To Tip or Not to Tip

The practice of tipping isn’t going anywhere. A few restaurants have tried a tip-inclusive model, raising menu prices while also raising employees’ hourly wage and offering benefits. Most have backtracked. Even most servers don’t want to do away with tipping.

Before talking about whether we should tip or when we should tip, we need to understand where tipping came from.

Tipping began in North America in the 1800s but had started in Europe in the 17th century with well-heeled patrons who wanted to seem sophisticated or cultured. Employers collected tips to pay their staff rather than have to actually pay wages.

 For the most part, Canada and the United States are the only countries where tipping is expected because of how we have structured workers wages by creating something known as “tipped” wages.

  How Does Tipping Work?The federal minimum wage at present is $7.25 per hour. However, states can increase minimum wage to anything over the federal minimum. They range from…