The following is an excerpt from a report conducted by Cornell University entitled Ethnic Differences in Tipping: A Matter of Familiarity, written by Michael Lynn.
Several years ago, the owner of a Miami restaurant was widely chastised in the public media for characterizing African-Americans as being poor tippers. His comments were a public reflection of a covert but widespread belief within the restaurant industry. Many waiters and waitresses believe that African-Americans tip less than Caucasians.For example, an unpublished survey I conducted among 51 servers at a restaurant in Houston found that 48 of those servers classified black customers as poor tippers. As a result of that belief, many table servers dislike waiting on black customers, deliver inferior service to black guests on whom they must wait, and refuse to work in restaurants with a predominately black clientèle. Although anecdotal, the following quotations drawn from a discussion board at www.tipping.org illustrate what many in the industry believe are widespread views.
“…all the servers I work with hate having to wait on minorities, black people in particular (and over half of our waitstaff is black!!!). It is not uncommon to have several black tables in a night that rack up a bill of over $100 and then not tip more than $2. When I started working there, I never prejudged a table based on color. I gave outstanding service to every table and the tips were excellent, except from my black tables. After about three months, I caught on to why all of our waitstaff never wanted to wait on black tables.”
“I work in a seafood restaurant located in the Midwest. …I thought the average black person not tipping was just a regional problem; I guess it’s a national problem. I will not take black tables unless I have no other option; call me racist, but I also walk out with more money than the people who end up with them.”
“I’ve lost count as to how many black tables I’ve waited on in my five years of serving, both in the north and the south. But I can count literally on one hand how many times I’ve been left a decent (15-percent) tip. As a result, to (most–not all!) I will wait on you last and spend less time with you. Because, though I’ve tried giving considerate, friendly, and attentive service, it’s been to no avail.”
“I have worked in restaurants that attract a black clientèle, and I am done with it. I grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and was not raised with any prejudices, but within the walls of a restaurant my prejudices have formed. Not only am I not treated well when waiting on them, but I am not tipped well. I have since moved to a restaurant that attracts a very yuppie clientèle, and I am treated well and tipped on every bill. It is a very frustrating cultural difference and one that I just don’t know how to deal with anymore.”
These are not rich white folks that live uptown–these are people that make their living in the service industry.
One of the main reasons why this study stuck out to me was two-fold: Another study was recently conducted on how taxicab drivers are tipped across racial lines and the findings were very similar (I talked about this study in my recent Friday Brain Dump post). The other reason is because yours truly has spent a good part of my life in the service industry and like many of you have just been wanting just to find somebody with whom I could share these same observations without being perceived as a race-hater.
As I mentioned in an earlier piece, if I am a low-wager that is employed in a position that relies heavily on tips, based on my own experience I will pass over serving my people 9 times out of 10. Unless you have worked in a similar position, I really do not expect you to understand. I love my peeps, but that love won’t pay the bills. For the record (for the racially-sensitive), I am not saying that ALL blacks are cheap when it comes to tips–just a whooooole lot of us.
Please do not buy into any rhetoric out there that would suggest the reason why we do not tip well is because of economic limitations—that is just more crap.
If you can run a bill to $100, you can afford $15.
So the next time you hear someone rattling off some study that shows disparity (seemingly the word for the hour) in pay for blacks in the service industry, ask yourself if the service was good (that last part is a biggy) “Did I leave a fair tip?” This should be done regardless of the color of the person providing the service.
So the next time you decide to leave one of those tracts that say “Christ paid it all“, please don’t go there!
Helpful tip: If you want to figure out the percentage of a number, go to google and type the following:
15% of $100 (example)
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August 2nd, 2005 at 4:20 am
You gotta put yourself in their shoes, I’ll just all over you if I think something racist is goin’ on, but we talkin’ bout makin’ a livin’. So if you are atleast a fair tipper, it’ll probably be a good idea to tell your server off the bat. It can be done very classy, let ‘em know that you understand their position, you are a good tipper, and you’d like some good service. Trust me, it’ll work.
August 2nd, 2005 at 5:53 am
I don’t know, tigo…I waited tables for a few years, and I’ve had many a customer give me the I’m a good tipper, *wink, wink* preface, only to stiff me in the end. and another thing I noticed was that a lot of times our people will spend the whole meal trying to come up with reasons not to leave a good tip. Like that’s the plan from the beginning…
August 2nd, 2005 at 1:43 pm
Boy this one really hit home with me. It’s really sad that among all of the external forces we as a people have to deal with, some of us cause even more problems for ourselves with classless stuff like this.
I have personally seen my people walk out without tipping after running up a significant bill and have found myself providing an extra tip to that waitstaff because of my guilt and anger at that behavior.
Duane said it correctly – if you can afford a $100 dinner, you can afford $15 more in tips.
By the way, another thing that I have seen everyone do is use a coupon that may be for 20% off of the total bill and then only tip on the discounted amount. If the meal was initally $100, you tip on that amount.
August 2nd, 2005 at 2:10 pm
I always leave a “fair†tip, at least 15% for good service and 20-25% for superior service.
If the service is sub-standard then I talk to the manager about my perceptions. So hopefully we can get on track and still have a mutually satisfying experience.
One of my beloved aunts worked in bars and clubs most of her life and she relied on her tips to pay for her home and bills. I know that the people who work in the service industries are like my aunt and they need tips in order to provide for themselves and their families.
Many people do not realize that service workers often make far less than the minimum wage and that tips are the bridge that helps them to make a living wage.
Not all blacks are poor tippers, but many of us are crummy when it comes to tipping. I have friends and associates whom I prefer not to go out with because of their cheapness when it comes to leaving a tip.
A few summers ago, I went out to Red Lobster with some very nice ladies from a work setting that I was acquainted with. The bill came to about $150.00 for about seven or eight of us – and they made a big deal about leaving one dollar each.
I made a big deal about leaving the server 20% by handing my tip directly to the server, so she would know that I was not a cheapskate. I also left some additional money at the table to supplement the one dollar each that they had left.
The others at the table thought that I was leaving too much money, but I truly thought that the server deserved a decent tip.
Moreover, I only use service and friendliness when determining how much of a tip to leave. If the food or beverage is not good, then I speak to the manager or chef about that; but I do not punish the server by withholding their deserved tip.
My motto is that if one cannot afford to leave a proper tip at a full service restaurant then go to a fast food restaurant where you are not expected to leave a tip.
August 3rd, 2005 at 10:19 am
“Please do not buy into any rhetoric out there that would suggest the reason why we do not tip well is because of economic limitationsâ€â€that is just more crap. ‘
Maybe, maybe not. “Running up a bill of $100″ doesn’t automatically translate into the capacity to pay a $15 tip.
If you can afford to do so, then do it. If you can’t, then don’t. Pay what you
can afford.
If the average white family has 12 times the wealth of the average Black family, then Blacks shouldn’t be expected to tip as much.
The thinking that “a Black person doesn’t need as much as a white person to live on” is still a prevalent thought in this racist society.
I recall watching a show about the Harlem Globetrotters, where one of the Black players found out that the white team members traveling with them were being paid more money per game than the star attractions: the Globetrotters themselves.
When the player approached the manager about it, the response was “a Negro doesn’t need as much money as a white man to live on.”
The player responded “When I go to the store I have to pay the same amount for a bottle of milk as a white person.”
Hence, as far as I’m concerned…when I see a whole bunch of whites working for an end to discrimination in employment, then I’ll start to tip better.
Until then…white waiters will get what I think they should receive…and I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it.
When whites start to put as much energy into fighting discrimination as they do in criticizing us about tipping, then I’ll tip them more.
John L.
August 3rd, 2005 at 1:10 pm
So you solve this problem by making all whites “pay” for the sins of a few”?
Please tell me I am missing something here…
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:18 pm
“If the average white family has 12 times the wealth of the average Black family, then Blacks shouldn’t be expected to tip as much.”
John, if you extend that logic out, then maybe we should have different menus for blacks and whites at restaurants – one with black prices and the other with white prices.
That would eventually lead to blacks sitting in specific areas of the restaurant or just having restaurants for black and whites, respectively… oh wait that’s already happened in our history!
How about this: if people are actually worried about meaningless statistics like the “average” white family having 12 times the wealth as the “average” black family, then don’t try to live beyond your means – you might begin to accumulate more wealth that way.
And by my definition, if you cannot afford the tip in a restaurant, then you couldn’t really afford the meal.
August 4th, 2005 at 9:14 am
“The sins of a few?!” You have got to be kidding!!!!
There’s absolutely no way institutional discrimination could last this long, and be sooooo pervasive, affecting a significant percentage of People of Color(African-/Arab-/Asian-/ & Latino-Americans and Indigenous Peoples) without a significant percentage of whites participating.
John L.
August 4th, 2005 at 9:16 am
I didn’t write that such actions would “solve” the problem, Duane.
John L.
August 4th, 2005 at 9:25 am
Sherman,
If my “logic is extended out,” it doesn’t lead to different menus…because the subject is NOT menus, but tipping.
If you think that stat about wealth disparity is meaningless, take a look at Randall Robinson’s “The Debt: What America Owes Blacks,” or Hacker’s “Two Nations: Black and White, Hostile, Unequal,” or any number of other texts that examine the results of institutional discrimination in amerikkka.
“And by my definition, if you cannot afford the tip in a restaurant, then you couldn’t really afford the meal.”
That ONLY applies to yourself: your definition, your decision, and your wallet. :>)
Yep, just keep on tipping people that are going to criticize you whether you tip or not, whether you even eat there or not, etc.
I’m not.
John L.
August 4th, 2005 at 9:29 am
Why should I “worry” about what white people think about Blacks tipping when most already believe we’re inferior, aggressive, illiterate, crime-prone, over-sexed, etc.
And Duane is worried about “negative comments regarding our tipping.”
That’s pretty funny.
John L.
August 4th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
John,
I don’t mind you expressing your opinion, but leave you bad language off the site.
Your last comment has been edited.
August 10th, 2005 at 8:18 am
Go ahead John and don’t leave a tip. All you are doing is setting up the next black family that knows a little about social norms to get bad service. I used to wait tables for a living and I still do on occasion to supplement my income. I watch white servers all the time get stiffed and then treat the next black/mexican/white trash table poorly not anticipating a good tip, thus, the family doesn’t tip well cause they got crappy service. Its cyclical. Thanks alot –BROTHA–