Friday, September 6, 2013

Should there be a law against tipping?

Sometime in the early 1980's, Andy Rooney wrote an essay entitled "Tipping".  What was his position on tipping? No subtlety there.  In his opening sentence he states, "I'd be just as happy if they passed a law tomorrow making tipping illegal."  Marash Girl had just finished reading the essay [Andrew Rooney, AND MORE BY ANDY ROONEY. New York, Atheneum, 1982] when she turned on WBUR's Here and Now . . . Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson were asking food writer Corby Kummer of The Atlantic and Boston Magazine the question, "Is The Restaurant Tipping Model Bad For Waitstaff?"  Their position was not very far from Rooney's position in the 1980's.

Is it possible that Robin Young. Jeremy Hobson or Corby Kummer had ever read Rooney's essay before they did the show? (Marash Girl thought that she could hear Andy Rooney, long time 60 Minutes commentator, right there cheering them on!)  

If you are inclined to pursue this question further, check out Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson interviewing  Corby Kummer on WBUR http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/09/04/restaurant-tipping-model and for sure, read those essays by Andy Rooney!

2 comments:

  1. I don't mind tipping, but I don't like the pattern of gratuity being automatically added to the bill for large parties or for other reasons. A tip is exactly that, a tip. It's for good service. Perhaps, I'd give a larger tip than what is automatically attached to the bill. Alas, we'll never know because that automatic amount set a limit.

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  2. Do you happen to have a link to the original essay? I have to write an admission essay, I plan to work in the restaurant business. It would help me.

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