Tipping Culture is a Symptom of a Far Bigger Problem

News reports and social media have been ablaze with stories of dollar-hungry Karens in the service industry who demand higher tips from customers — whether they’re delivering pizzas or serving meals and drinks in nicer establishments. Some of these unhinged people have been caught on video, and have gone viral for throwing fits about either not getting tips or not getting big enough tips for the jobs they’re doing. These folks overwhelmingly take their financial frustrations out on the customers, in what is becoming known online as “tipping culture.” Whether you’ve been on one end of this phenomenon or the other, the entire issue with tipping culture itself is that it is a symptom of a far bigger problem. And it’s a problem that people in the service industry are seemingly refusing to address.

Recently, a DoorDash driver went viral after she literally took back the food she was delivering because the customer only gave her an $8.00 tip. The New York Post writes that the incident took place in 2021, but the video has newly surfaced from the customer’s Ring camera, and it shows an absolutely infuriating exchange. The young woman arrives at the address where she was supposed to be delivering the meal, but instead of doing the hand-off, she angrily yelled at the person who answered the door — and chastised them for only giving her $8.00 after how far she had to drive. She claimed that it took her 40 minutes to deliver the meal, but the customer said that the entire delivery should have only taken from 15 to 20 minutes. In the end, the woman took the bag of food and refused to deliver it. She got into her vehicle and drove off with it — which seems rather counterproductive since she’d already driven all that way. In February 2023, DoorDash confirmed that the woman dubbed by the internet as “DoorDash Karen” had been fired.

Stories like the aforementioned one aren’t uncommon, especially over the past couple of years. For example, this man claims that his DoorDash delivery ended up in a tree because the driver didn’t like the tip amount that was given to them. This Dominos Pizza delivery driver went viral a couple months ago because she angrily told the customer to go get their own food “next time,” because she saw a car parked in the customer’s driveway and she didn’t get a tip. If you look at social media posts on sites like Reddit, Facebook and TikTok, there are countless stories of similar caliber. It’s gotten to the point that some people are calling out “tipping culture” while pointing out the price increase of even the most basic goods and services.

‘Tipping culture needs to chill’

A TikToker named @luckyangie took to the popular social media network with her own recent interaction with a wage worker demanding a tip from her, and it has people in the comments divided on whether or not they support her. Angie explained, in her video, that she’d recently spent $17.00 on a smoothie at an establishment in her area, and then was asked to pay another $1.35 for a single packet of Stevia — something that ordinarily costs far less. After she spent over $18.35 at that point, the worker behind the window then asked Angie for a tip.

“Uhm, ma’am. I’m all cleaned out today.” Said the TikToker. “Tipping culture needs to chill,” she added.

Of course her video went viral, and of course comments are split among those who think you should tip your entire bank account to every fast food employee you encounter, and those who agree that tipping culture, indeed, needs to chill. Some posited that if Angie could afford an $18.35 smoothie, then she could have certainly afforded a tip. While that might be sound judgement — on the surface — the fact of the matter is that we simply don’t know the woman’s finances, and the issue isn’t at all about what you can afford. This point of view is an illustration of the blindness that is shown to the bigger picture — and that bigger picture isn’t whether or not people deserve to be tipped more — or at all.

Workers need to be paid fair wages

Even though it is unfortunately legal, employers take advantage of paying their hires inhumanely low wages because of the tipping system. Even during more economically stable times in our history — such as the 1950s, when a single salary could afford an entire family home — tip-earners faced instability. It is fundamentally unlikely for someone to survive on tips and be able to purchase a home or maintain one comfortably. In fact, in many areas, it’s pretty next to impossible for tip-earners to rent apartments on their own without needing the assistance of one or more roommates. The entire system causes financial instability and uncertainty, which leads to hardship and stress. That added stress on top of working in general manifests itself in many ways — including some of the viral videos we see of workers throwing tantrums over tip amounts or lack thereof.

Tip-earners are being exploited

Even though the minimum wage amount is increasing in many parts of the country, employers are not bound to pay minimum wage to employees who receive tips on a regular basis. Sadly, the current national base salary for tip-earners is around $2.13 per hour. However, that amount is higher in some states that have laws that require a higher wage for tip-earners. That means that people who work in these environments literally rely on tips in order to even meet what could be considered minimum wage. In some situations tip-earners are incredibly successful such as event nights, holidays and conventions. There are Reddit posts even dedicated to tip-earners sharing their favorite experiences of having days with tremendously high tip amounts. When it rains, it pours — the old saying goes.

For every day of high tip amounts, there are many more days that leave tip-earners struggling to make ends meet. This completely unfair imbalance not only motivates them to strive for those good days that come with loads of extra cash, but it also keeps them obedient to employers who really should be paying them a far higher wage. The cycle of exploitation continues.

Meanwhile, inflation continues to bloat the costs of living while wage-workers in general aren’t getting paid living wages. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for someone who gets paid without relying on tips to even rent an apartment and stock their fridges with food. Advocates for raising the national minimum wage amount are finding success in small doses, but the national base pay for tip-earners remains at an insultingly low $2.13 per hour. That’s around 22% less than the national minimum wage. However, it should still be noted that there are states that require tip-earners be paid higher than this. In fact, some states require employers to pay even more than the national minimum wage amount to workers who rely on tips.

Tip-earners need to fight for their rights

In order to break the cycle of workplace exploitation, tip-earners and their advocates must unionize and demand a fair wage. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for this to happen. In fact, in 2022 restaurant workers unionized to oppose a tip credit which would allow employers to pocket upwards of 16% of their employees tips. Now, let’s see some of that passion and energy applied to demanding an across-the-board livable wage altogether for tip-earners.

To tip, or not to tip?

The current tipping culture, as illustrated throughout this post, is a symptom of a larger issue at play. Nonetheless, people tend to overwhelmingly agree that you should always tip if you’re seeking the service of someone who relies on tip money, or if you’re ordering food or goods that are being delivered to you. Unfortunately, nobody can seem to unanimously agree on tip amounts, or whether or not tips should be mandatory or only given for exceptional service. Some even argue that you shouldn’t even order food or seek assistance at any establishment that employs tip-earners, if you’re unwilling to tip — or unwilling to tip certain amounts.

Most delivery apps such as UberEats or DoorDash allow you to input a tip amount — or choose from a selection of suggested tip amounts — upon ordering your food, groceries or other items. It’s simply good customer conduct to at least choose one of these suggested tip amounts when ordering delivery. However, until it becomes mandatory to pay tips, there are going to be people who simply do not tip at all. And possibly worse, there will always be people who enter comically low tip amounts into these apps. A possible solution for this could be for these delivery apps to remove the option for entering a custom tip amount, and requiring a mandatory minimum tip amount before completing an order. This would weed out potential people who refuse to tip out of spite, and it could potentially eliminate any awkward situations between the tip-earners and customers who might not have the funds to tip a desired amount at any given time.