Study: Blacks tip less than Whites at restaurants and everywhere else. (education, Maine)
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Ethnic Differences in Tipping: A Matter of Familiarity with Tipping Norms
Michael Lynn, Ph.D., is an associate professor of marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
"Studies of tipping behavior indicate that black customers tend to leave
lower tips than do white customers. Rather than unnecessarily demean a
customer group, however, the industry should try to understand and address the
underlying cause of this ethnic difference in tipping. The results of the study
reported here suggest that differences in tipping between African-American and
Caucasian customers may reflect differences in the groups’ familiarity with the
15- to 20- percent restaurant-tipping norm. This explanation suggests that one
solution to the problems posed by differences in the groups’ tipping is to publicize the 15- to 20-percent tipping norm in minority communities."
How about reducing tipping to 10% like it was years ago. I have never figured this one out. Prices went up and so did the tip percentage. The meal now costs twice as much but we're expected to tip 4 times as much....WHY?
I dislike the 15-20% tip rule so much that I just don't go out to dinner anymore. We've cut back from 1-2 times a month to 3-4 times a year and when we do go out we don't drink to keep the tab low (you should see the looks we get from waiters and waitresses when we all order water. They know their tip just hit the floor.). I don't understand why percentages for tips keep going up when food and drink prices are going up and tips naturally go up as prices go up if you keep the percentage the same. Why did we double the price of food but quadruple the tip? Instead of paying a $5 tip on a $50 bill now I pay a $20 tip on a $100 bill. So the price of food and drinks doubled and the tip adds another 18% increase so instead of paying 200% I pay 218%. What did my waiter do to deserve four times the money?
One possibility is they simply refused as culture to buy into quadrupling the tip when the cost of food only doubled. I wish more people would do this. Tipping 20% when food and drink prices are already high is ridiculous. If a waiter has 5 tables per hour and each tip $20, they're making $100/hour. I'm sorry I don't get why waiting tables is worth so much...and yes, I waited tables to put myself through college...back in the day when 10% was a good tip. There is nothing I ever did in any of my waiting jobs that was worthy of $100 hour that a waiter or waitress can easily make today with the 20% tip.
This will really date me. When I started waiting tables, the standard tip was $1 per adult at the table and people left two pennies to indicate that they appreciated the service but just couldn't afford to tip. Tipping wasn't mandatory back then. It was for exceptional service. Now it's expected for mediocre service. There have been times when I felt the waitress deserved a tip that big but that was for exceptional service. It's rare to get exceptional service these days but man do they get mad if you don't leave the expected 20%. I'd rather eat at home.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 08-31-2014 at 08:19 PM..
When my office goes out to nearby restaurants, no matter what is ordered, or where everyone is seated, the servers always go out of their way to serve the black person last - every single time. Several times I noticed a smug grin on the face of the server when she maneuvered the final placement.
blacks tip terribly. I found that hispanics tipped pretty well, as they were generally working class. working class people generally tipped well. rich people normally tipped like crap.
When I was a doorman while in college, I was working in a very affluent building. I could not believe the way some of the rich, mega rich people tipped. I can remember getting a tip for $3,000 one night from one of the Real Estate developers. There were months in which I could live off of my tips and would have to never touch my paychecks.
These were both blacks and whites.
I can remember one tenant would give me $20 EVERY TIME I opened the door for him. The money would pour in. It was actually amusing after a while.
I used to work PT for Red Lobster along with my FT job.
On Sundays, big parties of black customers (15 at a table) would come in from church, all ordered separate checks. When it was all done, they would tip $1 or less. It usually worked out that you might scrape $6 bucks for all of them, party of 15.
Each check averaged *$22 x 15 = so $330. Of that, I might see $6 bucks total. *Usually Platters, with drinks.
This happened each and every Sunday, for a full year. Different groups of black parties, with few repeats.
Are whites cheap? Yeah, they can be but MOST whites tipped 20% (I'm white and I tip 25%)
Asians were a little tight as well....
Do you want to know who the most generous people were? (not a race) New Yorkers!
Unless the study does a comparison of different races across equal income levels then it's rather pointless.
This is what I was thinking. Why specifically target whites & blacks. I mean, there is already a disparity among the two groups and this is who they choose? What happened to Asians as well?
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Pure nonsense and no way to verify
