WRITTEN TRANSCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST:

Hello and welcome to my podcast My Life and Other Funny Stories. My name is Dagmar Tomášková, I am an English tutor and coach and I created this podcast for English students who want to improve their oral comprehension. As always you can find the transcription of this episode and vocabulary list in the notes of the podcast. 

Today I want to talk about a snippet of American culture that might not be very familiar to us, people living in the Czech Republic and that is an American tipping culture and its problems.

Okay, before we start, I have to mention some definitions. So what is a tip and a tipping culture? A tip is a small amount of money you give to someone for service- so for example, if you eat in a restaurant and you pay, you add a little extra for the service to the waiter. And depending on your experience, you can leave more money if you are happy with the service, less money if it is average or nothing if you are not happy at all. 

At least, that is how it works here in the Czech Republic. Overall, I don’t think Czech people are good tippers because we are not used to it that much. It is more common in bigger cities but I know that a lot of people never leave any tip for the staff. 

However, it is completely different in the United States. The tipping culture, and by that I mean the tradition of leaving tips, has certain rules and obligations and it might surprise you. Today I will tell you all about it. Let’s get into it.

In the United States, leaving tips is not only common but it is expected. It is not something “extra” you do when you eat out. It is not a nice gesture, it is something that you should do everytime. By the way, to eat out is a phrasal verb and it doesn’t mean to literally eat your food outside, to eat out means going to a restaurant. 

In the USA, you are not only expected to leave a tip but that tip should be at least 15-20% of the total spending. However, an unwritten rule says that anything under 20% is considered a bad tip, and if you give less than that, the waiters and waitresses might wonder what they did wrong. 

Nowadays, you are even expected to give tips at self-checkouts in the US. Yes, you come, do some clicks on a screen to order for example McDonald’s and it will still leave you the option to leave a 20% tip. You basically did all the work yet they still want you, or need you, to tip. 

But why do Americans practically have to tip so much? Being a waiter and waitress is like any other job and they are being paid for their job, right? So why is there this obligation? it is not that the restaurant staff is greedy. A greedy person is someone who wants more and more of something, especially money.  The problem is in the system.

In the 1960s, the U.S. Congress founded a thing called “tipping credit,” which meant that the employer could pay the employee under the minimum wage if they earned tips. A minimum wage is the minimum amount of money you should earn at work. In the Czech Republic, it is, as I am recording this episode, 118 crowns per hour. 

That means that the restaurant staff is not getting paid properly and they need the tips to get by.To get by is a phrasal verb which you can use to describe a state where you are able to survive but it is not like you are earning a lot of money. It doesn’t have to always be true, some restaurant owners have tips only as a bonus, as we have it in the Czech Republic, but more often than not, it is not the case. Without the tips, waiters and waitresses wouldn’t be able to pay their rent and other expenses. However, this means that you pay the full price for a meal or drink and on top of it you are expected to pay the employees. 

Of course, there are still Americans who don’t leave any tip because let’s be honest, if you pay for example 20 dollars for a meal, which is quite a lot already, you don’t want to leave other 4 as a tip. 

But very often, Americans are very generous tippers as they have this rule at home and don’t know that in other countries it doesn’t work that way. I remember that when I worked in a hotel in Iceland and there were big groups of Americans staying, they always left the biggest tips behind and it made me very happy. I mean, more money for me!

Still, I think it is crazy that it is allowed to pay American service workers below the minimum wage and let them rely on tips, I am very glad that it is not like that here in the Czech Republic. 

Thank you so much for listening to this episode and don’t forget that you can find the transcription and vocabulary list in the notes. Please give it a five-star rating if you liked it and I will see you next time, bye-bye.