Question for MLK day. Read the whole thing please...?

Question

I am not prejudiced in any way, shape or form. I have noticed something nobody seems to be able to explain. Why don't African Americans tip for good service? One man's check is $85.00. He leaves between $15 and $20 as a tip. African American's check is $85.00. He leaves $4.00 to $7.00. Both got the exact same service. I am not stereotyping. I'm actually writing a paper on this.

I menationed two men as an example of anyone else and the person I'm calling african american in the same situation. I am getting this from about a hundred people who have up to twenty years of personal experience and observation. Just please answer the question....if you can.

Stupid point grabbers. Can't or won't read an entire question. Totally didn't get it, did you. It isn't two people. It is REAMS of interviews with hundreds of people in the service industries (Cabbies, strippers, bellmen,bartenders, etc) many of whom are also african american and are tending to agree with this generalization. I am trying to understand WHY?????????

Ahhh, you do get it. Yes, even with african american cab drivers, waitresses, hairdressers,etc. There is no explaining this and I have not yet formed a conclusion.

Answer 1

I think it is an excellent question to be explored. I applaude you for initiating a study. I have heard of this phenomena many times before. Tom Leykis on the www.blowmeuptom.com website/radio program has discussed it also. I am not a waitress, so don't have any personal experience but for ideas, here are some related questions: are they also frugal when tipping an african-american waitress? What is their individual income level? What is their going-out/restaurant monthly bill in comparison to their total income? So many different factors could be involved. I hope that the conclusion isn't that certain races are cheap.

Answer 2

Well im sure many caucations tip poorley too and some african americans tip very well, I do agree that a tip is in order, most waitresses only get paid in tips after taxes are taken out. people do not think about that. but I dont thing you can really pin bad tipping on one group of people.
if you want to know for sure, spend a week as a waitress in an establishment that has a mixed clientell and keep notes on what you get tiped, just make sure that youve really done your investigating before you write your article, people are very sue happy today.

Answer 3

Despite your denial, you ARE prejudiced. You are presuming that all African Americans tip poorly. I have been poorly tipped by plenty of upper middle class Whites after giving them great service.

If you're going to write a paper on your prejudices, you should have far more data than on just two men. Unless your teacher is a racist too, you are going to have to write an extremely persuasive paper, but I doubt you'd be capable of that. So get ready for a low score.

Answer 4

You must be in the service business. It is really the luck of the draw. When I was going to College, I parked cars in the evening and weekends, and ran into a number of different nationalities, and a lot of different tippers, it just seems that you don't remember the good tippers, just the bad ones. I parked cars for women at a Tupperware convention, and not a one of them tipped me. They were all overweight and wore polyester! They were ignorant! They probably never left their small town, they lived in. You just never know, what people's day are like, and it's hard to sterotype any persons.

Answer 5

How dare you? I am African American and I tip based upon the service I receive. You give bad service, you get a bad or no tip. I don't care how much the bill is. A tip is something that is earned. It is not owed to you. You get payed what is owed by the owner of the establishment. That's the problem. People think that a tip is something they get automatically. I am not tipping you if you serve me with an attitude, I am not tipping you if it takes me an hour to get my food.

A tip is for a job well done and if you have not done a good job then you do not get a tip.

You want to say that you are not prejudiced. Like h**l you aren't. You don't label a question like this and place it in the same category as Martin Luther King. That's just ignorant. This question has nothing to do with MLK. It has to do with your unwillingness to serve African Americans to the best of your ability. Remember a tip is earned WE{ and that includes my Caucasian brothers and sisters} don't owe you anything!

Answer 6

There is probably a lot of contributing factors, such as:

- They may not have gotten good service. A lot of waitresses expect all African Americans to be bad tippers, so they may not give them as good service as they would give to a person they expected to be a good tipper. Most waitresses claim that they give the same service to everyone, but that is not true. Most of them do their best to treat perceived good tippers great in order to try to earn a good tip. They may not necessarily give lousy service to those they don't expect to tip well, but they usually don't give as good service to them as to others. When customers notice they are being treated differently, that usually gives them a bad impression, which leads to a lower tip.

- Even if waitresses give pretty much the same service, their attitude often shines through and makes a difference. I've been to restaurants myself where I didn't like the attitude of the waitress. It made me flat out uncomfortable about being there. The service wasn't bad, but very unfriendly, so I left a lousy tip (mind you, I live in a country where tips are not expected, but appreciated as a nice bonus in restaurants). Attitude matters.

- Many African Americans have a low income, which may result in them not affording to tip well.

- People generally don't pay as much attention to bad qualities in "their own people" (their own race, ethnicity, religious group, social class etc.). They accept them as a normal bad apple amongst themselves, but when someone in a different group has bad qualities it sticks out. They both have bad qualities AND are different, so people notice them more and sometimes even label entire groups based on the bad apples from them that they encounter. It's a "them" vs. "us" thing and often stems from people not knowing the groups of "them" nearly as well as they know their own group, so they end up assuming. I've studied this and people are bound to notice more the faults of those who are different than the faults of the ones they feel like they belong with.

There are probably some more underlying factors too. I think many things need to be taken into consideration. It's not as simple as "they're cheap".

Answer 7

I tend to disagree w/ you. I waitress part-time and I notice that alot of different people tip differently. And saying such a broad statement like that just seems ignorant to me. Especially to put it in a as MLK question, that's like a slap in the face to all Americans who appreciate what he has done for our country. And to start your question w/ an obvious lie, such as I am not prejudiced. As soon as I read those words I knew the to ignore them and wait for the truth.

Answer 8

You need to include more people in this study to be accurate. There should be people, male & female from different races.
I get what you are saying, I've been a bartender on and off for years, but without figuring in for everybody, you are sounding a bit prejudicial.

Answer 9

You are sterotyping when you apply broad terms to a group of people based on what two different people do. Don't write the paper with this assumption unless your teacher is a racist.

Answer 10

What does your question have to do with MLK day?

Did it ever occur to you that you might be giving better service to the non-African Americans so they are leaving you a better tip? Look to yourself first.