The Essayist

Essay 2: Tipping

01/17/15

Customs in society are generally positive. They are unwritten ways of conduct that are
ingrained into people without the need of enforcement by law. Think, in a normal day, how much
of your actions are determined by such customs? You hold doors for others and give your seat to
the elderly in public transportation, even if you are not occupying a designated seat (shame on
you if you do not!). You shake hands with strangers, say thank you and keep to the proper side of
the stairs when you are going up and down. You tip the waiter and

wait. Do you tip? Is it

because you are supposed to? Why? Should you tip at all? I argue that tipping is a broken
concept, and that it fuels the continuation of a flawed system.
Restaurants will legally charge "gratuity" for large parties but it is an expectation that
normally, the diner will tip the waiter a certain amount or a percentage of the bill. There seems to
be nothing wrong with this concept until one factors in an important element. Waiters and
waitresses depend on tips because their guaranteed salary is too low. That is, if someone does not
tip, it is not that dessert is being taken off the menu, but rather that the entree itself is being
tampered with. The result is that the diner who did not tip becomes the antagonist, and becomes a
scapegoat for the real villain, which is the restaurant itself. No one should have to depend on tips
to make ends meet; the salary should guarantee it. In other cases, waiters/waitresses do earn
enough with tips, but the custom of tipping has become so pervasive that some might argue it
might as well be law. If someone does not tip, should he or she be judged negatively? Should
they be subject to scorn, glares from the corner of everyone's eyes and whispers behind closed
doors?
Compare this practice with other industries. Neither taxi driver nor the guy at Best Buy
who helped you pick out a computer depends on tips to pay the bill. Granted, working as a
waiter/waitress is difficult. Definitely more so than driving a cab or explaining the specs of a

The Essayist

Essay 2: Tipping

01/17/15

computer. Also, in many restaurants the tip is distributed amongst the entire restaurant staff. This
way, the lowly dishwasher who is slaving away at dirty dishes gets some compensation as well.
Lovely, is it not? Again, the base salary should cover everything. The tip, if given, should be a
complimentary cherry-on-top, a thank-you for good service and a pleasant dining experience. If a
diner wants to tip, and the waiter/waitress is being paid fairly to being with, there is no problem.
Unfortunately, this ideal situation is not the norm.
If the custom of tipping continues, the restaurant owners will continue to get away with
underpaying employees, waiters/waitresses will forever despise patrons who do not tip well if at
all, and the average customer will never escape the looming expectation over the dining table.
Yet we must deal with reality. It seems that banning the practice of tipping would be the most
efficient and expedient way of solving the problem, yet the short term consequences would prove
severe. In the long run, restaurant owners will be forced to up the pay of workers, who, without
tips, cannot remain productive employees. But during that transition, many will suffer the
problem of income deficiency. It is not as if we diners have no money for tips; rather, some of us
would rather not. Thus, if it is a matter of preference over necessity, it seems the better choice to
continue the custom even if it soothes the symptom instead of curing the disease. Unfortunately,
this bottom-top solution of diners collectively stopping tipping will not work.
While diners should not tip, the immediate consequences begs a reconsideration. In
addition, the power of habit, of social convention, is not something so easily swayed. A
waiter/waitress will easily blame the diner for bad or no tip before demanding a higher pay from
the employer. And of course, tipping is not a dire issue that demands a revolution of any scale.
Sadly, diners must carry the burden of tipping, restaurant owners will continue to dodge their
responsibility and waiters/waitresses will continue being victims of a broken system.

The Essayist

Essay 2: Tipping

01/17/15

It is my belief that a work of writing can never have a final draft; this is simply the best draft up to date and by no
means is it a fully comprehensive coverage of the topic at hand. There is always room for improvement, corrections
and rewriting. As a mini-essay, this is but a simple introductory basis to start a discussion. Please feel free to quote
and cite my work. If you have questions, essay requests or wish to respond to my arguments, I can be contacted at
thevisualessayist@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading, and I encourage you to discuss, deliberate and write it down whenever you may.
- The Essayist