Before becoming a full-time freelancer, I labored at many jobs: crime reporter, arts editor, short order cook, pizza delivery driver, pothole-patcher, and bookseller. But the most lucrative job I’ve ever had was waiting tables in Portland, Oregon. This was largely thanks to a state mandate requiring employers to pay my fellow servers, bartenders, and myself a full-scale minimum wage in addition to tips.
I was fortunate. I was able to luck into a full-time job that paid my bills; it seemed too good to be true. Serving was my most lucrative career choice, but the work, while often fun, was hard. Carrying around two carafes of coffee for six hours a day five days a week takes its toll—and it never made me rich. It did, however, give me breathing room. And while true that serving can, at least in Oregon, provide a livable wage for those lucky enough to work in a popular restaurant, it should also serve as a warning sign that positions in other sectors—retail, manual labor, publishing—are vastly underpaid.
That said, tipping can be problematic, primarily because the people in the back of the house who make everything run—line cooks and dish washers—aren’t entitled to a penny of those tips. And while it’s true their minimum wages are higher than a server or bartender’s—those wages often start at $12 to $15 an hour—front-of-house employees make far more than their BOH co-workers over the course of the year.
There are pros to tipping, and plenty of cons too, which begs the question: Should we just get rid of it altogether? Let’s dig in.