Did you know it was once a misdemeanor to leave a tip in Washington state?

Long before there was a tip line on your credit card receipt and the nagging internal debate between leaving 15% or 20%, there was a whole anti-tipping movement, and advocates in Washington ranted against what they called the moral failing of tipping.

In 1909, they managed to pass a law that made it illegal to tip. The law, which lasted until 1913, was mostly laughed off as tipping continued unabated.

The law may have died, but the controversy, the moral questioning and the legislation around tipping is still a noisy conversation today as U.S. society continues to debate the fundamentals of tipping: Who gets tipped and why? How much do you tip? Is tipping demeaning? How much should tipped workers get paid?

Today, Washington state and Seattle have some of the best laws in the U.S. when it comes to protecting tipped workers, but the practice of tipping has an ugly beginning and a rocky past. As service industries (where most tipping happens) continue to be shaken up by the pandemic, and as the emerging gig economy raises new questions, the future for tipped workers is ripe for change and some new experiments.

Related TIPS ON TIPS

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