People are just finding out tipping was once so unpopular it was made illegal in six states
Topics: Tipping, Social Media
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Tipping, Social Media
To be honest, tipping couldn't get more American if it tried, could it?
Of course, tipping does happen across the globe, but it is certainly more prevalent across the States.
Typically, a 25 percent tip is seen as acceptable in the US, but even that comes across as outrageous to many.
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In many European countries, a tip is not even expected or a tip of around 10 percent would be more than favorable.
But back in the day, and I mean well back in the day, tipping was not so popular in the US.
In fact, tipping was even made illegal in six different states because it was hated that much.
When tipping began to go mainstream in the US post-Civil War, it was dubbed as 'a cancer in the breast of democracy', alongside 'a gross and offensive caricature of mercy'.
Tell us how you really feel.
But perhaps the most surprising insult landed on tipping is the fact it was 'offensively un-American', particularly surprising considering how popular it is now.
Tipping was essentially blamed for encouraging servility and degrading the US' democratic and anti-aristocratic ethic.
Millionaires John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were notoriously stingy tippers, while writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said: "I sometimes succumb and give the dollar, yet it is a wicked dollar, which, by and by, I shall have the manhood to withhold."
And come 1915, the tipping abolitionist campaign well and truly came to a boil as states looked to ban tipping altogether.
In fact, in that particular year, the states of Iowa, South Carolina and Tennessee joined Washington, Mississippi, and Arkansas in passing anti-tipping laws.
Georgia meanwhile banned 'commercial bribery', which included tips that tried to influence the quality of service.
The laws were all abolished come 1926.
And now many people believe tipping has got to the point where it is out of control in 2024.
The debate particularly heated up recently after a Redditor took to the social media platform to share a photo of their bill.
At the bottom, it broke down some suggested tips, including a staggering 99 percent additional fee.
It reads: "99%: (Tip $61.91 Total $124.45)
"35%: (Tip $21.89 Total $84.43).
"25%: (Tip $15.64 Total $78.18)."
It adds: "Tip percentages are based on the check price after taxes."
"Damn, I get mad when I see 25% as the highest option. That's just insane," one person replied to the post.
"Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought 15% was the default tip for adequate service with 20-25% or higher for exceptional service. When did this all change," questioned another.