International fans visiting the US for the World Cup have become frustrated by the culture of having to tip servers, telling the BBC that tipping fatigue has set in.
You seem to really know your stuff, so can you please fill us poor confused Europeans in on whether we should tip:
Gas station clerk
Flight attendant
The dentist
Ticket booth
Restaurant server
Restaurant chef
Bicycle repairman
Maid
Car salesman
Cable guy
As a European I feel personally responsible to uphold a system where ultrarich oligarchs can pay workers sub-minimum wages, as is the Dream of all freedom-yearning people on the planet.
Tip wage actually came about as a way to keep small businesses and restaurants alive in economies that could not otherwise support them. It has since been abused by large chains and businesses as a way to lower overhead in the business. Tipping is often waived in small communities where everyone knows everyone and is only expected of outsiders who dont otherwise contribute to the community.
In that vein, the only people you need to worry about tipping is service personnel. You wouldn’t necessarily tip a gas station clerk unless they pumped your gas, which is still a thing in some states.
For a culture that globalized the service industry, you’d think you would all be more familiar with expressing your gratitude. I guess its hard to do when you’ve spent the last few centuries owning the help instead of thanking them.
Wait what, expressing my gratitude for a culture that globalized the service industry? I genuinely have no idea what that means. Am I to understand that the United States invented the service economy that Europe then adopted?
You seem to really know your stuff, so can you please fill us poor confused Europeans in on whether we should tip:
As a European I feel personally responsible to uphold a system where ultrarich oligarchs can pay workers sub-minimum wages, as is the Dream of all freedom-yearning people on the planet.
Tip wage actually came about as a way to keep small businesses and restaurants alive in economies that could not otherwise support them. It has since been abused by large chains and businesses as a way to lower overhead in the business. Tipping is often waived in small communities where everyone knows everyone and is only expected of outsiders who dont otherwise contribute to the community.
In that vein, the only people you need to worry about tipping is service personnel. You wouldn’t necessarily tip a gas station clerk unless they pumped your gas, which is still a thing in some states.
For a culture that globalized the service industry, you’d think you would all be more familiar with expressing your gratitude. I guess its hard to do when you’ve spent the last few centuries owning the help instead of thanking them.
Wait what, expressing my gratitude for a culture that globalized the service industry? I genuinely have no idea what that means. Am I to understand that the United States invented the service economy that Europe then adopted?
American tipping culture is a racist holdover and has nothing to do with supporting small businesses.
https://www.epi.org/publication/rooted-racism-tipping/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tipping-jobs-history-slave-wage-cbsn-originals-documentary/