As time progresses and society advances, liberals are struggling to create new ways — whether it’s “cultural appropriation” or “micro-aggressions” — to say America still has a massive racism epidemic.
Now, progressives think they have proof that the act of tipping servers is “racist,” too. “Twisted,” even.
Mother Jones, a failing liberal rag, featured an op-ed in their magazine titled, “The Racist, Twisted History of Tipping.”
It’s entirely reasonable to oppose tipping or to believe that tipping is outdated, but this author says “they still are” racist. She gives the rumored history or tipping, originating in the 1700s in Europe and growing in America after those who were enslaved were freed. She points out there were tipping bans in many states until 1926, and when the first minimum wage was passed in 1938, there were separate minimums for tipped workers.
Not seeing the racism in the 1920s and 1930s? Us either. And the author seems not to care about the gap in her argument and skips to focus on one present-day study, which wildly claims a 56 percent wage gap between white servers and non-white servers.
The problem?
The data for this study was from one restaurant in the south. Not two restaurants, or 10 restaurants spread across different regions. One restaurant.
Worse? It only surveyed 140 tables. From the report (literally the only fact Mother Jones cited):
white servers, 16 involved black customers and white servers, 34 involved white customers and
black servers, and 10 involved black customers and black servers.”
The study proved that one restaurant in one city at one time may have had a few biased customers. Apparently, that’s all the proof race-baiters need. Mother Jones’ lone race-based fact didn’t come from a nationwide survey or a large enough sample size to even reasonably compute as scientific research. Not even close. Maybe there is a minor gap, but a 56 percent gap? That’s unserious.
For many Americans, tipping is a check on ensuring good service. When restaurants have tried to migrate away from it, complaints have made them reverse course. Claiming widespread racism in tipping in 2016 seems to be a stretch, and if this writer had her way, we might have mandatory tips — or worse, affirmative action tipping.
