The restaurant industry uses tipping as a way to avoid paying workers a living wage. Some servers do better than they would on full salary, but many do not. Having been a server at a luxury resort I can tell you that many rich people stay that way by stiffing the help. Servers who are supposed to pool their tips generally don’t do so consistently. It’s a horrible model for any industry to adopt.

Tipping is an outgrowth of the class system when the landed gentry would give their servants a coin for extra services or a job well done. Most tipped workers don’t have the right combination of skill, experience, opportunity, or education to get a higher paying job. They receive tips from the privileged who do.

Writing is my profession, not a job I’m doing until something better comes along. I don’t write because it’s the only job I can get. I choose to write when I could be doing something that pays better. I don’t tip my doctor, my architect, or my UPS driver. I don’t tip the cashier at the drug store or the dry cleaner either who aren’t making a living wage. I think we should be looking to eliminate the classist, patriarchal, practice of tipping from the workplace entirely. So, let’s agree to disagree. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Misty.