A brief history of tipping:
The practice of tipping originated in the Middle Ages. When masters had servants, they would ‘tip’ them with their pocket change.
As times changed, business developed and the service industry was introduced. These service industry workers were tipped by customers.
This development occurred in Europe. Tipping was not the custom in the United States until people began to travel between the US and Europe and brought the practice here. As poor immigrants began to also enter the US, they began to fill service industry jobs as the had in Europe. They were accustomed to the European system as well, so it became a custom in the US.
In the United States, the tipping system was viewed as feudal, as it created a system of classism. Those worked in the service industry were viewed as a second class citizen group and many Americans considered this as unacceptable. Making a citizen group inferior and servile caused many to rail against the practice of tipping.
This all changed during the Reconstruction era. After millions of enslaved people were freed, they needed to see work to get by. Employers in the service industry would hire them without paying a wage, expecting that the tips would be enough to provide an income for the Black employees, who were of course seen as inferior to the white people tipping them.
It was expected that Black employees would accept tips, because this was a sign that they understood they were inferior to white people. White oeople in the service industry didn’t take tips, because they were paidand it would be shocking for them to do so, as they were equals to anyone who would tip.
When the minimum wage was first introduced, restaurant workers were excluded, because they were expected to get by on their tips. They were, by and large, made up of Black women. The wage for these women in the 1960s was $0/hour.
Today the Federal minimum wage for restaurant employees is just over $2/hour. Only six states guarantee minimum wage plus tips for restaurant workers.
There is a stereotype that Black people do not tip well. I don’t know how true this is. Perhaps this is a reclamation of the fact that they have historically been forced into second class citizenship in every way possible since Reclamation freed them from slavery, and they choose to rebel against the idea that they should follow a practice that was designed to enforce their inferiority.
Comments