Tipping Today: An Insider’s View

1. I will start with a brief summary of the history of tipping in the United States. What the unwritten rules of tipping are as they are presently understood. How the unique payment practices by employers creates a necessity for tips. The disparity between the minimum wage requirements for hourly versus tipped employees and the how that varies regionally. Lastly I will review some statics on who exactly makes up the service industry.

2. What my experience of being a female service industry worker in the United States during the last 17 years has been like. This section will include a summary on the intricate dynamics of a tipped employee and customer relationship. Why so many people such as myself choose to go into the service industry. What some of the benefits and disadvantages of working in a tipping environment are.  This will also include some discussion of gender specific statics, issues and economic factors affecting service industry workers.

3. The varieties of tipping and payment policies employed by bars and restaurants in New York that I have an insight into. This includes how a pooled house works and systems where both bartenders and servers tip out the support staff. I will also review the dynamics of bar and restaurant hierarchies and how that effects tips distribution. Lastly, I will cover some of the corruption and issues that arise within each system as well as the advantages.

4. I will also be discussing the recent trend of some restaurants eliminating the entire tipping system. This will include an exploration of the social and economic factors affecting this trend including an in-depth look at the turmoil caused by the disruption of this socially complex relationship between the tipped employee and the customer.