MY PEN IS MIGHTY

The Trouble With Tipping

Burdened with a long, racist past for workers and customers, the gratuity system deserves to be forever shelved

Many hospitality workers are at the mercy of their customers. Photo: Getty Images

There is one reason — and one reason only — why I never took a job in the service industry where tipping was involved: My mother told me not to.

She used to tell a story of her waitressing days in the early 1960s when a White female customer left her two cents. Two cents. As my mother retells it, she took one look at that pitiful tip, looked the woman straight in her eyes, and said, “You keep it. You obviously need it more than I do.”

Her experience echoes the sentiments of many who believe that tipping encourages racism, sexism, harassment, and exploitation. The practice, in fact, took off in the post-Civil War era as many formerly enslaved Black men and women were suddenly in desperate need of money. Restaurants hired them without pay; thus, they were forced to rely on tips from diners.

Throughout the years, I’ve heard horror stories similar to my mother’s from Black servers and bartenders of how they’ve been stiffed from customers. That includes being scheduled during the slowest or most undesirable shifts, which affects their ability to make a decent wage.