It's True...Black People Don’t Tip

Yesterday on Reddit (a website where people post things and other people comment on the posts), there was a thread called “No Tipping – I wish every restaurant was like this” about a San Francisco restaurant where tipping isn’t allowed. The topic was wildly popular and it received thousands of comments debating the ridiculous American practice of tipping (you can already see what side of the debate I’m on). I noticed a reoccurring theme in some of the comments, which is one I’ve heard and seen many times over, that BLACK PEOPLE DON’T TIP.

I’m a middle class Black woman who has always tipped well. After college, I worked a second job as bartender for two years to pay off my college loans so yes, I’ve worked in the service industry. I eat in restaurants more than the average person because I’m a foodie who enjoys a great meal. I know and enjoy great food, great service, and a great restaurant. I always tip 15-20% (pre tax) but the truth is I fundamentally HATE the practice of tipping. In my opinion, the government should outlaw tipping because restaurant owners use tipping to cheat and exploit their workers, customers, and the government. Tipping is a corrupt and asinine system, but since it’s the custom of the land and I know waiters/bartenders are making less than minimum wage, I used to tip 15% until a couple of years ago when the service workers needed a raise but their management wouldn’t give it them so the standard was raised to 20% and then I increased my tip percentage to that. (Speaking of management not giving their workers a raise, do you remember when the multi-billion dollar hotel chain the Marriott and Maria Shriver encouraged us to tip their hotel maids? SMH) But after last night, I’ve decided to change my tipping amount again.

After reading the Black people don’t tip comments on Reddit, I googled the phase WHY BLACK PEOPLE DON’T TIP. Even though I always tip 15-20% and all my Black friends and most of family do too, I wasn’t (yes…Was Not) surprised by the plethora of hateful and racist web pages and comments I found espousing this stereotype. I also wasn’t surprised that often times the rude comments from waiters about how they hate serving Black people were also left by many Black waiters. (FYI - Black people talking crap about other Black people is not racism, it’s self-hatred.) I kept reading and reading and then I had an epiphany that even though most Black people I know, myself included, always tip 15-20%, it doesn’t matter. The stereotype that BLACK PEOPLE DON’T TIP is alive and strong and the fact that I always tip 15-20% won’t change a thing so I’ve decided to fully accept the stereotype by no longer tipping. I AM GOING TO BECOME A BLACK PERSON WHO DOESN’T TIP and here are my four reasons why:

1) My expectation is if I tip well, I should receive great service. Based on what I keep hearing and reading, the majority of servers (my use of the term servers encompasses waiters, bartenders, etc) believe and tell everyone they know that BLACK PEOPLE DON’T TIP. In doing that, the restaurant industry as a whole talks badly about Black people. TALKING CRAP ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE IS NOT GOOD SERVICE. I won’t even say talking crap about Black people is racist since so many black service people are also doing it. It’s clear this is not just a race issue, but it’s a bad service issue. For me, good service is not just what happens at the table. It’s the entire experience. It’s how you talk about me after I leave your restaurant. Today I realized that since my experience is that the restaurant industry systematically and repeatedly talks bad about Black people, I’m not receiving good service and I will no longer reward this disgusting behavior. And the problem isn’t just the servers who talk crap about Black people. The problem is also the servers, managers, and owners who allow that type of filth to be spoken in their presence. If you don’t speak out against it, then you are also part of the problem.

2) The system of tipping actually creates and encourages prejudice against Black people. It’s the chicken or the egg question. Which came first…the bad service or the Black people who don’t tip? Have service people who hate serving Black people ever considered that Black people don’t tip because many Black people receive bad service? It was just in the 1960s that Black people had to sit in at lunch counters to demand their civil right to even be served in a restaurant. Literally, five decades ago, Black people were spit on and arrested for sitting at a lunch counter in Woolworths. Now when a Black person sits at your table, you HATE that you have to serve them and I know this because I just read numerous blogs and comments about it. Do you think that servers who HATE TO SERVE BLACK PEOPLE walk over with a smile and give great service to the BLACK PEOPLE THEY HATE TO SERVE? They say they give equal service to all, but I’m pretty sure they don’t. I’m going to list some of the comments I read on BLACK PEOPLE DON’T TIP blogs. Feel free to search it yourself or just click here to see my google results.

Die Nigs Die -  Holyshit some time’s just want to walk up behind them while they are slurping up there chicken Alfredo and slices open there throats. Fuck them! BTW not all black people are biggest just the ones that don’t tip.


I just don't know. But I have noticed it here too in the south. Anyone who says this question is racist, go work as a server for a month then come back and give your opinion. You know nothing about it until you have been a server. Its sad to say that a lot of black people don't tip well at all, and have a bad attitude. Even the black servers at my restaurant don't like to wait on black people. There are the normal, nice black people who a friendly, and show no uppity attitude. They tip well and treat you like their equal. Not in general though. And I give everyone the same great service...


Black people don't tip. It is just a fact of life and needs to be addressed through the media. I don't think that they understand what they are doing to those who serve them; a.k.a tip share etc. The general public needs to be educated. I have served for ten years and I have had one black person tip me appropiately, one. They cost me money to wait on and it stinks. However, there is nothing that I can do about it. The servers who work with me and are black feel the same way. A table of black people are sat in their section and they say, f*ck. It is just reality and it isn't right. They need to be taught better. Maybe put it in a rap song by J-Z.


Im a server and totally agree with this argument. I can't stand black tables. Don't they know their tip is my only income?


NoMoreMs.NiceGal • I worked my @ss off last night.  The black people in my section were treated just as everyone else was, with politeness and respect.  NO MORE!!!  The couple at the end, who ran me so much, and then left $2.00 on a $98 tab just gave black people a "no-pass" from here on out.  It actually cost me money to wait on them, (I still have to tip out a bartender, busser and food-runner....more than 4% total.  So, it cost me over $4.00 to wait on them....).  DONE!!!  NO MORE POLITENESS....DON'T CARE!

3) Tipping is an unfair labor practice and it should be abolished like slavery. Waiters say they like tipping because they make considerably more money than hourly wages. Guess what? You could make the same amount of money if your restaurant owner paid you the appropriate scale. The restaurants know how much you make in tips. They see the credit card receipts so they know on average their patrons are willing to pay x percentage for service. The owners already know the figures. They could easily figure out what the new food prices would have to be to keep all the waiters at their current pay. It wouldn’t make a difference to the customers because at the end of the day, they're paying the same amount but they don’t have the “fake” extra step of adding in a service charge. But the owners don’t want to abolish tipping and pay the appropriate wages because that it will increase their income and then they’d have to pay more taxes on that additional income. Plus paying the servers a real wage would make them eligible for benefits and the restaurants don’t want to incur that additional cost either. The restaurant industry might actually be worse than the big box industry when it comes to how they are cheating their workers and the government. The servers are misled to believe that they are better off making tips because they don’t pay taxes on the majority of that money. But if tipping was abolished and a fair wage was established based on what the servers are already making, the servers would be paid more consistently. No loss of income because it rained on Tuesday or because you had too many Black customers. (Abolishing tipping could actually help some people be less racist because some Black people actually don't know that tipping is your only source of income.) Servers would also have accurate income statements, which come in handy when you want to buy a home, start a business, or get a loan and need to prove your actual income. It’s really f-ed up that an industry has convinced a whole group of people (and country) that their exploitation is actually good for the people being exploited. It’s also very ironic when servers question the character and values of people who they feel don’t tip enough, but servers routinely under report their tips to avoid paying taxes. When you avoid paying taxes, you’re cheating your fellow Americans which is dishonest, a show of poor character, and illegal.

4) Tipping has corrupted common sense and I’m no longer going to participate in this dysfunction. Tips are a luxury, not a requirement and I’m going to start treating them as such. Every server should give great service as a rule of thumb and it’s management’s job to ensure ALL service is great. I hate that I’m expected to critique, reward, and/or punish your staff with my tipping...that's not my job...that the manager's job. I hate that I'm made to feel like your quality of life depends on how generous I feel when I get to the tip line. I hate that when I leave a tip on my credit card slip, I'm not even exactly sure how much the server is getting if any at all. I hate that tip jars and hands out are the new norm. I hate the side of guilt that is now infused in every restaurant and far too many service transactions (ie. my massage, car valet, doorman, flower delivery, etc). I asked a friend why I’m expected to tip the barista at Starbucks when I’m already paying $4 and up for a cup of coffee. He said because they make your drink to your exact specifications. Isn’t that the baristas job? If the barista didn’t make it to my exact specifications, how else I am going to get and feel good about my overpriced coffee? Why am I expected to tip people to do their job? If you want a raise, ask Starbucks for one. I work in an office and get a salary for the work I do. If I don’t think the salary is enough, I should ask my employer for a raise or look for a new job. I don’t put a tip jar on my desk and think the people around me should make up the difference between what I’m getting paid by the company and what I’d like to get paid. All employers should pay a fare wage with appropriate benefits to their employees and all employees should demand it. Stop calling your customers jackasses because you're too afraid to demand a raise from your boss. Restaurants should abolish tipping and raise the prices of the menu so they can handle all the wages in the house. I only want to see my “food costs” and tax. I don’t want to calculate tip and servers shouldn't want me to. Discussions about staff income should be directly between the owners/managers and the workers. I want everyone to make a fair wage, but I will no longer be so directly involved in your negotiation.

It’s not fair that restaurant servers make tips, but the busboy, dishwashers, hosts, and chefs often don’t. If anybody should be getting tipped at a restaurant, it should be the chefs first and foremost and bartenders second! Preparing the food and creating cocktails is where the artistry comes in…not how the plate got from the kitchen to my table. I know sometimes the servers have to split the tips, but as a customer, I don’t want to be so involved in or concerned by how your employees get paid. Great service should be invisible. I go to a restaurant for the food and cocktails. I don’t want my water glass filled every five seconds. That’s annoying, disruptive, and wasteful. I want to place my order, eat, pay and leave. I hate the extra math and time that tipping involves. When I pay with a credit card, the card gets ran twice because they have to come back to let me add the tip which is more opportunities for me to forget my card or for it to be compromised by servers who feel they aren't making enough in tips. If I pay with cash, I have to hope the server brings my change in the right denominations so I can leave an appropriate tip…if he brings my change at all because now a days they just confiscate your change as their tip.

From this day forward, I am a BLACK PERSON WHO DOESN’T TIP. No, I’m an AMERICAN WHO DOESN’T TIP. I’m still going to go to restaurants. But now when I sit down I’ll tell the server upfront that I don’t tip so please don’t give me any extra or special attention. Just take my order and drop off my food. I don’t want any water refills or extra dressing. I’m not going to work you. I’m just going to place my order, eat my food, and leave. The server will know in advance not to waste time any time on me. I’m also going to tell the server that she can take my bill with no tip to the manager and ask her employer to make up the difference. I learned in the Reddit comments that if the tips an employee receives don’t make up to minimum wage, the employer is responsible for paying the difference. I encourage the servers to stop the passive-aggressive customer complaining and take up the issue of fair wages with the real oppressors and jackasses…the restaurant owners. And if you think by telling the server upfront that I don’t tip will encourage him to spit in my food, then I say the type of people who do something as lowdown and disguising as defiling a customer's food because she didn't leave them $4 are also the real jackasses.

I want to know your thoughts. Leave a comment and let me know your experiences with tipping.

 

Deanna Burrell is the author of the best-selling novel, Single Girl Summer.

 Described as "Waiting to Exhale" meets "Sex and the City", your summer won't be complete without it. Click here to download Single Girl Summer now!

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