MovieChat Forums > The Petrified Forest (1936) Discussion > A BIG Question!

A BIG Question!

posted 20 years ago by tellafriend
29 replies | jump to latest

There's a sign behind the counter in the restaurant that reads: Tipping is Un-American. Save your change.

Can anybody tell me what the heck this means? I thought it extremely interesting.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] FlaxyMartin 14 years ago

Wow indeed Kay1979. What an interesting read!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] noirgirl 13 years ago

I think at the time that wages were paid honestly, and were not expected to be supplemented by tips. So it would be un-American, or just plain wrong, to ask for more than your wage. When people were tipped nonetheless for extra or exceptional service, the management caught on and lowered the wages to below the minimum level, expecting (or not caring) the salary to be made up by tips. This created a very tense job atmosphere for servers. Remember the old complaint "he stole my table"? It was a big thing if a server lost a needed tip because another server took his patrons.

[–] screenwriter (111) 5 years ago

Tipping was loathed as a master-serf custom of the caste-bound Old World that went back to the Middle Ages, tipping was blamed for encouraging servility and degrading America's democratic, puritanical, and anti-aristocratic ethic. European immigrants surging into the U.S. were charged with bringing this deplorable custom with them. But in fact, it was also American tourists, like the characters in Henry James' novels, who picked up the restaurant conventions of the Continent, and imported them back to America.