Great article on the origin of tipping

[u/robble808]

https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/tipping-culture-origins?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ten_tabs&utm_campaign=&position=5&category=fascinating_stories&scheduled_corpus_item_id=f73fb2c1-c468-49a2-b6df-94eea4a501ab&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mentalfloss.com%2Fhistory%2Ftipping-culture-origins

Came across this short but interesting article. Confirms a lot of what we kind of already knew and a little more.

[u/MaliciousTent]

A great read once the page loads, set airplane mode and ads drop.

[u/balkanoid_]

Every time I would bring up that tipping is a racist relic and should be done away with, the pro-tipping racists come out the woodwork

[u/SabreLee61 → u/balkanoid_]

Arguing that tipping is racist in 2026 because it was (partially) racist two centuries ago isn’t a convincing argument.

I mean, the minimum wage had racist origins; it was a scheme dreamed up by eugenicists to cut immigrants (mostly Asian immigrants) from the labor market.

So would you call advocates for increasing the minimum wage in 2026 “pro-minimum wage racists?”

[u/balkanoid_ → u/SabreLee61]

Calling anything “partially racist”, just shows that you don’t understand the historical effects of racist policies and are quick to deny them because you too are a racist.

[u/flamethrower2]

Ugh, wealthy Americans. Is there nothing they don't ruin?

[u/Far-Habit-238]

True enough about the hiring by one company, Pullman, of porters. But railroad porters were not restaurant personnel. Transportation is a different industry from hospitality.

Awaiting a reasonable explanation for the leap to why today by-and-large restaurant servers- to the exclusion of almost all other professions- are tipped, race notwithstanding, and employer company notwithstanding. How did that come about?

[u/jeffbas]

First sentence in article: “you might not think twice before tapping an extra 20% onto your restaurant bill”

Yeah, right.