The tipping system sucks. It should be eradicated. But it’s the system that servers are stuck with to pay their rent this month, so we are where we are.
!["We don't have any."](https://i0.wp.com/www.bitchesgetriches.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/giphy-downsized-large.gif?resize=460%2C258&ssl=1)
In the United States, we’ve built a tipping system that is designed to replace employer-provided wages with customer-provided tips. This is in opposition to how tipping was originally intended: as a merit-based reward system for service above and beyond the norm. Under this tipping reality, the amount of your tip isn’t a whimsy, but a necessity to servers.
So if you don’t tip 20%, your server isn’t getting paid even close to a living wage. And if you can’t afford to tip 20%… then you sure as hell can’t afford to dine out.
The power dynamics of tipping
There’s a perfect phrase to describe someone who tips low, or not at all: “garbage person.”
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