Say it Ain't So!

If anyone is planning on going to a restaurant and doing a food review for an upcoming piece, you automatically know that tipping is a must.  It has been ingrained in our heads since we were young, and if you work at a restaurant while putting yourself through college, you are probably one of the best tippers around because you know what it's like to get a two-dollar tip when you were expecting twenty.  In a recent New York Times piece  there is a restaurant in San Diego that has banned tipping.  The owner of the restaurant, the Linkery, said that tipping was causing fights between his workers and caused them to not work as a team.  Now his wait staff and his kitchen staff share a "service charge" that is on the bill; this is the same type of system that works in Europe and other parts of the world and causes anxiety among staff that has to serve a table of foreigners (they never tip!).  Now the Linkery's staff is making around $25 an hour, not bad at all, but the one big difference is that it's all taxed!  So long fast money, here comes Uncle Sam! This article takes an in depth look at the history of tipping, all the way back to when tipping was established in Europe in the 1600's for house guests.  It makes you wonder whether or not tipping is the best system; well only if you're not in the restaurant business.