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I would think this is more of a cultural thing. Growing up, I never seen my parents leaving tips, so I really didn't even know what a tip was for most of my life. It's the same when it comes to delivery. We use to order pizza out all the time. I never seen my parents pay more than what was owed. I probably didn't conceive of the idea until my late teens early 20's.
So the question is why is this a part of the black culture? I imagine black people didn't go to a lot of restaurants back in the day. The whole Civil Rights Movement only happened 50+ years ago. The whole restaurant and tipping culture is probably still brand new to black families.
I've often suspected that the inability of Black patrons to tip decently impacts the decisions of restaurants locating in Black areas. This was a common complaint from PG County residents.
I think it is extremely unlikely restaurants make decisions about where to locate based on this particular criteria. More likely, restaurants wouldn't open in predominantly black areas because whites would refuse to go there, and because local blacks might have not enough disposable income to sustain a restaurant scene.
I think it's fairly well known among servers that senior citizens, Europeans, Australians, and women tip considerably less than the standard 15-20%. This is not a racial thing.
Blacks tip less than Whites? And you're point is what? If a waitress gives average service then they get 10%...If they look entitled and give average service then they'd be lucky to get that.
The point is that if you're black and get crappier service at a restaurant than others, now you know why.
Yup some of the servers at the restaurants I worked at would pay off the hostesses not to seat Blacks in their section. They often did this towards the end of the month when they needed to make rent.
I've often suspected that the inability of Black patrons to tip decently impacts the decisions of restaurants locating in Black areas. This was a common complaint from PG County residents.
The obvious question for me is whether or not this is primarily driven by income. For example, do we have anything to indicate tipping patterns specifically of UMC blacks?
I hate to throw gas on the fire, but I will anyway. I was on a discount cruise once, one of those ridiculously cheap ones, in which you are expected to listen to a sales talk about time shares.
The most vivid thing I remember is a black lady throwing a fit because she didn't want to leave a tip for the room steward. It is very prominent in any cruise literature that tipping is always expected.
I'm not saying it is only a black thing, but maybe some people are used to getting everything for free.
Maybe it's the other way around, maybe the bad service comes first. If you're a waitress and want me to give you extra money for doing your job then you better make sure your service is better than average...I don't owe you anything simply because you're a waitress.
The poor tipping came first. This topic was discussed on here before and I think this study might be the same one. Anyway, the researchers found that blacks tipped less after you controlled for income, service, quality, location, etc and concluded that the restaurant industry should do more to educate customers about tipping norms. Strangely, there was no difference in tipped amounts for the barbers, maids, or bellhop professions.
Yup some of the servers at the restaurants I worked at would pay off the hostesses not to seat Blacks in their section. They often did this towards the end of the month when they needed to make rent.
If this practice is widespread, I would expect Blacks to find themselves served by inexperienced servers (and thus getting not-so-great service), because presumably, such requests would come from experienced servers and not from newbies.
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question for me is whether or not this is primarily driven by income. For example, do we have anything to indicate tipping patterns specifically of UMC blacks?
