Tipping is an Option

I’m going to say something controversial: Tipping is an option.

No, I’m serious. Tipping is an option. You are absolutely not required to tip the vast majority of the time, with some exceptions made by some restaurants only some of the time. One restaurant in my town comes to mind with a large sign posted out front explaining that an 18% gratuity is added for parties of 6 or more. Beyond these niche situations, businesses don’t require you to tip.

The fact that there are employees working for tips, being paid by companies based on the assumption that a tip will be received, is absolutely shameful.

For those not aware, federal law dictates that the minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 per hour. For those not good at math, that’s $85.20 per 40 hour workweek and a staggering $340.80 a month. Before taxes, of course.

Move over 1%, am I right?

This becomes an issue when customers believe that tips are some type of reward. They’re not! Tips are how servers and drivers and many other tipped employees make money. Didn’t have your glass filled up quickly enough? Reduce the tip. Smile wasn’t big enough? Reduce the tip. Server didn’t remember your name from the last time you were here. They must not like you, reduce the tip.

That is absolutely not how it should ever work. Now, if you’ve read much by me, you know that I’m a big believer in the customer almost never being right. The golden rule of customer service is wrong, wrong, wrong. Just like customers having no say in corporate policies, customers should have absolutely no say in how much an employee makes. If a company is to hire an employee, they should have to pay said employee for the work they do. No job is worth as little as $2.13 an hour.

With all that being said, it’s great when people come together and tip as they should. Servers can be some of the highest paid workers there are when you factor in the tips. As a delivery driver by day, I’ve made as much as $28 an hour. I’ve also gone home having made $4 an hour— just enough to refill my gas tank. Similarly, servers can be severely underpaid based on the most simplistic of perceived slights.

The solution to this problem is obvious: eliminate the tipped minimum wage, making tipped workers subject to the standard minimum wage. Hopefully, this happens when the minimum wage is raised. Alternatively, companies can impose a forced minimum tip, which would also help to alleviate the issues.

Of course, we could also just tip the people who work for tips. Sadly, I’m afraid that we’ll never come to a time when everyone tips appropriately.

“But Jay,” I hear you ask, “why don’t these people just get a real job?”

Do you really think that serving food isn’t a real job? Constantly on your feet running food to ungrateful customers, with a smile on your face even on the worst of days? After my “real” office job with Apple, it was difficult for me to get used to it.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume food service isn’t a “real job.” If everyone goes and gets a real job (by your standards), where will you ever go eat? Where will you buy your food, because running a register isn’t a “real job” either. ALL JOBS ARE REAL JOBS.

So let’s all just tip our tipped workers and fight for them to make an appropriate wage. And if you ever use some variation of the phrase “Tipping is an option,” please know that I hope you never have the opportunity to interact with a tipped worker again, Karen.