I swear. When I first started waiting tables, I heard about how black people don’t tip. I didn’t believe it until I experienced it for myself. I have waited tables at three different restaurants in the past few years and it’s the same at each place. Black people don’t tip.
It doesn’t matter if you’re white or black or any other color, you’re most likely not getting a good tip. most often, I see $1 per person. If it’s a 4 top and the bill is $100, the tip will be $4. That’s accurate unless two of the people are children, then you’re getting $2 tip.
Because I give everyone a fair chance, this still hurts every time. Sometimes the table will be as sweet as can be, then tipped me the standard $1/person. I don’t see how something is racist if it’s true. Ask black people who wait tables. If they’re honest, they’ll tell you they know this to be true as well.
I’d just like to know why black people don’t tip. If you’re black, and you don’t tip, why not leave a comment on here.
P.S. I like The site.
P.P.S. This happened as recently as yesterday. We have an all you can eat rib special….the worst promotion ever. I will run back and forth for a table, refilling sweet tea and lemonade for an hour, even 2, as well as running plates of food, extra napkins, and dirty dishes, and still get no tip or a $1/person.
my experience,I worked a job in a restraunt where the the black and white waitresses would fight over customers who were any color other than black,because they knew they most likely were going to get stiffed,or receive a handful of hope and change.
I waited on Kobe Bryant last night…no bullshit. He and his wife got the entire meal for free.. How much did he leave me….? NOT A FUCKING CENT!! and he also stiffed the Valet too!! Fuck you Kobe and the Lakers!
I am a biracial waitress at a Red Lobster! I was raised by my mother,who btw is African American. I too am tired of the ignorance showed by African Americans as patrons. As a single black mother she always taught us to break sterotypes not add to them. First I think it is important to know that they don’t just fall from the sky. They come from somewhere and hold some truth to a certain exstent. I agree with everyone here that 90percent are horrible tippers! The excuse being thrown around about not knowing proper tipping procedure is just not true! THEY JUST DON’T CARE! My opinion is the these are just some of the profound effects slavery had had on the raise! No one alive today is to blame nor is anyone entitled to special treatment due to the horrible acts of those days! Generations of these people have been predispostioned to only care about ” me myself and I.” kinda like the existence of the sterotupe that Jews are cheap.” or those older people from the depression who are cheap as hell. People are a product of their environments! Still that is no excuse! Being rude and cheap makes your race look worse and adds to charcacteristics placed on blacks during slavery! Ex: rude, lazy, loud, ignorant, inability to take responsibility fir their actions ( as diminstrated thru “Jim Crow’s Coon characters). Don’t defend the actions of your race if they ate facts and fuel sterotypes! B/c as an Afican American I refuse to! In fact I attended an HBC( historically black college) and waitressed while there. I would be so embrassed when fellow students would come in and behave as if they were not educated! Some whites are actions are a direct link to ” not being educated” so therefore we just don’t know any better! What excuse do we have when you come I’m and behave like that representing not only your race but also your university….even often wearing clothing with the university logo! Lol to make a long story short if you want to change the way these people feel ( and me too
) change the way you act & tip and maybe they will be happier to wait on you when they know they aren’t working for free just because your black! And remember it was wrong for those in the past to be rude/ make our ancestors work for free! So what makes you think waiters/ waitresses want to do it either!
I’m a black frequent dining customer and I tip the standard 18%. I have a tip calculator so I don’t make a mistake. I think the problem of many black people not tipping may be due to several factors. There are little to no full service restaurants in black neighborhoods. And that’s regardless of economic class. There are little to no places with valet parking, hotels, etc where you have to tip. Then the history of exclusion in white neighborhoods from places where’s there’s a tipping procedure….you’re going to have a lot of people not understanding the tipping culture. I can’t say that those that do understand it but don’t tip, are lower class, rather than just having a lackadaisical attitude and no manners.
I had a Chinese girlfriend in the mid-1980′s.
She worked at a Chinese food place while looking for professional work.
As the new waitress, she got all the black customers.
She would come home crying every night about never getting tips.
Now Asian women are dating them.
I have been a server for 4 years and it is sad to say that I HATE waiting on black people! I’m really not racist, but when it comes to my job and my hard earned money then yeah I can get a little racist when I’m on the clock. I have several black friends but if we go out to eat and they don’t tip then i’ll damn sure tell them how sorry they are. Honestly, I’m tired of busting my ass to constantly refill strawberry lemonades (or just lemonade because strawerrry lemonade refills cost extra)and cleaning up after them and dealing with the hatred and rudeness from them when all I do is treat them with kindness and smile and BUST MY ASS FOR THEM FOR NOTHING!!!
I work at a restaurant where you order up front and then we bring food out to you. It’s not quite full service, but tipping is the norm. Most white people that come in tip at least a couple bucks. With big white families who have a bill over %50, the tip is usually pretty good. HOWEVER. Black people. Let me start with saying that I come from a very liberal upbringing. Some of my best friends are black, and I’ve never had a racist thought go through my mind.. until I became a server.
This is a usual encounter with a black customer. I’d say 9/10 are exactly like this.
Me: Hello, how are you today?!
Customer: (on the phone, no response. Looks at me like I did something wrong for saying hello)
I can safely say that I have NEVER given a black person their salad without them asking for extra dressing. Always. Without fucking fail. Along with dressing, they ask for extra everythingfuckingelse. That shit isn’t free.. but I usually bring it to people expecting a tip later. Even a dollar. They run me around like this IS an actual full service restaurant. (When I still have to maintain the register and run food).. it’s really fucked up that they waste my time like that. Then after being stiffed by them and treated like shit, I get to bus their war zone of a table. Crumpled up napkins EVERYWHERE. Most of them unused. Dressing all over the table. If I’m lucky, they might realize the table is a fucking disaster and leave me the change they have in their pocket. I think they love coming to this particular restaurant so much because they won’t feel any remorse for not tipping. We get paid crap. It’s not the typical 2.75 that most servers get.. but it’s about $6. When I’m trying to make a decent living while being in college… it’s hard. I get more tips a week than my paycheck.
Anyway, you can ask any server, black, white, hispanic, asian, male, female. The consensus is that black people are rude, eat like animals, tip for shit, and just have a general sense of entitlement that makes serving them a nightmare. I can honestly say that being a server for 5 years and witnessing their behavior has made me think twice about being so open minded.
I’m a delivery driver for an international pizza company known for its better ingredients and better pizza. When we print out the info ticket for where we’re going, it has the name and address of the customer. All I need to see is “Lakesha”, “Bumkwonfa”, or some other made-up black name to know that I’m not getting a tip. In the span of 6 months, I can count the number of tips I’ve gotten from black houses on two hands. One man, who lived almost as far away as you could live and still be in the delivery zone, said “I’m only giving you a dollar as a tip because I know you get money from the delivery fee.” I replied with “No, sir, we don’t, but thank you anyway.” Drivers get a commission. It’s $1.38 per delivery. It’s SUPPOSED to cover gas and maintenance on our cars because delivery driving is really hard on a vehicle. It’s written on the box and on the credit card receipts that the delivery fee (currently $1.99) does not go to the driver and does not count as a tip. Where it goes and where my commission comes from is a complete mystery to me.
Delivery drivers make $5.25 an hour. Each pay period, when we get our checks, our wages are only about half of what we make in tips. Tips make up 66% of what we take home, and it’s the tips that pay the bills and put food on the table.
It’s not an economic thing either, at least not in my experience. Poor hispanics tip really well. Poor arabs tip really well. Poor whites tip really well. Poor asians tip really well. Blacks, rich and poor, don’t hardly tip at all, or if they do, it’s only a dollar for driving across town, in the rain, through horrid traffic to bring them there “Hot Wangs and Arnj Drank”.
I have to agree with wanting to understand why most african-american people don’t tip. They seem to run a server to death and treat them with so much disrespect. I once heard a table say that they are going to make a server run like the white masters use to work “their” grand father’s family back in the day. only once in a blue moon can I say that I have seen them tip. The sad part about all of this is that we all try to keep racism out of this, but they are only bringing it on themselves.. We when see them walk through the door, no matter what the server’s attidude is, they have already decided that they are not going to tip. I like to take that challenege and do my best and see if I will get more.. If they plan to tip you will recieve a decent tip no matter what, however I have to say that I take a personal laugh when I have one their hearts where they feel that they need to tip, when they haven’t planned on it, and more often than not, they will struggle to find that $1 that is in the bottom of their $400 purse. All I can say is that our welafare dollars are hard at work.. And if the Black people wish to move forward in our time and not feel that we are judging them.. well maybe they need to quit giving the serving world excuses to even “rock/scissor/paper” on who is going to take them.. Basically I think it suck to be them with the world looking at them as dead beats based on their skin color. Maybe one day they too will act right and do the right thing.
LOL!!!! I have waited on many black people in my day. I can honestly say that maybe (and I’m being generous here) one in 20 tipped decently. I frequently worked Sundays, where we had lots of “church people.” That was large groups of black people after church service. I waited on this large talbe one time. They had me running back and forth for this, that, and the other to the point that I couldn’t take any other tables. There were 12 of them, so gratuity was added to the check. They were happy but made the manager remove the tip from the bill and left me $2! I’ve known some black servers, and they used to bitch about it too and didn’t want to wait on them. So – it really seems to make no difference who the server is, how well they do, or how much ass they kiss! Black people are just shitty tippers!
Oh, and thank you for serving me food guys. I really don’t think some of you hear it enough.
I honestly had no idea I was supposed to tip. I’m chinese but grew up in america and I rarely eat out. I was taught by my mother that servers get a percentage of your bill or that it was automatically added on. Guess things are different here. I always tip delivery people though because gas is so expensive. I will definitly stat tipping now. What is a good tip? I feel so bad, why didn’t anyone mention this to me before? And andy, stop trolling. Seriously, you said you were a chemist right? That means you would have gone to college. They teach you haw to argue effectively there. You must bring up all points the other person has, not just the ones that are convenient to your vantage point.
If you received good service, you leave 20% of the bill.
OK , I work at redlobster in sacramento , CA.. out here from my 5 year experience that atleast 80% of my black customers tipped 20-30%, i also get some white people who didnt tip me at all one time was because it was a party of 15 and any party over 8 we already charge a 15% to the bill. I dont know if that was the reason.. but yeah im latino and i get all races that tip good and bad.. .. but yeah just saying from my experince everybody tip good and bad… all races..
I don’t believe that for a milli-second! You are either delusional or just plain lying.
i waited on 300 college educated blacks from a local black university last night, march 2011, and got tipped on every 10th drink. it is true. start tipping black people. yah cheap bastards
The Tipping Divide
Study Finds Differences in Tips by Black, White Restaurant Patrons
by JUAN WILLIAMS
Listen
Morning Edition
Add to Playlist
Download
Transcript
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
A study found that black diners tip on average 20 percent less than whites.
» Read Dr. Michael Lynn’s study, ‘Ethnic Differences in Tipping’ (Adobe Acrobat reader required).
12 Ways Servers Can Increase Tips
by Dr. Michael Lynn, Cornell School of Hotel Administration
1. Introduce yourself by name.
2. Personalize your appearance — wear a funny tie, hat or flower to make you stand out.
3. Kneel down next to tables.
4. Recommend appetizers, wine and other extra items to increase your sales — and resulting tips.
5. Smile.
6. Tell a joke or play a game with customers.
7. Touch customers.
8. Thank customers.
9. Draw a picture on the check.
10. Use credit-card tip trays.
11. Call customers by name.
12. Give customers after-dinner candy.
text size A A A July 11, 2003
A new study finds many waiters and waitresses feel that black Americans generally tip less than restaurant diners who are white. The study, by a researcher at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, found that blacks tip on average 20 percent less than whites. In addition, restaurant workers of all races dislike waiting on black people because they assume the tips will be less no matter how good the service. NPR’s Juan Williams reports.
The study found that 63 percent of blacks and 30 percent of whites didn’t understand that the standard restaurant tip in the United States is 15 to 20 percent. The difference between how blacks and whites view tipping has serious ramifications for restaurants, including lawsuits and lost profits, Williams reports.
“The average tip from a black customer is about 13 percent of the bill. The average tip from a white customer is about 16.5 percent of the b
WOW!!! I have to say someone in this study must have been black because it’s usually every 10 or more transactions with African Americans patrons will result in the change under a buck or a buck!!! Usually it’s a big fat 0!
I say lets do a undercover reality show and see where the tips fall.They could estimate after lets say a week in tips and see if what we all know is true…
I’m all for this. Let the servers be a friendly male and female, white and black. Then, compare the tips and break them down by race, age, sex, clothing style, etc. etc.
great idea! Let’s do it!
First off I will qualify my statements,my granddaughter is 1/2 black. In my previous employment for three years I was the only white guy,my daughter has worked as a server in a nice rest.and the majority of her friends are black. That being said it is common knowledge among service workers as well as blacks themselves that “THAT BLACKS DON’T TIP” So everyone who acknowledges this is racist. Why don’t people take responsibility for their behavior,if you can’t tip correctly then stay outta places that have a wait staff and go thru the drive thru. I was working as a bartender a few years back when a hot shot thug NFL player came in,his tab 175.00 for drinks only his posse and him was leaving he paid his tab and the handed me $2 and said “for you my man” I replied “classy” he said “motherf*cker” and left. After that he fell outta the back of a pick up truck and died. I believe in karma!
Dear black people: kindly f*ck off.
Look, most of these servers say that they give equal service regardless of race. Time and time again the tips will be bad REGARDLESS of type of service when it comes to Black Customers.
What is racist about this?
You know what’s funny, is since I work in the service industry, and am black, I have been trying to break this every chance that I get. I always give a ridiculous over tip, because I know what’s it’s like.
So your own people pressure you into giving out more money than you should because you don’t want to be stereotyped because of them? That sucks. At what point to classless black people (or any classless group or individual) get pressured to change their ways?
Andy said:
“It takes some self discipline to avoid outrage at reading thinly disguised racist comments in the 21st century. It helps to remember that the vast majority of service ARE actually good at what they do, they DON’T rant at racist websites and they don’t arbitrarily link tipping behavior to skin hue. Racist websites ATTRACT and select for angry people who are looking to blame someone for their economic difficulties. This skews the statistics at the website so that it seems like most servers are racist and reinforce a racist feeling that essentially links genetics (skin color) to complex human behavior (tipping).”
I reply:
Call me a racist all you want. Something tells me you don’t work in the F&B industry, which really makes me wonder what you and your ridiculous analogy are doing here on a service industry site anyway.
I used to think quite a bit like you untill I actually experienced these things. If I was truly a racist, do you think I would make black folks feel welcome and attended to? When I smile at them, the smile is sincere. I accept them.
And, I accept the fact that THEY DON’T TIP!
black people tip poorly. it’s a funking fact. deal with it. i do, when i have to call my cable company and tell them my bill is going to be late because i had a bad night at work because they stiffed me. it’s just true. i wish to god it wasn’t true, then i could pay my frickin bills. but it is.
This website promotes bigotry and expressions of anger. An anger that cannot itself extinguish. Trapped with hate in one hand and a racist’s guilt in the other.
Sorry you feel that way. I feel this site promoted honesty. Our society is not all hugs and high fives. That being said, I would hope people learn a little bit about each other and work to better themselves. I’ve never been one to tell people they shouldn’t share how they really feel or what they really think.
It’s ironic how you seem to express how you think this site is bad, yet you’ve probably contributed the most content to it. If there were evil intentions here, I wouldn’t let any of your comments through. Fact is, I’ve let them all through.
“Sorry you feel that way. I feel this site promoted honesty.”
In the name of honesty, you provide a forum for the ugly comments that impugn people because of skin color. In the name of culinary excellence, I consume you, says the cannibal.
“Our society is not all hugs and high fives. That being said, I would hope people learn a little bit about each other and work to better themselves.”
How many comments on this site promote understanding between people?
“It’s ironic how you seem to express how you think this site is bad, yet you’ve probably contributed the most content to it.”
While you can count on one hand comments that counteract bigotry, I and a few others have indeed contributed the most content in terms of quality, if not quantity. Racism is illogical and self destructive.
Patting yourself on the back, eh?
Again, I appreciate your contributions to the site. If you’re not in agreement with the opinions of others, just keep on replying. We’ll never agree on a lot of things. I’ll keep defending what you and others like you call “stereotyping” and you’ll keep trying to tell me I run a hate site. Maybe one day we can have a beer together. Don’t worry, I’ll leave the tip.
I call this a hate website because of its content, which is indistinguishable from KKK and other supremacist websites that generalize based on some human attribute. The commentary that I am collecting and categorizing talk about tainting food and withholding service based on race. There have been examples of violent confrontation between server and patron.
Here is the latest example:
“Author: Novemberg
Comment:
Dear black people: kindly f*ck off”
Is this your best gift to humanity? Is this website is your best contribution to a peaceful society? You can do better.
I’m not Novemberg. like you, that’s the message he wanted to share and I’m not going to moderate it. If I did, this site wouldn’t be as useful. I wish he would have put information to explain that comment.
Yes, there is a stereotype that says blacks don’t tip. That stereotype was created, and is perpetuated, by a majority of black patrons. Can you Andy, imagine how frustrating it is for a genuinely kind-hearted waiter to approach each and every table in good faith that he will be properly compensated for his work, and time and time again made to feel like a fool?
Oh they have the money, alright. They come in and spend it on drinks and food! If they can’t shell out a little extra for my hard work, they should stay home. I’m not a racist at all! I have friends of all colors, and have had two black boyfriends. (Who knew how to tip.) But overall, black people expect more for less. btw I treat all my tables with stellar service. Note to all blacks who don’t tip: go f urselves!!!!
I’m a 23 year old black server and have been waiting tables since I was 18. I absolutely HATE waiting on black tables as a whole. But let me clear things up.
It’s not that black people tip shitty.. it’s that ghetto ignorant ass nigg*** monkeys tip shitty. The ones that get their income tax refund back and go out to eat and act like damn fools. THOSE are the ones I absolutely hate waiting on.
You can quickly tell by how a black person looks and speaks whether or not they are educated and smart enough to know how to tip properly. And half the time you’ll be correct in your assumptions.
I pose the question to my coworkers.. (who are mostly black), do you think it’s that black people don’t CARE about tipping properly or they don’t KNOW how to tip properly? I’ve gotten mixed answers but I think it’s a bit of both.
At any rate, I’ve heard some foul racist remarks (being said about black customers) FROM black waiters because we know the industry and know the game we’re in.
Ruby Tuesday does NOT allow gratuity! Don’t work at that shitty place! It’s very disheartening when you’re told you have a 20 top party coming in and you go to greet them and see that they’re all coons. Since RT doesn’t allow gratuity (RT doesn’t give a shit about their servers, they just want to encourage more people to come in and eat especially since there’s no gratuity added), you might make 10 bucks off a 20 top of black people like that. The most recent instance a friend of mine had to deal with that was similar to this was when he waited on a 14 top of blacks and made 10 bucks. This guy is a hard worker and was very positive when he started working.. now I’m seeing him become like the rest of us servers who’ve been waiting tables for years and it’s sad but it’s true.
Beware of ignorant, ghetto-fied, uneducated, loud mouth monkey customers.
What’s worse than an ignorant ghetto-fied uneducated black customer? A YOUNG ghettofied ignorant uneducated black customer. You know you’re not getting a damn thing then.
In general, blacks get 2 – 3 star service from me. My beautiful vanilla faced customers (who I’ve been stiffed by before but when the numbers are run it’s vastly less than blacks) come in, it’s 5 star service all around.
I often joke to my other coworkers by saying that the blacks who don’t know how to tip need to keep their ignorant asses at McDonald’s and stick to the dollar menu.
Don’t bring that coonery to my section.
Definitely agree with you.
It’s not black people. It’s black people that were raised ghetto and uneducated. Take a white toddler and stick him/her in that same neighborhood and he will end up being the same way. Take out ALL the black people in a ghetto neighborhood and replace with white, Asian, or Italian people who were raised the same way and voila you get the same effect. It’s not the skin color, it’s the upbringing. And it JUST SO HAPPENS that a high percentage of Black people in America fall in this type of upbringing.
And I agree with you 100%- Some bad tippers know they tip shitty and some bad tippers were never taught and may or may not tip correctly after learning that they’re supposed to. Also has to do with moral and intellectual maturity.
wow your obviously not black beacuse who says coon in 2011 ive worked at mccormick and schmicks in downtown dc for 5 years and i tell u what ive seen people from all over the country and world in my personal experince no race is worse its more about class and your attitude as a waiter remember people can feel your energy so if you approach a table expecting “coonery” whaterver that means youll proably get it
you can’t possibly be black.
I work in a restaurant, and am black by the way, and it’s because of servers like YOU all that my fiancee and I can not go into a restaurant and get decent service. Even before I worked in the restaurant business, we always tipped at least 18% and that was even when the service was okay but not horrible. It doesn’t matter where you live, there are people of every race and nationality that don’t tip. The fact that you are assuming that you will not receive a tip because your customers are black is and always will be stereotyping. True there are black servers that feel the same as most of you, I work with a few of them. But just because there are black people that feel that way about black customers, does not by any means make your statements okay.
You know what’s not okay?
- You defending black people just because you’re black.
Hey, I’m a minority too, and if I notice that Asian parents in general are being called out on for being too strict with their kids, and also being somewhat emotionally damaging in extreme cases, then I’ll say, okay that’s true. I might disagree as to whether it really is that bad for kids, but I’ll acknowledge that many Asian parents really are like that. If the news says that all Asian parents are child abusers and Asian people should be banned from neighborhoods, then I’ll have a case to defend my race. But we’re just talking realistically about a percentage of Asian families and delivering the facts. Who am I to argue with that just because I’m Asian too? I’m not offended and no I’m not going to be mad if I’m in a Sociology class and I’m asked about whether my parents were overbearing when I was a teen. It’s a stereotype, yes but it’s a stereotype by definition because it’s based on a significant percentage- making it a correlation that’s highly predictable.
- Saying “Servers like YOU”. What, you mean, us? The ones who gave great service and got no tip from black people over and over again? You’re here to call US out? HAHA good joke.
Maybe you haven’t bothered to genuinely read anything on this page. But these “horrible” servers that you’re insulting with your crass judgments have already stated that for black customers, we give even BETTER service than other tables because we need the money.
- You and your “fiancee” (It’s fiancé with one “e” by the way, unless you’re not marrying a man) can’t go out to eat anymore? Well that sucks. Are you sure you’re getting bad service because you’re black? It has nothing to do with maybe being rude and unreasonable?
- You say: “doesn’t matter where you live, there are people of every race and nationality that don’t tip. The fact that you are assuming that you will not receive a tip because your customers are black is and always will be stereotyping.”
Let me analogize what you have just said:
1) Here’s a simple one: When you were a kid going trick-or-treating with friends, all dressed up and ready to celebrate, why did you groan in a disappointed way to your friends like “Aww darn, another one!” before you even rang the door bell when you go to the houses with porch lights turned off, no light on inside, and no Halloween decorations? Because they were dark and you didn’t like dark colored houses? Um no, because USUALLY empty-looking houses didn’t answer the doorbell or give any candy. Some on purpose because they don’t like kids or don’t like that on Halloween you share kindness by spending a little money to give out candy to make kids smile. Or other homeowners didn’t give out candy because even though they know that they’re supposed to give kids candy when they ring the door bell, they simply weren’t home at the time. But nonetheless, we, the servers on this forum, were probably the eager and innocent young ones who rationalized, “Well, guys, we probably won’t get any candy, but let’s give it a chance anyway with a big smile on and put on our best adorable faces so we get more candy if they do open the door” Yes, they are stereotyping the houses when they try to predict in their mind what kind of bounty they’re about to receive. What kid wouldn’t, when there could be a handful of snickers at stake? Guessing which houses are the biggest sugar mines is half the fun, and helps determine how to act- cute, funny, or quiet depending on the people opening the door. Crossing the road and running towards the house that you just saw two thrilled kids get king size crunch bars from is part of the stereotyping too! See, even as little kids we understand simple statistics and probability.
Now let’s get detailed:
2) A college professor sees a group of five or six young Freshman-looking students walking down the long hallway towards her classroom, far enough so she can’t hear them yet, but sees them pushing each other, colliding against walls, laughing, and taking up the entire hallway as they storm down the hall. She knows they’re going to walk down the hallway past her classroom because year after year of teaching in the same building, she knows that the only way to exit the building is to walk past her classroom. And each time this happens, the students are so loud and unruly that she has to tell them to quiet down as she closes the door, because there is a vending machine right outside the classroom which means five or so minutes of the students still laughing and being obnoxious right outside the door. As much as she hates to close the door because the room always gets so hot, she values her students’ focus more than having a bit of stuffy air. Their muffled voices outside the classroom usually go on for a bit then fade away, at which point she’ll open the door again before she switches the topic again in her lecture. Meanwhile, every time an older adult or group of adults walk by the classroom, they nod to her with a quick smile and walk past quietly, or lower their voice while they walk by if they’re on a cell phone conversation. She never worries when she sees an adult walking down the hallway, but when she sees kids; she now has learned to just close the door as soon as she sees them all the way down the very long hall, before they can get close enough to be heard.
She goes on to one of the university forums in the professor’s forum section one night because earlier she experienced the pulling of the last straw. One of her shyer students was up at the front giving a presentation when a group of unruly kids stormed about the hallway, yelling profanities and performing air guitar and singing so loudly that the whole class looked out into the hall, giggling and whispering. The student presenting lost his place in his notes, got flustered because everyone was whispering about the commotion, and he stumbled on his words with bright red cheeks for the rest of his presentation. The teacher felt terrible about not being able to close the door for him because she was sitting down with the rest of the students to grade presentations, therefore not being able to see the students in the hallway until it was too late. But what could she do? The room has no air conditioning and she didn’t want the students presenting to be sweating to add to their anxiety.
So the college professor posts up on the faculty section about her frustration, and also mentions some other difficult student-professor situations as well. She asks for advice as she shares stories with other professors who know what it feels like to be disrespected, understand her concern that many young college students are unbelievably ignorant of common social etiquette, and ask what she can do about it. Many professors respond and share their stories of teaching, some who have taught college for thirty-five years and can attest to the fact that most of the time Freshmans are the least aware of school etiquette and as the students get older and grow out of High-school habits, they are more cooperative and mature naturally. None of the professors say anything mean about the students, nor do they dislike kids otherwise they wouldn’t have become teachers. They do it because they love seeing young people succeed and flourish. But when the students are interfering with their teaching, it can get quite irritating and hopeless.
She feels much better that other professors also experience this and she goes to bed knowing that she’s not the only one who feels bad for cringing whenever she sees younger students in the halls.
A week passes; she opens the newest email notice that someone else has posted up a response to the topic. She opens the link like she usually does, and reads the following comment:
“BillyF.Student” has this to say: “I’m a student, and I can tell you that it’s teachers like YOU that me and my boyfriend can’t walk down the hallways anymore. No matter where you go to, there are people of all ages and attitudes that are loud and rude. Not all adults are nice and quiet. Some teachers are disrespectful and obnoxious too!! The fact that you are assuming that the younger people that are walking down the hall are going to be loud so you close the door in advance, is, and always will be, age discrimination. You are age-ist against students, and you are a horrible professor And that is not okay.”
So the professor decides to write back…
So there you have it. Deidra, Based on your logic here, all professors who agree (that a group of students is more likely to lack school etiquette than a teacher is), are “age-ist”, are horrible professors and HATE ALL Students.
I hope I’ve painted a decent picture of your flawed logic and lack of validity.
So tell me. What’s wrong with stereotyping? Is it an indicator, when we stereotype others, that we are racist, judgmental, and irrational? So therefore everyone is racist? Sorry but that means you too, Deidra, are racist because it is impossible for a human who has developed normally, to NOT stereotype. But you think that stereotyping is horrible, and only “Servers like [US]” stereotype others, right?
Actually, I’m thinking (and so are Behavioral Psychologists and Neuroscience experts) that stereotyping is just a simpler concept to describe the part of the human social development process that starts from birth: an automatic process that helps your brain develop new synaptic connections and categorize new information carried by brain cells trying to decipher a problem by forming schema and adapting/accommodating knowledge in the brain. Genetic Epistemology, if you want to get fancy.
But bottom line is, Stereotyping is unavoidable if you want to turn out to be a normal functioning person and not become a clueless idiot, in fact even service robots in the future would need to stereotype in order to figure out what actions to take to protect their human operators. (::Infrared system detect: 50 feet North, white hooded male, putting on ski mask, baggy pants, dark alley, system processing probable outcome, response: avoid avoid avoid::) ..God that robot is so racist!
So stereotyping is normal. And it isn’t the same thing as racism. Racists are known for going out of the way to harm others physically and emotionally. Pretty much the worst a server has done on this forum is one female server (fed-up from being screwed with by many black customers over the years) posted a topic- when she walked outside to inquire about what was wrong with their service, to her customers who had quickly hopped in their truck, about to peel away from the parking lot because they, a group of black ladies, left her with no tip after she gave them great service. Actually, they almost pummeled her as they chased her inside screaming and cursing at her manager, to the point of the manager calling the police on them for their threats. If anything, this server SHOULD have started to dislike Black people after what she went through, but I’m willing to bet that she isn’t racist and maybe even has some black friends or acquaintances like most of us do.
Again: Stereotyping (statistic observations) and racism (hatred and irrational beliefs): Two TOTALLY different things.
I’m not exactly sure why you brought racism into this because I NEVER accused anyone of being a racist.
Oh, so you DON’T think that stereotyping is being racist? Seriously, you should have worded your comment differently to avoid insulting implications that you didn’t intend. Given that racism is the recurring theme in the accusative comments left by people who deny that most black customers don’t tip. (If you haven’t noticed, which you probably didn’t, seeing as how you used “I’m not exactly sure why you brought racism into this” in your reply to me, you must not know what’s going on.)
So what is your argument then? If you say it’s not racism, then what kind of servers are we to fit your idea of “servers like you” and was your evidence that we’re like this?
Black people tip horrifically, its common knowledge. Then again they don’t have any money so who can blame them I guess
Look it’s obvious that some of you have not worked as a server. Those of you trying to stand up for black people saying that its wrong to discriminate based on race. The thing is its the TRUTH! I get a 15% or more tip from black tables about 5% of the time and about 95% of the time for everyone else. Also if you guys were servers at a restaurant where you have to give tipshare (usually 3% of total sales) you would really feel our pain. So for every $33 a guest spends at the restaurant I owe $
It takes some self discipline to avoid outrage at reading thinly disguised racist comments in the 21st century. It helps to remember that the vast majority of service ARE actually good at what they do, they DON’T rant at racist websites and they don’t arbitrarily link tipping behavior to skin hue. Racist websites ATTRACT and select for angry people who are looking to blame someone for their economic difficulties. This skews the statistics at the website so that it seems like most servers are racist and reinforce a racist feeling that essentially links genetics (skin color) to complex human behavior (tipping).
Let me illustrate CharlestonSCserver’s logical fallacy. It’s called the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy. In this example a gunman shoots the side of a barn, draws a target around each bullet hole, and calls himself a “sharpshooter”. The objective ‘evidence’ seems to support his claim because the sequence of events is not considered.
Now consider CharlestonSCserver’s statement “.. And the many, many other black folks who stiff me, well at least I don’t wind up feeling like I got screwed after giving them my all. Because I didn’t. They got the good service, everyone else gets the great service.”
Like the Texas ‘sharpshooter’, CharlestonSCserver similarly reverses the sequence of events. The actual sequence is CharlestonSCserver gives “good” service to the black folks and “great” service to “everyone else”, then presumably has the opportunity to collect a tip AFTER the service. Disparities in service may very well result in disparities in tip.
The Texas gunman attributes his sharpshooter status to apparent bull-eyes rather than to drawing the target around the bullet hole after the fact.
Similarly, CharlestonSCserver attributes the cause of the poor tip to racial status rather than to service disparity (or other likely causes).
Nothing you have said so far makes any sense. It sounds like you’re taking theories that you read in class and trying to force them to fit this topic so that you sound intelligent.
Well, sorry, but none of your lengthy ranting holds even an ounce of relevance to the issue at hand.
The validity of your use of the term “arbitrarily” is negated by the fact that we are linking skin color and tipping behavior based on solid statistics, not preconceived opinions. It’s a statistics report, like a census stating that 30% of Americans can speak another language at home. How is that racist?
Some of these servers have been serving for 10+ years! Obviously you have no idea what working in the industry is like. We, as servers, find out truths about people after we get in the business. Racism is treating people differently, based on preconceived opinions not backed up by facts. So first of all, most of the servers who posted have confirmed that they do NOT treat black people differently. Secondly, we also have confirmed that we did NOT KNOW that black people don’t tip until AFTER we got the job so they’re not preconceived opinions, but rather they’re factual observations created from experience. And third, most of us are nice people who treat everyone kindly otherwise we wouldn’t be successful servers in the first place.
So… have you really read anything on here at all? Sounds like you just saw what the negative posters were saying and jumped on the “racist” bandwagon.
It is ironic that people who defend racial stereotyping, don’t like it when they are themselves stereotyped. I challenge you to remember a time when someone made an unfair generalization about your gender, or faith, or nationality, or race, or affiliation, or weight, or appearance, or affect.
Easy, I can think of a lot of times where people get stereotyped.
1) What is wrong with a stereotype? If someone is so angry to fall into a certain stereotype, then change he/she can change him/herself and not be threatened by this stereotype. Have some confidence that people will like you for who you are once they get to know you. So what if you have certain characteristics of a stereotype? Chill out, sometimes stereotypes help to form your identity as you go through life, like finding friends that are like you, have common interests, help other people from other groups learn more about you and bond and joke about the funny/wrong things about stereotypes, you can choose for it to be positive or negative. If you’re black and you tip well, that will be a BIG PLUS for you. You would be respected even more than a white person who tips well because it is expected of someone who is white. Tip decently if you’re black and see how happy it makes a server! If it weren’t true that black people don’t tip, then this forum topic would not exist! And if someone did post this and it really wasn’t true that black people don’t tip, then that poster would have been flamed and flagged immediately. But obviously what has happened is over a hundred servers have chimed in and agreed that most black people they’ve served don’t tip. All ages, backgrounds, class, gender and all races have posted on this forum. It’s a slim to none chance that we’re all racist bastards out to get black people. In fact, many times we feel that it is the black people out to get US! (Take a busy night with six four tops and throw in a black table that runs you in and out of the kitchen for order changes, salad dressing, new fries to replace the first batch that became cold, more napkins, more juice, more water with no ice, and make you stand there as they ask ten questions per menu item, and any server will think, Why god oh why do black people hate me?)
2) Stereotypes exist because more than 50% of the people that fall in this category fit the stereotype. So what is there to deny? Chinese people usually get good grades. This is statistically true. Mexican men usually hold labor related jobs and are hard-workers. This is statistically true. Black women spend a lot of time and money on their hair for weaves/extensions/perms, etc. And black people are usually athletically inclined with natural muscle definition(genetically). These statements are also true. Is this what you’re going to call a stereotype? Fine. Well at least these stereotypes do not screw with a hard-working server’s paycheck. In FACT, a hard-working Mexican busboy is going to HELP my tips and put more money in my pocket, which he will get more during tip-out too.
But this stereotype: “example: Black customers have made up more than 90% of the shitty tips I’ve ever received in six years.” is one that, instead of DENYING, and BATTLING and NAME-CALLING servers as racists (this doesn’t even fit the definition of racism anyway, btw) Black people should either say: 1) I am Black, and I tip well and I should encourage my friends, regardless of race, to tip well also. OR 2) I am Black, and I don’t tip well and maybe I should start tipping correctly because that is what a responsible and moral person should do.
Racism is: “I hate black people, therefore they don’t tip because they’re stupid and disgusting” But no one has said this on this forum. (maybe one or two trolls have. But we decent servers have been fair)
Discrimination is: “Black people usually don’t tip, so I’m not going to give good service to anyone who’s black because I’ll be wasting my time anyway.” The majority of us servers on this forum think this is wrong and we give 100% service to everyone regardless of race.
What this Forum Post basically is: “I have noticed that not many black people tip properly, so Please, let this be a plea to the black community AND ANYONE WHO DOESN’T TIP- any age any race any gender- Please tip better- your server deserves it!” This is NOT racism and this is also NOT discrimination.
MoDaddy: There is nothing you can do legally. Your words to your supervisors were discrimnatory. Everyone knows that blacks don’t tip, but you can’t say it out loud in certain situations. You gave them what they needed to fire you wether you deserved it or not. Sometimes it’s best to silently roll with it.
I love being a waiter Not a glamorous job but I make A LOT of money. Not to mention there a lot of things about the work itself that I really like. I’m proud of what I do and I’m GOOD at it.
And it’s true: BLACK FOLKS DON’T TIP.
And eventually you’re gonna have to serve them. The moment I see black people being seated in my section, I know the tip (if any) is gonna be shit. I’ve accepted it long ago. It doesn’t bother me. There are enjoyable and crappy elements of every job, and serving black people is one of them.
And they are going to get the best dining experience I can give them.
They are NOT going to get my 5-star super over-the-top above-and-beyond service. That level of service takes time and energy. It is reserved for people who understand that tipping is part of the dining out experience.
And you know what? The blacks folks will never know the difference. I make them feel welcome, I give them my enthusiasm and positive energy, and I pay attention to them. That way, the few black people who DO believe in tipping will tip me. And the many, many other black folks who stiff me, well at least I don’t wind up feeling like I gpt screwed after giving them my all. Because I didn’t. They got the good service. Everyone else gets the GREAT service.
I have been in Foodservice and hospitality since I was 14. I am 36, now. I have a degree in Culinary Arts and a Hotel and Restaurant Management Degree from the top school in the Nation. I remember thinking it was odd, one of my first jobs in the business (as a hostess), when the black people did not want black people seated in their section, but I soon learned they were not being prejudiced, they were getting run all over the restaurant for a million high-maintenance chores for a dollar tip on a $60 tab. I experienced the same treatment, in my short time as a waiter in a high-dollar restaurant – why some people think they can go to a $100 per head restaurant and tip 5% is truly beyond me. Sure, Black people are not the only bad tippers – I have given waiters a tip or two behind my father’s back – but they are, statistically, the highest maintenance customers for crap money. Sure, this is just my experience, but it seems to me that there are many others who have had the same experience. Also, I have encouraged many waiters to treat everyone the same and I do not have a prejudiced bone in my body, but the numbers really do not lie, and it is difficult to continue to provide good service to a guest who you have realized halfway through their meal, is not going to leave you enough to get a sandwich from Jack-in-the-Box on the way home.
It isn’t Black people who don’t tip. Asian, Hispanic, White, Indian, Canadian, British… people don’t tip for a vast majority of reasons.
5. They don’t know they are supposed to. If they’re young and in huh school, they have probably never been a server and have no idea about the 2.13 slave labor. Can’t blame them, they’re young.
4. They are poor. There are more Blacks and Hispanics living below poverty than any other race. Do you think they get hired to work in restaurants? I’m a black server, and can attest to the lack of black employment in the restaurant industry (and yes, they do apply). How can they know about the struggle if they never have worked a swing shift making only money off the kindness of strangers?
3. They had bad service. Oh, you think you gave good service, but I’ve walked behind other servers and refilled drinks, talked to those tables that “no one wants to take” and usually they try to give me money. You treat them like they have the plague and they’ll never have incentive to change. Plus if you knock their socks off and they get crappy service elsewhere, they’ll come back to you, giving you a chance to make a regular And educate them, maybe even someone else too, about tipping properly.
2. They think 5 dollars is a good tip. Happens. Again, this is a standard of life and education issue, not a racial thing. Refer to reason 3, and make a friend of a guest. Information is more powerful than racism will ever be.
1. They’re cheap. Cheap people will get their bill for free, use you, make you run around and leave you absolutely nothing after Not spending 176 dollars on ribs and shrimp and eating the whole thing. These people aren’t just ghetto, they’re trash, fresh off the boat, straight from under the rock, over the border bastards. Or they’re rich. Doesn’t matter if you’re any race because we all have our bad apples.
You don’t like it? Move to California. They make 9 an hour plus tips, and the rent isn’t as bad as you think in places like Fairfield. Move to better clientele or work what you got.
And refill the Damn ice.- Tres
I Worked for a Chain steakhouse as server for the last year. I recently had transferred to a different location. After my first week of being there, one night I was working with this 17 year old kid. He was the host that night, by the way in these chain steakhouses all the hosts are teenage kids in high school. Well I caught him skipping me in rotation, his reason I don’t know. I had been there for 2 hours and had had only one table which was a 3 top of teenage girls. Every other server had been sat with 5 tables by this point. Real professionally I went to the kitchen and pulled the manager to the side and spoke to him alone. I explained what was going on. The store manager went to host stand. The manager tried to say that I just had a bad section with a bad seating arrangement. I realized the host was skipping me though because I had an available 2 top that never got sat. But watched him sit 5 2 tops at the servers tables surrounding me making their 3rd-5th table. One of the other servers was cut and leaving so they moved me into their section and told the host to immediately catch me up to the other servers. Now I had 3, 4 top booths. The host did not sit me with the next 3 tables that walked in. He proceeded to sit all 3 tables with Black customers. Basically waited until Black customers came in to sit them at my tables.
After that night anytime that host or 3 specific teenage girl hostess would work I would be sat with nothing but Teenagers, Rednecks or Black People(People in the restaurant world that are known by all to be a majority bad tippers). I understood what they were doing, as teenagers/high school kids can be very sneaky and vindictive. Still I shrugged it off my shoulders and continued to give the same addiquet service I give everyone. I mean this is my job and this is how I pay my bills, Im 24 and don’t live with mommy and daddy any more. I’m still gonna work my hardest in hopes to still get the most tip I can out of you, no matter who you are. So this continued on for a week and a half, every time these specific Host/hostess would work they would sit me with nothing but these people. It eventually started to anger me because it was effecting my pay because 90% of these customers tip shitty. I was afraid to say anything because I didn’t want to be labeled as a Racist. I’m Half White/Half Portuguese by the way.
Well this last saturday I came in for a lunch shift and one of the specific hostess was working. My first two tables she sat me with black people. At this point I was infuriated, it was plain as day. I had the only black tables in the restaurant. My managers realized there was something wrong and took me back to the office. They proceeded to corner me and ask me whats going on. I told them that this was a tough situation and I don’t want to come off discriminatory but I believe the host are sitting me with nothing but poor tippers/clientel. They proceeded to say, “So what are you saying, is it because both your tables are black people.” Me,”NO”. Them,”Sometimes thats just the luck of the draw, You think the hosts are purposely messing with your tables, your paranoid and delusional.” They then fired me for discrimination.
YOU ALL WANT TO KNOW THE KICKER?
My girlfriend who I live with and will someday marry is Half-Black, shes a manager a different location in the restaurant chain. And My good friend and drummer in my band is 100% black and a server. They both will tell you they hate waiting on black tables.
But my real question is there something I can do legally? I mean I’ve just lost my job in time where its hard to find one. I need to make money no buts about it. But I’ve just been punished for being punished if you understand that. I got fired because these teenagers that live with mommy and daddy messed with my money and I got canned.
I am a server at a Chinese restaurant in Columbia, SC. I’m used to Asians not tipping but blacks are another thing. Most blacks do not tip well where I work. And I stress that word, MOST. Today a couple tipped me about 12 percent. One black guy tipped 18 percent. My rule is 15% is standard, 20% is classy. And a lot of the tipping depends on the service. I try to serve all of my tables the same. Now last week the rush had ended and a black couple came in. They were my only table. So they got the best service imaginable. Refills, to go boxes, extra napkins, chopsticks, etc. And they didn’t leave me anything. Nothing pisses me off more than that. If I feel I did a good job and you leave me nothing, then we’re gonna have a problem. I have no problem forging the store credit slips to give myself more because I bust my ass everyday for complete strangers. Some who don’t give a shit. If you can’t afford to give me two because for a 10 dollar meal, then you shouldn’t be eating out. Like I said, it’s the worst with Asians there, blacks come in 3rd probably. And I’ve had white people who’ve stiffed me.
Now if it’s big black women, hen I’m quite certain I won’t get tipped. They always have an attitude like they were forced to leave their house to come out into civilization to eat. I am not a racist. But I know the truth. Stereotypes become that way for a reason.
I don’t understand how racism can even enter the conversation. There’s nothing racist about the statement black people don’t tip well. Saying “that person is black, therefore he won’t tip well”, is racist, but do you notice the insertion of almost just as many words to change the meaning? Can I suggest you don’t read into a statement just to look for what you already think you’ve found? I work in a restaurant, and I don’t make tips because I don’t serve, I host. I’m completely satisfied with how much money I make. And black people don’t tip well. When I go to a restaurant I tip the weighter. My tip is a function of me being there. Not how many ice cubes my server can put into my glass, or how much water I can ask for, or how many mistakes I can find that I already am convinced exist. I tip because I go to restaurants. When I eat at a restaurant, I tip the weighter. The formula for calculating my tip is very simple. When I’m there I tip, and when I’m not there I don’t tip. I don’t consider service, because I you’ve ever worked in the “service” industries, you know that term is bullshit anyway. It takes a very limber mind to convince yourself through all sorts of mental gymnastics that someone has to PASS YOUR TEST to get what’s coming to them.
Tipping has been happening for literally as long as money has been around, and you think corporate standards of service and refills have existed for that long? The bottom line:
You tip because you’re not a cheap piece of crap.
You don’t tip because you are a cheap piece of crap.
You know who you are.
This is pretty entertaining. I love how those that fit the sterotype are so angry and defensive and want to accuse people of being racist. I have witnessed black people not tipping on both sides, friends doing it and it being done to me. First with friends doing it with me, I get extremely upset and will argue with my friends. It’s insulting to the server and humiliating for me. One of my friends has told me that he doesn’t feel like it’s necessary to tip someone for something he can do. He said he can get his own food and his own drinks. And my response to him and anyone else who feels the same, GO TO A BUFFET OR BK TO HAVE IT YOUR WAY. Second, I will give people the best service I can possibly do whether you are ordering a steak dinner with a martini or expensive wine or if you’re ordering chicken wings with a grape/orange soda or even worst just water. But it’s funny when a table will never acknowledge you when you approach them so we just assume you want some privacy but as soon as you want something you expect us to be sitting at your feet like a dog? Idiots, we have other tables with people who are actually talking to us and asking politely. There have been times where I did mess up on a table and I am surprised when they leave 18% and I make sure to thank them endlessly. But when I approach your table and ask if everything is ok and you cannot bother looking up and then a minute later you suddenly need 5 things and think that justifies not tipping at least 15%, you’re just trying to justify being cheap. I rather you just flip me off in front of everyone instead of leaving me 5% so everyone can see you for the assholes you are.And yes, I have been screwed by all races, however, considering that 98% of the time when I served black people I have been screwed over in comparison to about 15-20% of the time being screwed over by whites, and I serve black people less considering I have never worked at a chain or a ghetto area. FYI- When you order “Henny”, “Remy”, “Ciroc” and all the expensive stuff you could never distinguish from taste alone, and you tip $1 on the drink, you’re not a “baller,” just another delinquent. I never look at a table and roll my eyes by the color or their skin, only if they’re obnoxious and loud. Remember people, yes you’re out to have fun but so is EVERYONE ELSE AROUND YOU. You cannot walk into a place expecting for people to respect you when you’re being so obnoxious ESPECIALLY if you’re not going to spend a lot and take care of your server. Most servers make less than minimum wage and what you tip them is then split to tip the busser, runner, bartender, etc. I understand that’s not really your concern, but don’t pretend like 5% is sufficient or justified. The only way that it’s justified is if your sever forgot your drinks on a slow night, your order came out wrong and your server COMPLETELY ignored you and insulted you when they approached the table. If you always get bad service when you go out, cook at home.
I’M A VALET AND I WORKED 208 DAYS LAST YEAR AND I COUNTED EVERY TIME A BLACK PERSON STIFFED ME,,AND THAT NUMBER WAS 212. THAT’S A LOT,THE THING IS I WASN’T MAD ANYMORE BECAUSE I WAS COUNTING TO SEE HOW MANY WOULD STIFF ME.
So, you made it fun by making something of a game/study out of it. Good thinking! A better number would be how many black people you provided valet service before, and how many of that number tipped you. less than one stiff a day doesn’t seem too bad if you’re parking many cars each shift.
It is the most annoying thing to see/hear the racist card being pulled out at unnecessary times. Whoever posted in retaliation saying that we the servers are racist(whether black or not) clearly did not address the issue. All I see is “White people don’t tip too!” or “All white people don’t tip” <– um Syntax issue, hello- don't you mean "NOT all white people tip". Oh well whatever it doesn't matter. Fine, person with a chip on your shoulder, I get what you're saying. But YOU don't get what WE'RE saying.
**Racism means that you have a preconceived idea about a race based on nothing but disgust of the other race and from what others have said. Reality check: Most servers start their first serving job denying this rumor,without this preconceived idea… and then within a couple weeks they see it with their own eyes and come up with this realization through their own sad discovery.**
1. MOST black customers do not tip well. Hello- "MOST". NOT "all". If you have never worked for tips, please do not act like you have any idea what the statistics are like. We say "most" because we know. Mathematically, do you know what "most" means? If you don't know anything about percentages, then please keep your invalid opinions to yourself. In fact, be our guest by checking the link for statistics posted above- DO look at the statistics! And when you see them please don't accuse the statistics that it's racist. They just show the numbers.
2. Yes, we've had bad tips from White customers DUH. NO ONE HAS DENIED THIS. But MOST of the time, we don't get this sinking feeling when we see the host seating a white couple. However, when the host seats me with a black couple, I get a sad feeling that no matter what I do… (and I know I'll be doing a lot- substitute this, extra this, no that, get the manager to void an item etc.)… I probably will not get rewarded for my good service. (Please see #4 before your retort because I know what you are going to think)
3. We have even addressed the issue that this isn't essentially RACIAL. it is NOT a racial thing. Actually, all along it has been about UPBRINGING. The upbringing style that contributes to the disregard of public etiquette (in this case, Restaurant etiquette)is usually found in lower class families, especially in urban places where residents decide that they can afford rims, shoes, clothes, and dinner dates (but not education). Unfortunately, this is where the race factor comes in. Incidentally, most of these places have a higher percentage of black residents. Not ALL of these people are bad tippers, but most of them are- due to upbringing, not because they were born with the instinct to screw over the person that's delivering their food. So when we say that most black customers don't tip- we're not saying that we don't like black people. (Although many times, that's what happens after years and years of being treated like SHIT and insulted, and given no tip even after giving more attention to the rude table than your other, good-tipping tables) But anyway, we are really just trying to address the problem -it is disheartening to have a night with one or two bad tipping tables because what will end up happening is you will go home having spent more money on the parking (or taxi) than what you brought home as income that night. It just happens to be that in almost every server's experience, (even black servers), the bad tippers are usually black.
4. Okay very important part: To all of you who claim that we're wrong and that you tip only based on service, and you have the NERVE to say that We, the servers, got bad tips from these black people in our experience, because WE didn't give good service. How dare you make such a ridiculous claim that we gave bad service? If you got bad service in the past and you tipped badly, don't make a generalization and say all servers are bad servers, because you haven't gone out to dinner as many times as we have waited on a table.
Self-fulfilling cycle? NO- get that out of your head at once. Seriously. I am a psychology major and I know the ins and outs of subconscious beliefs, attitude influence, self-fulfilling prophecy, external locus of control, etc. Listen, for years, the hundreds and hundreds of times when I approached a new table who consisted of black customers,it has always been the same approach. I prepare myself by being MORE accommodating to the black customers. I greet them with an even bigger smile than normal and bring them EVERYTHING they need without questioning. If you complained that your lemonade tasted like real lemon, I did what I could to make it taste less lemony (mind you, I asked if it was too sour, they said no, it's just that the daughter doesn't like real fruit). If you complained that your Hennessy and coke did not have enough alcohol, I brought it to the bartender who hated me for begging him to add more alcohol, even though you still ended up not tipping me. When you asked for ten waters with no ice, changing your mind and claiming to have ordered your food a different way and never got something that you never actually ordered, eating something 3/4ths of the way and then saying you didn't like it and want it taken off the check, and then wanted your check split up ten different ways I did that, and ended up getting $1 on each $25 portion. But I endured it all with a smile. You still want to claim that we servers are "racist" and that we simply give black people poor service?
Try this: Out of all of black people that have gone OUT OF THEIR WAY to COMPLIMENT ME and thank me for my excellent service during and after their meal, 75% of them STILL tipped me under 10%. That's $5 on a $60 bill for example. They even wrote nice comment cards and said they'll come back soon. But do nice words pay a server's rent?
Try another one: Some black customers have tipped me fabulously and were nice, some had told me I gave them good service and some just smiled and left. Then some black customers have been rude and condescending and left me decent tips as well. Then there's the more popular combination of rudeness and shitty tipping, but anyway my point is: No matter what, I have always given my black customers especially good service because I DON'T want to get stiffed on a tip. In the end, I'm trying to make money here. This is not a game. We servers aren't coming on here because it's fun to get treated like dirt and then talk about it. We're not playing "let's see who can give the worst service but still get the best tips"
5. The whole reason for this topic is to try and make people aware (not just black people, but to anyone that doesn't tip) that in this country, if you receive service for a dining experience or delivery food, you need to leave 18-20% gratuity calculated from your TOTAL BILL, because whoever provided you with service also has to feed his/her kids and pay his/her rent. Hell, they're probably doing that job to pay for college so that they can get a career and finally stop being a server.
6. To you low-lives who not only disregard tipping, but also have no class: If you dine and dash, the server is forced to pay the bill. Don't know if you knew that. (Before you pull out the racist card, the last time this happened to me, it was an older white couple who was very nice to me)
I know I wrote a lot: so just get the main point from this: we servers are saying that MOST BLACK PEOPLE DON'T TIP WELL, even though SOME BLACK PEOPLE ARE GREAT TIPPERS AND SOME WHITE PEOPLE ARE SHITTY TIPPERS. But MAJORITY SAYS THAT IF WE GET A BLACK TABLE, THE CHANCES ARE HIGHER THAT THE TIP WILL BE LOWER!!
Even black servers say the same thing.
Stereotypes exist for a reason. They started as observations and facts proven to be accurate over and over again. That is how they became stereotypes in the first place.
Sometimes black people joke "white people can't dance". That's not even stereotype- I think that only qualifies as an weird unsupported statement. Where the hell is the evidence that the majority of white people can't dance? At least saying that black people usually don't tip, there are millions of servers/pizza deliverers that will confirm this.
They should teach kids about social dining etiquette and social behavior in elementary school!!! Or put it on Sesame Street or something!
This is true. I just watched the fights with a bunch of people. The black girl next to me folded her changed and put it in her pocket without a seconds thought. She didn’t even leave a dollar. The waitress was serving my table of seven and the rest of the area. The girl at my table did not care and left nothing. I used to be a cook and heard that black people didn’t tip from servers and thought it was a dumb stereotype. Tonight is one example of why people say it. I can’t answer why. The waitress was as sweet as sugar and no one complained. The black person was the only one who didn’t tip. It was crazy.
OK first of all this has nothing to do with racism. This has everything to do with trends. If you haven’t waited a table then please do not come at people with your ignorant inexperienced opinions. I waited tables for a while and there were some common trends. Europeans do not tip well. Most hispanics do not tip well (I am latino). Most African-Americans do not tip well. Assholes do not tip well. These are all trends that every server has seen so to call someone racist is just stupid. I have had many people stiff me but the MOST COMMON perpetrators are europeans, hispanics, black folks and assholes. Do you get it yet?
Honestly, the only people I fear waiting on from the start are europeans. To be fair, they do not tip in their respective countries so it is somewhat understandable but infuriating nonetheless. The thing that I do not get is if we know not to tip over there, how do they not know to tip here? That is what pisses me off. I have had some very nice surprises from some unexpected folks. I have been tipped well by black folks too.
Yes, I agree it is about service but until you have spent a day in our shoes, you know nothing about what we go through. Sometimes there are things out of our control. For instance, you want your drink? Why don’t you step into the kitchen and find some. Oh wait, they are all being washed/burning hot to use at the moment. Oh you want your drink drink? Oh wait, the bartender working the service bar is slammed with 100 other orders just like yours. Oh your food is taking too long? Oh wait, the kitchen staff will just disregard the 50 orders before yours just so you will get yours on the fly. Uh, how about not.
If you go to a high volume restaurant, do not expect everything to be perfect. If it looks busy and you are waiting for 45 minutes for a table chances are you will wait longer for your food. Do the math you idiots. If you go to a fine dining restaurant, then yes, that is what you are paying for. At a fine dining establishment, you pay for expedient, efficient service and great over priced food.
The fact that someone made some asinine comment about people who work at Applebee’s makes me sick. Just because it’s not some upscale restaurant, does not mean we all don’t experience the same thing. Serving is serving.
My last point is, if you can’t afford a meal and a 20% tip then DO NOT EAT OUT! Making excuses not to tip is pathetic and sad. You don’t know what is going in your servers life and mind so try empathizing once in your life. If your server is an asshole or sucks that bad then yes it is ok to not tip well. Maybe he/she will learn their lesson. If it’s because your free refilled coca cola is taking sometime then get a life and f*** yourself. Uno!
correction, i meant to say 9 out of 10 leaves no tip.
Rainbow: You’re a complete bafoon and I don’t think you work in service at all if your opinion is that I have to offer the same service to all customers despite the fact that after five years of bartending the average has always been one out of every ten black people leaves no tip for my service. I also think you failed to realize that when you order something from a bar you pay for it IMMEDIATELY and there for have the opportunity to leave a tip right away insuring promptness upon your next order. Tip does stand for, after all, “To Insure Promptness” and so no, when I don’t get a tip the promptness is in no way insured. I think this entire blog has to do with the fact that the black majority as a whole seems to disregard bartenders and waiters and even revel in our misery which in truth seems to be where the real racism exists. I feel like it’s an obvious cop out to accuse anyone who wants to know why they are being abused by one particular race of people of being a racist themselves. I think the actual dilemma at hand is how one copes with the fact that they are currently the victim of racial aggression and what measures they can take to avoid it and my personal philosophy is don’t paint a gigantic fucking target on your back that says “take it out on me, I probably had it coming”. It just doesn’t make sense, sorry.
It’s definitely true that black people don’t tip, and it’s also true that it doesn’t matter how good the service is. However, I know the answer is not to give them bad service. I try to give them the best service possible, so, as others have said, they can’t realistically justify their poor or non-existent tip. However, when a service person is treated this way over and over, it’s sometimes hard to hide your disappointment when you see a black customer, because you know what’s likely going to happen.
What’s the cause and solution? I definitely think the solution is not to hate black people or give them bad service because they behave this way. This is a real social problem that needs to be addressed in a serious way. I believe the cause may stem from large numbers of black people feeling mistreated by or alienated from society, and the lesson of “treat others as you would have them treat you” has been lost on them. They have developed an outlook of only caring about themselves, and they see no value in random acts of kindness or appreciation.
Whether you are a service person giving bad service or a cheapskate tipper (black or otherwise), you need to realize that karma is real, and you will reap what you sew.
The only way this problem will be solved is as follows:
(1) Service people should strive to be professional and always do their best, and if you get stiffed even though you know you gave great service, don’t let it bring you down. Instead of feeling angry at the customer, I tend to feel sorry for them because I know they have a poor outlook on life and poor karma. Always give a warm thank you to customers who tip you, even if you feel the tip was insufficient.
(2) Black people who are poor tippers need to learn the value of random acts of kindness and appreciation. You never know… your kindness to someone today may result in that person saving your life tomorrow. I’m sure that many black people reading this know that I am right. If you are one of those, I challenge you to show some leadership and help change the negative views of your black family and friends. Take strength from knowing you are speaking the truth and don’t let them shut you down. Don’t give into peer pressure.
Where does the rubber meet the road? Well when you are in a service situation such as a restaurant, try the following at least for one month: Be overly friendly and polite with your server (even if they initially seem unhappy to see you because of the poor-tipping black stereotype). Make up your mind that you are going to give them a good tip even if they give you bad service. The truth is that servers rarely give horrible service. It may not be stellar service, but usually not horrible. Don’t look with a microscope for reasons to be angry at your server. If the service is a little off, they may be having a bad day. Try to empathize a bit and put yourself in their shoes. If this is the case, make a comment at the end of your visit and say something like “I see you might be having a bad day, but I appreciate your service today.” then give them a good tip anyway. You’ll be amazed how good it makes you feel when you see their face light up. The next time that you go back and are served by the same server, I guarantee they will be friendly and glad to see you, and will be attentive to your needs. On a final note, be considerate of your server’s time. If you need several things, ask for them all at once. Don’t make requests that are unreasonable or that are obviously intended to annoy your server. If you do all these things for a month, you’ll be amazed about how good it makes you feel, and also at how much your service experiences begin to improve. You can also feel good about being a leader in helping to change the negative images that many (but especially service people) have toward blacks.
You know the funny thing about that is, my friend says people who cant speak even say the word tip know how to tip, like Latinos and Chinese. Some of them not even born here.
I worked at a gas station in LA, a diverse city, before my first year at college and even though not even involving tips, i see poor priorities. I was working on a Saturday and a city down the highway were throwing a block party. These car came out with people dressed like Halloween or some type of playboy event. That day i saw something I’ve never seen before. The lady comes up to the counter, puts a hot dog, a bag of chips and and tall can of Budweiser. she gives a stack of coins, I’m talking nickles and pennies i would’ve been quarters at that point it was bad. She also had the nerve to ask me for the pack of cheapest cigarettes and said she would pay with that change. Like i knew which was the cheapest, no one EVER asks, she has the nerve to say why you taking so long counting change. i was trained to be so nice for so long. then my bro who worked there came out to help. Hes 27 so big difference, she was trying to pay for her food with AN EBT CARD. for people outside of CA thats welfare card to pay for a poor FAMILY with A CHILD free food money. he said we didnt accept that at Chevron so she went and put pack the food and cigs. She couldnt afford the beer, and the male friend of her in their entourage, right behind her in line didnt have the courtesy, gentry nor the politeness to cover her. meanwhile the friends are outside dressed like their going to Harlem in the 60s goddamn. Had to that off my chest.
New York Bartender, you sound like you’re proud to ignore black people.
Ignoring people because of their skin color is a pretty shitty thing to do. I’m sure the bar you work for would love to hear your little rant about black people. The bar owner has the right to refuse service to anyone, but he or she can’t refuse service to black people in general like you are doing. Discrimination that you describe is pretty wrong on a few levels. Hope a lawyer doesn’t get wise to your shenanz.
Most people from New York are assholes, but does that give me the right to ignore all customers from New York? In case you’re wondering, no it’s not. Just because I think the majority of New Yorkers are assholes it doesn’t make it true, and it doesn’t make it right to the New Yorkers who aren’t assholes.
Just because you think a black person will stiff you doesn’t mean it is always true. Do you really want to be losing out on money from the black people that do tip? Even if you are correct in your 90% assumption, and I highly doubt you are a mathematician, you’d rather have that rate climb up to 100%?
If I were a black person I’d have to tip you before you served me? No fucking way. I tip based on service and nothing else. Show me the service, and I will show you the tip.
Anybody in the service industry who thinks they should get tips for lousy performance shouldn’t be in the service industry. Ignoring people based on skin color is lousy service.
i am sick of black people coming out to eat and not tipping. I know black people who stopped doing black hair because of the tipping. How sad is that? Your own kind don’t want to deal with you. Not only do they not tip but they run up a huge tab and you end up getting their pocket change or nothing. This happened to me yesterday, i had 5 black tables in a row, their tabs altogether was over 400.00 and i made 10.00 on all 4 tables. So if you don’t want to tip take your butt down to the local fast food joint where a server doesn’t have to waste their time with you.
Also I might add, plenty of white people don’t tip, the French. They don’t do it because it isn’t customary in their country, it’s because it’s viewed as tacky. I had someone from France explain to me that in Europe the class system acts very differently and just like how in the U.S. poor people will wear clothes they can’t afford and drive cars they can’t keep up payments on the French, as well as other Europeans, will show disdain for people in the service industry in order to demonstrate that they are in a class above them and they belong where they are. I mean American blacks don’t tip because they don’t want to, Oprah even said on her recession show that tipping is unnecessary and she doesn’t believe in it, but Europeans do it out of contempt for the working class. Ignore them too.
I have been a bartender/server for about five years and I simply won’t offer blacks the same courtesy as I offer everyone else anymore. I stopped doing this two years ago when a party of four, educated, well spoken black women berated me for being a racist when I reminded them, very politely, after ordering almost one hundred dollars in drinks without tipping that I don’t get paid by the bar and tips are all I have. I had a really bad experience last night with a black customer and when I typed in “why don’t bl…” it finished with “ack people tip” for me, that’s how common this problem is. You can call it a racist generalization all you want but you know what, I currently work at one of the busiest bars in my city and I work with only one other person who won’t serve blacks either. He’s an African, from fucking Africa! They don’t tip, at least 90% won’t pay for service and so if you are in the industry my advice is simply don’t offer it. If you are black and reading these comments offends you my advice is to tip well right away and you’ll be given appropriate treatment because more often than not the person serving you has been treated very poorly by black customers. Typically when a black person comes in and I’m clearly ignoring them they will make a point to give me a generous tip right away and then I’ll be as polite and courteous to them as I would anyone else. It is a comfort to know other people have the same problem and to all the commenters who have the nerve to simply say that the reason blacks are tipping them poorly because the servers have a racist predisposition so they are being stiffed as a result, are being so offensive toward normal people doing one of the hardest and most stressful jobs out there it is blinding.
Omg this site is hilarious! I’m Asian/black/white mixed hairstylist in Atlanta and I work in pretty international enviroment. From MY EXPERIENCE of 11years doing everyone’s hair black girls and Indian men are the worst tippers. It’s not even an issue at my shop anymore its been so consistant. Crazy to say if a black girl tipped me 20% I would be bragging like “omg she gave me 20%!! whoohoo!” lol but my white girls (I would say 95% of them) tipped me 20-30% with no question. Trust me, I wish it wasn’t my reality, but it is for now. I don’t enjoy servicing thinking this girl is not gonna tip me, let me hurry up with her..!
Oh, I just wanted to add that I am not saying if servers commit to giving 100% awesome service to black people every time, that the servers will get rewarded EACH and EVERY time. I am saying that your tips will improve from black people slowly.
Let me tell you guys, I’ve been on the other side of being stereotyped. It was not fun. I walked into the whitest breakfast dive in the whole of country bumpkin redneck town. I’m half hispanic (most people think I’m white) and was with my white friend. There were NO people of color anywhere to be seen, and we got the shittiest service. I overheard the bitch waitress talking shit about me and my friend. Maybe she thought we were lesbians or something, but who cares… SO yeah, not cool to stereotype in a restaurant situation, people.
I’ll bite. I’m not black, but I’ve been out to eat with black people. I’ve served black people not as a waitress but doing takeout. One of my regular tippers was a younger black lady. Not many people even believe in tipping for takeout these days, but I often got a tip from her. Anyone who actually believed in tipping for takeout tipped me, because I was good at my job, but I digress.
My black friends always tip and tip well. What can I say? My friends are pretty classy, except for my one Filipino friend. I stopped going to restaurants with her for a while because she was one dollar tipper. I couldn’t handle that shit. She started dating a pizza delivery guy, and she got a LITTLE better. I still love her, but the tipping issue bothers me.
My conclusion here is that the younger generation of black people have learned that they are going to get crappy service if they don’t tip. Why do you want to piss off these black people who actually do tip? Some black people have resigned and are absolutely sure that servers are going to judge them by their skin color every time, and they might as well act “ghetto” and not leave a tip. Why should they tip? They’re getting crappy service if you judge them when they walk in the door.
It is a fact that the majority of black people tip like shit. I am not arguing there. My question is what the fuck do you intend to do about it? Are you gonna give every black person who walks in shitty service? Or are you going to do your job to the best of your ability, so when you do impress that “ghetto” person, they might (you don’t know they might) actually start to tip.
Nothing is going to change on either side, if service folks won’t quit harping on about how black people don’t tip. Believe me you are part of the problem, complainers. If every single one of you servers who complained about getting stiffed by a black person strives to give 100% every time they serve a black person this shit will change.
I can’t believe I got all “I have a dream” on your asses, but I do have a fucking dream…that servers will stop bitching about skin color and do their jobs properly. And that ALL black people will start to tip.
I got a reply for rainbow’s dumb ass! Im a delivery driver, and i have to give perfect timely service because it is part of my job. This still doesn’t change the fact that most black people are the most picky about their sandwich, complain the most, stiff me the most, and are just plain rude. So you can take your dream and shove it up your ass, cuz it’s pointless. They are just plain rude people, and noone wants to deal with them, especially black people actually in the service industry!
No, you are not fair. Everybody knows servers don`t get paid and to walk out with leaving nothing or freaking $2 on $50 bill is just rude and ignorant no matter what color you skin is. And maybe you never had your feelings hurt like that but just for you to know: your feet and legs are killing you at the end of the day and your back hurts, you get to work 12+ hours a day sometimes and some servers(like me) actually develop tendinitis(really bad pains in your wrist).
facts cannot be racist. racism includes some form of bias of which can not exist for something to be factual so anyone who wants to play the race card can stop right now. i’ve been driving for jimmy john’s for half a year now and i can say unequivocally that MOST black people do not tip. even the ones that do tip maybe $1 (average per delivery is between $2-$2.50). i’m not sure if this is due to socioeconomic status or other factors, but i think that most people these days aren’t taught the value of money at a young age.
i live in a town that wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the college, and when winter and summer break roll around you can really tell. it was pointed out earlier that you don’t see alot of black people working at jobs where most of your income comes from gratuity and i can attest to that; out of the 30 or so drivers we have only one is black. the demographics of the university (which accounts for about 95% of our business) are about 85% white and only 4% black, so while i don’t deliver to alot of black people it’s memorable when i do, i.e. i always leave their door frustrated. i’ve become largely apathetic about it, not even expecting a tip and when i do get one it’s like christmas.
as tired as i think black people are of the stereotype i think most others are just as tired of the race card. it doesn’t have to be derogatory, it simply is what it is, learn to accept it and move on (both sides). that’s what we call progress.
also, tip your drivers… well. and more if weather conditions are poor. i don’t feel like dying for a $1 tip. if you have enough money to order then you have enough money to leave a decent tip. that extra dollar means a lot more to us than it does to you, i can promise you that.
/rant
me 2 man. I was delivering on a snowy night a few weeks ago. I was slipping and sliding all over the road. I had a 24 dollar delivery, so i was stoked to get like a 2-3 dollar tip. I finally make it to the house parked in the driveway and slid back into the street, the driveway was an incline. I almost got hit by two cars, but managed to get into the driveway. A black girl answers the door and hands me a 20$ bill and a 5$ bill. I figured id at least get the single owed. Oh how wrong i was, she asked for the change then closed the door!