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The Tipping Divide: Study Finds Differences in Tips by Black, White Restaurant Patrons
National Public Radio ^ | 7/11/2003 | National Public Radio

Posted on 07/11/2003 3:48:00 PM PDT by 07055

July 11, 2003 -- A new study finds many waiters and waitresses feel that black Americans generally tip less than restaurant diners who are white. The study, by a researcher at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, found that blacks tip on average 20 percent less than whites. In addition, restaurant workers of all races dislike waiting on black people because they assume the tips will be less no matter how good the service. NPR's Juan Williams reports.

The study found that 63 percent of blacks and 30 percent of whites didn't understand that the standard restaurant tip in the United States is 15 to 20 percent. The difference between how blacks and whites view tipping has serious ramifications for restaurants, including lawsuits and lost profits, Williams reports.

"The average tip from a black customer is about 13 percent of the bill. The average tip from a white customer is about 16.5 percent of the bill," says Dr. Michael Lynn, the study's author.

In some cases the difference in tipping may be the result of poor service, but blacks interviewed in one of Lynn's studies rated the service slightly higher yet still tipped less than whites, he says.

Jerry Fernandez, president of the Multicultural Food Alliance, which represents food servers and restaurateurs, says the expectations of a lower tip from blacks can often lead to poor service.

"If a [waiter] says, 'I don't want to wait on that table because they're black or they're Hispanic, then they tend to give less service and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy," Fernandez explains.

He says cultural elements -- blacks have avoided sit-down restaurants in favor of take out or self-service eateries -- institutionalized racism that exists in the restaurant industry and education about tipping are all behind the discrepancy. "How do people learn about tipping? If you don't go, you don't know."

Lynn suggests that the American restaurant industry begin a campaign to inform people about the basics of leaving a tip. He urges the use of advertisements, educational pamphlets, and even putting tipping information on menus. And Lynn suggests that restaurants could introduce a game in which dining parties would have to tip at least 15 percent in order to be eligible to win a contest.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: tipping
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To: TontoKowalski
only to find out you drink buorbon out of a Mason jar!

My kind of woman!

221 posted on 07/11/2003 6:16:00 PM PDT by Just another Joe (FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: ido_now
American cheese!?! Water!?!

Beer and cheddar is the only way to go.
222 posted on 07/11/2003 6:16:26 PM PDT by Welsh Rabbit
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To: UnBlinkingEye
Have you ever heard stories of the unappetizing things put into the dinners of patrons such as you?

<Maybe we should stop going if it's so dangerous and then they get nothing. I don't like the idea of being strong-armed into tipping.

223 posted on 07/11/2003 6:16:26 PM PDT by raybbr
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To: McGavin999

I used to wonder why my farmer father was required by law to pay illegal aliens minimum wage, while my children who were waiting tables to get through college were making $2.25/hr. Then I saw the generous political contributions that the National Restaurant Association gives at campaign time and it became crystal clear. I think everyone ought to be required to play by the same rules.
224 posted on 07/11/2003 6:17:23 PM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: headsonpikes
Thank yew! We aim to please.
225 posted on 07/11/2003 6:17:35 PM PDT by Richard Kimball
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To: dogbyte12
Tipping by percent of meal cost is absurd. If ya order the $25 steak, instead of the $6 appetizer, that entitles the waiter $4.50 instead of $.90? You should tip on service period.

Yeah, my wife is a stickler for exact math. Seems to me the reward should be for effort. When we were in Mexico, I just wanted to tip the same as up here. But my wife insisted on tipping at the lower rate. Doesn't make a lick of sense to me.

226 posted on 07/11/2003 6:18:43 PM PDT by jlogajan
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To: TontoKowalski
ROTFL! Tonto, I really love ya man!
227 posted on 07/11/2003 6:19:47 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: CFC__VRWC
I don't have a problem with restaurants that add on the gratuity with large parties, because otherwise the servers tend to get screwed. Everyone ducks out of his part of the tip, thinking that the other guy will suck it up.

I any large enough group, there is always someone scaming to eat free. Either that or they can't remember how many drinks they had. In big groups I've been in, we always come up short -- the tip is the first thing to go.

228 posted on 07/11/2003 6:21:16 PM PDT by jlogajan
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To: TontoKowalski
The total bill including tax is what I work off of.
229 posted on 07/11/2003 6:22:07 PM PDT by RMDupree (HHD: Deep roots are not reached by the frost.)
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To: PresbyRev
I've found that my fellow Christians pretty much suck at leaving reasonable tips

Amen to that .......we dreaded the Sunday after church crowd, meanest bunch of people you'll ever find. And not leave a thin dime..... at least the Blacks didn't come in that often, whereas the church crowd was every Sunday like clockwork.

230 posted on 07/11/2003 6:22:26 PM PDT by SouthernFreebird
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To: 07055
Tips are based on a *percentage* of the bill. So, why would it matter how much money each of the groups make?

Because when money's tight, you're more likely to "grade" the service you received more strictly (since that saves you money on the tip you think they earned), whereas when you've got money to burn, you're more likely to be magnanimous and tip more extravagantly.

Your perception of how precious each dollar bill is at the moment varies with how many you've got to spare, and that affects your tipping generosity.

So the point is that the apparent "racial" difference in tipping size may not be racial/cultural, it may be economic (and thus further investigation may discover that the real split is poor vs affluent customers, regardless of race, it just looks like a "black" thing because blacks are, on average, less affluent).

231 posted on 07/11/2003 6:22:29 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: A_perfect_lady
I've never worked as a waitress, but I've known quite a few of them. Most of them are hard working women who can't get a better paying job for whatever reason. Service should have something to do with service, but it frequently doesn't. Some people will get excellent service, food delivered promptly, changes in their order taken care of, coffee cup never allowed to hit empty, and yet they will frequently leave no tip at all or some lousy amount.

You can't really judge who will be a good tipper and who will be a poor tipper. It's usually those who have had all the advantages and never bother to think about what someone elses life is like or can't be bothered to find out what wages are for a profession, who go off and leave 10% or nothing at all. They can't be bothered with the fact that the woman who just ran her feet off taking care of them has 3 kids at home and she refuses to take welfare.

Some are ignorant of the facts, some are cheap, and some are just tacky, thoughtless people. Mostly it's liberals.

232 posted on 07/11/2003 6:28:58 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: Justin714
Why don't more waiters and waitress's forego their tips and demand an hourly wage. My employer doesn't tip me and I manage to work hard, get my projects done on time and get along with my fellow employees and the customers I deal with. I get great service at IN-&-OUT burgers and they pay them atleast 8.50 an hour and they work harder and I see them hussle to get the job done. Tipping is optional.
233 posted on 07/11/2003 6:28:58 PM PDT by Fpimentel
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To: A_perfect_lady
, I spoke the truth. The tip is contingent upon the service. Lousy service? Lousy tip. Don't like it? Get anuddah job

Might have been true in the past, but now the government expects / demands that reported tips are at least (my guess) 12%.

234 posted on 07/11/2003 6:29:12 PM PDT by UnBlinkingEye
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To: Ichneumon
What you say about economics does make some sense, although there are always exceptions. I remember that as a child my Dad certainly didn't have much money, but always tipped well on the very rare times that we ate out.
235 posted on 07/11/2003 6:29:12 PM PDT by TontoKowalski
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To: null and void
Nearly 200 posts, and no-one has said a word about calling over the manager and telling him/her when the service was exceptionally good. Sighting specific things the server did.

What a wonderful thing to do.

236 posted on 07/11/2003 6:30:51 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: B-Chan
No questions. You are exactly right and I want the names of the restaurants.
237 posted on 07/11/2003 6:34:05 PM PDT by chiller (could be wrong, but doubt it)
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To: McGavin999
My girls waitressed when they were in college. They never mentioned racial differences but they did point out that older folk were less generous.

May speak to current economics or depression blowback.

238 posted on 07/11/2003 6:35:45 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: Kush
T.I.P.S. - To Insure Prompt Service.

Since I know of no insurance company
that allows you to pay after the event, I
douht that's what TIPS really means.
239 posted on 07/11/2003 6:36:01 PM PDT by gcruse (There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women[.] --Margaret Thatcher)
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To: Billthedrill
From someone who's done it - the big difference in tipping isn't black/white - it's men/women. And everyone who's ever waited a table knows it. No kidding. I used to wait and cook at a small bar. Every Wed night after womens bowling I would serve two tables of 8 women each. Despite my impeccable service, they never left a penny.
240 posted on 07/11/2003 6:36:03 PM PDT by MistrX
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