate, however, can legally remain at $2.13, provided an employee earns enough tips during the course of a week to make it up to $5.12 per hour. All tips in excess of $20 per month must be disclosed to the employer and declared to the federal government. A share is then collected through taxes.

In the UK, the National Living Wage for employees over 21 is £11.44 per hour ($14.67) and it is against the law to use tips and service charges to form part of the minimum wage.

The US system is a minefield, especially for English visitors. Last night, we had pizza at a local restaurant. The waiter omitted to bring us plates, glasses and extra pepperoni. When it came to paying the bill, the on-screen prompt offered a ‘Custom Tip’. The machine subsequently added this amount to the standard gratuity which meant that we unintentionally left a 30% tip on a $40 pizza.

We have decided, in future, to simplify our options. We will hit the ‘No Tip’ button on the screen whilst ensuring we have a pocketful of dollars to give to our server. A return to cash tipping may help restaurant workers bypass the radically unfair system that exists in this country.

There is, however, hope on the horizon. Kamala Harris, should she be elected President of the United States in November, has promised to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.

*NPR Throughline. ‘The Land of the Fee’. Nina Martyris, April 2024.