Passage 2    To tip, or not to tip?  476 Words



You’ve finished your burger, slurped the last of your soda, and asked the waitress for the bill. You’re not quite done yet, though -- there’s still the small matter of the tip to consider.

As anyone who’s visited the United States will tell you, tipping in America can be a real headache. In most countries, the rules for tipping in a restaurant are pretty straightforward. If a service charge is expected, the amount is automatically included in the final total on your bill. In the United States, however, it’s up to the customer to judge how much the server deserves.

While the precise origin of tipping is uncertain, it is commonly believed to have begun during the Tudor period in England. In the 17th century, overnight guests to private homes would give money to the host’s servants. Later, people began tipping at coffeehouses and other establishments. In the 19th century, rich American tourists returning home from vacations in Europe brought the custom back to the Unites States.

Tipping was initially seen as un-American -- something the aristocratic Europeans did, not everyday Americans. Gradually, however, the custom became entrenched in American culture. Today, tipping is not very common in England, but  in the United States, not leaving a tip is seen as rude and should occur only when the service is abysmal.

One of the reasons that tipping is such a major issue in the United States is that employers can pay their employees much less than the minimum wage when they are tipped. For example, if the state’s minimum wage is ten dollars an hour, the employer may only have to pay three, provided the employee makes up the rest in tips. If the tips don’t bring the employee’s wage to the legal minimum, the employer pays the rest, but that rarely happens because most people tip.

Many feel that paying serving staff a fair wage should be the employers responsibility, not the customer’s. however, some restaurant owners are reluctant to abandon tipping, as doing so would require them to raise their food prices.

In 2015, successful New York restaurateur Danny Meyer announced that tipping would be banned from all of his restaurants by the end of 2016. food prices would go up a little -- a result of having to pay staff higher wages -- but Meyer was confident that his new no-tipping policy would be attractive to customers who felt it was up to the employer to take care of his or her employees.

Following Meyer’s example, many other restaurants are either banning tipping altogether or introducing a set of service charge. America’s obsession with tipping might soon be a thing of the past!

Who brought the practice of tipping to the United States?
Aristocratic Europeans
Americans tourists
Danny Meyer
A New Your restaurateur
