For most of us, when we dine out, if we feel we’ve received a particularly high level of service we will leave a tip to our server to acknowledge it. But, in the United States at least, it has now been suggested the servers employ some psychological trickery to ensure they eke out from you as much money as they can.
As reported by New York Post, waitresses in the United States of America have found that appealing to the still apparent sleazy nature of men can see their earnings from tips increase exponentially.
Whilst servers don’t quite need to match the levels of Hooters waitresses, female servers in American have found wearing their hair a certain way (usually tied up in pigtails), wearing short shorts or even talking in a Southern accent, have been found to increase the amount they receive in tips from their customers.
In the US, tipping is customary, and customers are encouraged to tip at least 15-20% of their total bill to their server, whether it’s a waitress or waiter in a restaurant, bartender, a taxi driver, valet or even a barber, to name a few.
But, for restaurant servers, women specifically, essentially sexualising themselves tends to result in being more highly rewarded. Bella Woodard, a 21-year-old student who works as as server came across a TikTok video showing another girl telling her audience that wearing her hair in pigtails had resulted in higher tips.
Bella is claimed to have been skeptical the trick would work for her, but after she did, she was tipped $135 by one male customer alone, the New York Post reports.
The TikTok video, posted by user Grace (@wildyhotverymentallyill) has received hundreds of comments, many of which appear to be from other female servers giving their own anecdotal evidence as to the effectiveness or dressing or acting in a more provocative way towards male customers.
Comments include,
“do it because it’s such an easy hairstyle when i forgot to put up my hair but i’m always getting hit on by older men and now it makes sense.”
and,
“Wait this makes me nervous I didn’t think ab that one time I wore two braid pigtails cuz I was running late and got a 15 dollar tip that night.”
or even, “this week for the first time in my life i wore pigtails and i promise you i got 10x the attention i used to.. what’s wrong with this world.”
To that last point, many other users were quick to question why female servers should even have to go above and beyond to increase their tips from male customers, when their quality customer service alone should warrant it in the first place.
“wearing pigtails arent the problem?? the people liking it are the problem,” says one. “it’s literally hair, the problem is people sexualizing it,” says another.
Bella said in a TikTok video of her own, “It’s weird and gross, but I’m down for more tips, so it doesn’t matter,” insinuating she would rather not have to wear her hair in pigtails just to see her tips increase, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a pretty harmless way to earn some extra cash.
Professor William Michael Lynn from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration has studied the act of tipping to such an extent that he’s been able to formulate a list of 20 things servers can do that have been proven to increase the amount they receive in tips.
These include, “introduce yourself by name; squat down next to the table; stand physically close to the customer; touch the customer; smile; compliment the customer’s food choices and repeat the order back to the customer.”
The findings could leave a bit of a sour taste. Firstly, there’s the whole issue of how men still objectify women and they’ll only ‘reward’ their female server if they feel she looks more attractive. At the same time, however, it could be argued that the women should indeed fleece these men for as much money as they can, almost as punishment?
Whatever your opinion, there should be agreement that no matter how your server looks, they should be financially rewarded for waiting on you hand and foot. Especially in the US, where they rely on tips for income because their base pay is so low.
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