Corey Mintz: A $4,400 tip. A fired waitress. And a lesson in why tipping is such a bad idea. - NBCNewsTHINK
with the expectation that customers would compensate workers through voluntary monetary gifts.
In time, it became expected of diners to help pay the wage of servers by adding as much as 20 percent on to the bill. This social expectation was codified into law by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act and the tip credit amendment of 1996. Which is bananas. As is the common belief that a tip is a reward for good service. In fact, most of us have a standard amount that we tip when we eat out regardless of the quality of the wait staff, and restaurants are counting on that fact. Yet the idea that this payment represents a reward or punishment for servers makes it a power trip for many diners.
The practice also enables all manner of endemic problems — sexual harassment, racial bias, income disparity. As Cornell University’s tipping expert