The one thing that I am having a hard time getting used to in American culture is tipping. Two years ago, during my first trip to this country, my friend and I weren’t familiar with giving tips. We felt it was already expensive with all kinds of taxes and service fees. At times, we paid a small amount, which some might find astonishing or criticize.

After living in San Diego for some time, I noticed that the percentage of tip requests was increasing rapidly. I recall that until last summer, the smallest tip option on the payment tablet was 18%, but now I often see 20% listed on the leftmost side. I have also heard that 18% was considered sufficient before the pandemic. At a certain point, I began exchanging looks with friends to agree on the appropriate tip amount when the server turned their head, which eventually led me to tip fatigue.

To Insure Promptitude

While there are many different views on the origin of tipping culture, the most reliable theory is that tipping began in England in the 16th century. At the coffeehouse, customers who wanted faster service than others could put extra cash in the box named ‘To Insure Promptitude,’ and this culture was spread in the U.S. as Americans brought it. This was called ‘tip’ by taking the first letter of each word.

Tipping is not prevalent in European culture nowadays. However, in America, it has firmly established itself after the Civil War, with African Americans starting to work in service trades. Gangmasters didn’t pay their employees enough, and in the worst cases, they had to rely solely on tips. It was a situation completely pandering to the audience.

Regarding the controversy that has persisted for many years, especially in the last several months, I believe the main issue is ‘requesting a tip for a service that was never served.’ Customers were still expected to tip even as self-service kiosks became widespread during the pandemic, and they couldn’t know where their tips were going. It sometimes feels like throwing money into thin air.

In some places, customers should guarantee health insurance for employees whom they never hired, and sometimes the check just says ‘additional fee,’ leaving customers in the dark unless they choose to ask busy servers. As a cherry on top, the upper limit for tips is still increasing gradually, even reaching 30 to 40%. Ironically, customers pay more ‘to insure promptitude’ for ‘unsure promptitude.’

A dark side of the two-tier wage system

As the U.S. adopted a two-tier wage system, employees who are paid subminimum wages have to rely on tips to make up the minimum amount needed for living expenses. Whether tipped workers receive minimum or subminimum wages depends on the state – for example, California has eliminated the subminimum wage, but people who earn $2.13 an hour have no other option than to count on tips.

Some people criticize that this leads workers in service trades to have to deal with problematic customers with no countermeasures. As their daily income is directly connected to customers’ feelings, they can’t take action against discriminatory remarks or unfair treatment. However, at the same time, customers are complaining about the implicit coercion of servers for tips with their attitude. They have to engage in ‘guilt tipping’ to avoid being seen as penny pinchers. What is tipping for if customers and servers are both dealing with each other?

The tipping culture of today seems to be quite distorted in some way. A tip is a gesture of gratitude, not paying an extra salary to others by force. It seems hard to erase the tipping culture in America with its long history and varying regulations by state. Moreover, as long as tips are responsible for someone’s livelihood, the custom will not easily be abolished.

As technology advances and human-to-human interactions decrease, coupled with ongoing tipflation, points of view on tipping culture are diversifying. I believe it’s time to reconsider why we tip, if there are any other better ways as a substitute for tipping, and if not, why we have to maintain the system.

Kyungmin Min is an international intern from Korea.