We Didn’t Get the Memo: The Miseducation of Tipping in America
PART 2
It is very important to understand how tipping became a part of the culture of America before discussing the miseducation of the practice. Unclear of how tipping began in general, scholars have noted the act of tipping originated in the Middle Ages as a form of the caste system. In the master-serf caste system, tipping was a way of rewarding the serf for stellar service. Before and after the American Civil War, affluent travelers between 1850 and 1860 would venture off to European cultures, picking up the tradition that was seen abroad, then bringing the tradition back in a semblance of putting on airs or seem aristocratic.
After the effects of the Civil War, those who were formerly enslaved were faced with very few options for jobs. If one did not want to work as a sharecropper, the other option was as a housekeeper, maid, servant, railroad porter, or a barber: jobs where tipping was heavily encouraged. It was noted that many employers did not want to pay former slaves a salary, despite the Constitution being amended to end slavery as an institution altogether. Discussions to enforce employers paying an hourly wage in addition to tips wouldn’t occur until the amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1966, pioneering the hourly crusade toward the current minimum wage of $2.13 for tipped employees, like…
