If you’re an African-American and you’ve gone out to eat at a restaurant, odds are you’ve had to experience the hesitant and uncomfortable service from a presumptuous waiter. This is probably from the unspoken notion that black people don’t tip or if they do, the amount is to disrespectful to even be considered. So, why don’t black people tip? Is this another stereotype or and ugly truth we can’t escape?
According to a 2003 study conducted at the Cordell University’s School of Hotel Administration, it was discovered that black people tipped 20% less than white people. The most common of reasons for blacks tipping much less was due to a lack of knowledge on tipping policies. It was shown that the tip left was really left to the discretion of the customer and the performance of the server rather than a standard amount. As a result of these encounters, most servers grow to “ expect” or assume that this will be the same case with all black patrons and causes the quality of service to go down. Yet, when this happens it often creates a cycle of servers not giving good service, black people in return not leaving a generous tip, and thus the server being “proven right.” The Root also did a study to prove that black people attribute the tip amount to the quality of service whereas white people often leave a respectable tip regardless of how good or bad of a job was done. The report showed that 30% of blacks were more likely to tip as a reward for good service with only 15% of whites feeling the same way.
There are number of different things that can negatively affect a server’s tip whether it’s : lack of knowledge, economic setbacks, or simply just bad service. Yet, the fact remains that this country has a bad habit of attributing one or two bad experiences with an entire race, preferably African-americans.
words by: Damn_youSaudi
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