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Even the most open-minded servers tend to buy into politically incorrect theories of customer behavior that hinge on race and gender. I've worked with women who buy nutritional yeast in bulk, slap "Free Mumia" stickers on their biodiesel-fueled cars and refuse to wait on all-female tables.
But a new study suggests tipping's linked to yet another core identity, one I've never heard discussed in any wait station. According to HCD Research, Democrats are reliably better tippers than Republicans.
Democrats are two percent more generous when receiving bad service, leaving an average 10.8 percent to Republicans' 8.7 percent. That stat might be dismissed as evidence of liberals' bleeding hearts, except that the phenomenon repeated itself on the good service end of the spectrum: Satisfied Dems tipped 20 percent, while the average G.O.P'er tacked 18 percent onto his bill.
Independents were the worst tippers, leaving just under 18 percent when pleased with their service. So what accounts for the discrepancy? Are Democrats more likely to have worked a service job in the past? Does fiscal conservatism inhibit Republicans from tipping 20 percent? The polling firm doesn't say. But I'm guessing that if these results receive widespread attention, restaurant-bound Republicans might want to consider leaving their elephant lapel pins at home.
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5-11-2010 @11:18AM eilonwy said... It looks from the news item as if the study was based on self-reports of tipping behavior, so it could be that Democrats just think we tipped more.
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5-12-2010 @8:12PM rebecca said... "I've worked with women who buy nutritional yeast in bulk, slap "Free Mumia" stickers on their biodiesel-fueled cars and refuse to wait on all-female tables."
just goes to show you how doing either of these two things isn't a sign of how open minded you are.
5-12-2010 @7:30AM pj said... Of course dems tip better for bad service. Those idiots are always giving away something for nothing!
5-12-2010 @8:02AM J said... Well said, you cheap bastard!
5-11-2010 @12:00PM Matt said... I'm to the point where I only tip if there's good service. If you're a jerk or inept, you get zero. In fact, if you fall into either of those camps, I let your manager know what a terrible job you did.
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5-11-2010 @12:11PM Matt said... And for what it's worth, I'm an anarchist.
5-11-2010 @12:22PM Gary said... And here comes Hanna again trying to make us believe that 20% is the normal tip now...
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5-11-2010 @2:30PM Brittney said... 20% IS the normal tip now for good service. I tip 15% for bad service, but 20% is the going rate nowadays. In fact, I heard that sodas cost a whole dollar now! Back in the 30's, sodas were only 5 cents. Imagine that! I think it's called...inflation?
5-11-2010 @3:50PM Peter said... That doesn't make sense. Inflation deals with dollar amounts, not percentage of tips. As inflation (or deflation, as is happening lately) occurs on the price of a meal, the percentage takes that into account
5-12-2010 @7:27AM Steve Adams said... Many in my family and extended famil work in the restaurant business. all of them make the 20% or higher, they always give good service with a smile. None of us have a problem with 20% or more for exceptional service. We are all Republicans. go figure. What a biased article.
5-12-2010 @8:14AM Kelly said... 20% has always been customary for good service. You were wrongly informed, my friend. 15% is what you should tip for general service (just about any kind of normal, run-of-the-mill service). If you get good service, you should bump it up to at least 20%.
I don't get why so many people b*tch about a few dollars for a tip. I was a waitress for 8 years while I was working my way through college and graduate school. I never had a lot of money, but I could always afford to tip 20%. Some of you people should be ashamed!
5-12-2010 @8:43AM Gary said... I think some of you may have mistaken my comment. I will certainly tip 20% or more for great service, but the author here seems to push 20% as the baseline for mediocre service, which is crazy.
5-11-2010 @12:39PM gobo said... I always tip 18%-20% depending on quality of service. And for what it's worth, I'm a Democrat.
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5-11-2010 @2:26PM Kevin said... This is all based on voluntary reporting, with no control on the study group. Large cites (e.g. New York, San Francisco) skew more Democratic. They also skew towards higher tipping. I'd bet a large amount of cash they are incorrectly attributing geographic differences in tipping behaviour to party affiliation. It was a calculated headline put out by HCD Research to attract page hits to push their services and Hanna fell for it hook, line and sinker.
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5-11-2010 @12:57PM Emily said... 1) Doesn't control for any other factors -- age in particular seems like it could be relevant here.
2) They don't give a breakdown of the size of each group, but based on a total sample size of 1,192 the subgroups of party identifiers can't be that large. It's likely these "differences" are simply a result of statistical noise.
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5-13-2010 @7:48PM Harold said... Very interesting comments, but I wonder as Emily said there is no consideation for age. I would call myself a fiscal conservative, but ecological moderate. I tend to tip on the high end of the scale, 20% for sure for good service, and sometimes more if we have a large party. But I am still working, have a good salary and collecting retirement and social security. I can afford to tip well now...in another two to three years, I think my tiping will drastically change. When my income is more fixed and my health maintenance costs soar, I will put more emphasis on very good service, and even then will probably not tip as high as I do now. I think the whole Dem vs. Rep is probably not well founded, and any such findings are suspect.
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5-11-2010 @2:15PM Dave said... 2 percent, especially in such a small survey, is statistically irrelevant.
What a useless article.
Besides, 15% is the standard tip for decent service.
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5-12-2010 @9:40AM gobo said... Maybe 10 years ago it was 15%. It's 18% to 20% now.
5-11-2010 @1:59PM Cerulean said... I live in Idaho where servers are paid less than the minimum wage because it is assumed that their tips will make up for the difference, so unless my service is horrendous, I always tip AT LEAST 20%.
I'm also a democrat who disagrees with the legislation that was passed that allows businesses to pay their serves less than normal minimum wage. In my case, that might be where the correlation between my political leanings and my tipping behavior comes from. I feel sorry for the people affected by these so called "right to work" bills that have them making less than $4 an hour.
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5-11-2010 @3:50PM Peter said... And if the servers end up making less than minimum wage (after tips), the employer is required to pay the difference. That's the federal law, by the way, for tip-earning wages. That's why there are two levels to the minimum wage.