Website Petition To Make Tips Madatory

If you are not from the US, one thing you’ll notice when dining out in America is that you HAVE to tip at least 20%. Unlike the UK, Spain, or even Asia, many tourists travelling to the US have found that their hometown practices are often greeted with a less-than grateful remarks, or worse, insults, simply because they don’t understand the tipping culture of America.

So its not a surprise that restaurant workers in the US have taken this a step further, and are not hoping for a new law to be passed, making their 20% gratuity a requirement.

In May of this year, website Fair Tip, as been gathering petitions for the 20% tip to be automatically added to all bills in US restaurants. Fair Tip’s founder, Yakup Ulutas, who was originally from Turkey (where he was a waiter – and no, they don’t tip in Turkey) and now manages a restaurant in Georgia, sees this new measure as a way to lift up the status of servers, and make it into a more respectable profession.

Making several media appearances on radio and television to promote his cause, Mr. Ulutap felt that tipping was at a standstill in the US and it was needed to protect servers from small tippers.

Ulutap explained:

”They work overtime, they work holidays, they work anytime you’re not working.. It’s time for the country to treat the servers with the quality they deserve as a professional. The system is not fair to servers.”