Wednesday, September 02, 2020

Why my father liked McDonald's

My father hated tipping for political reasons. He felt it demeaned honest working people. In fact, his reasons for hating tipping remind me of some of the rhetoric that now, 60 years later appears in the discussion of the death of the restaurant industry as demolished by the pandemic.

McDonald's came to our neighborhood in a suburb of St.Louis some time in the late 1950s. The very first one opened in another county location in August, 1958 (source), and I believe the one near us followed soon after that. My father, if I recall, was really interested in this new hamburger stand. Our family almost never ate at restaurants, except for a rare treat at Steak n'Shake. We tried McDonald's soon after it opened. While my father wasn't all that interested in food, he was intrigued by what you might call the new business model of McDonald's.

The first McDonald's in the St.Louis area. (source)
Early McDonald's didn't offer indoor dining options, or even picnic tables: you drove up, stood in line at a window, and took away a bag of burgers in wax-paper bags, milk shakes or soft drinks in paper cups with extra-large straws, and wax-paper bags of fries. The only size burgers and fries were around as big as the current ones on the children's menu. A burger came with a pickle and some catsup, cheese optional, no other choices. You probably know all this history since it's almost like a foundation myth of our nation's food ways.

What was the big difference at this new food place? At sit-down restaurants from high-end hotels to low-end diners you tipped the waiter or waitress. At Steak n'Shake you tipped the car hop who brought your burgers on a specially engineered tray that hooked onto the outside of the car window -- then you ate in the car, and flashed your headlights when you wanted them to pick up the tray. They jumped when you told them to jump.

AT MCDONALD'S THERE WAS NO TIPPING AT ALL.

If I recall correctly, that meant everything to my father who wanted to view all workers as honest and equal participants in society. No tipping to him meant that the relationship of a waiter or waitress to a customer automatically meant greater equality, while a server working for tips had to behave in a servile way. My father perceived more dignity in the person who simply brought you a bag of hamburgers and took your money. No one had credit cards then except very rich people with Diner's Club Cards meaning that cash business was another sign of a more egalitarian establishment -- a biggie for my Old Left Dad!

There are other factors in the current discussions of the disaster that's befallen the restaurant industry, but the question of tips will clearly be important when restaurants come back to life. I don't have a clue what the new changed post-pandemic world will look like, and mostly no one else knows either. But in fact tipping is probably not going away yet. My father's utopia isn't coming soon.

Blog post © 2020 mae sander.

15 comments:

  1. Interesting post and viewpoint@ While reading, I started to think back to when I was young and visited McDonalds! I don't remember a McDonalds until I was driving (age 17) and could drive to one. I do remember the hamburger being around 16 cents!

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  2. It would be better if the wait staff were to be paid a fair wage in the first place, instead of the pittance that so many earn. I'm still not a fan of McD, but understand the principles of your father. Have a great day, stay safe, Valerie

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  3. @Valerie-Jael -- McDonald's today has many issues with labor as well as sourcing of food and nutritional questions, as you say, but this blog post refers to the situation in the 1950s, not now. Such a different era!

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  4. This is an interesting post. I never ate at McDonald's until I was a teenager. Perhaps it was because there wasn't one close to us. Or perhaps because we never ate out unless it was a celebration. Times have changed. I think people are more interested in new foods and new combinations now. And they are busier. Cooking can be a chore, but not if you are excited about what you are making. But not everyone can do that every day. But I love the story of your Dad and how he hated to tip. I think restaurants need to up their wages if they want to eliminate tipping.

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  5. I'm with your father -- I really dislike tipping. We certainly do tip, and tip well, but the whole system seems bizarre. Anyway, I had my first McDonald's in St. Louis in 1961, shortly after I had moved there from Philadelphia (I was in 5th grade). Loved it! And at the time I thought the burger size was perfect. I remember when the quarter pounder was introduced -- who could possibly eat that? Funny, now that half-pounders seem the standard at most restaurants. Which I can no longer eat -- too much. So Mrs KR and I usually split one. Good post -- thanks.

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  6. Rick would love your dad. And I think he would agree. He said it turns workers into a begging economy or something close to that. I think we would both prefer the European system where there is no tipping (although many do) but that the workers are given an appropriate wage and compensation for that and when you sit down you know what your bill will be. We DO tip, although I think I tip more generously than he does. (I've waited tables.) But it's frustrating because the server usually gets the brunt of any problem in the restaurant -- if the food is slow because the kitchen is backed up, or poorly cooked... it's a faulty system.

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  7. That's an interesting perspective. It does make a lot of sense.

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  8. The first time I remember McDonald's, I was in a different town from where I was raised. A group of us went there and just drove through, turned around, and left. We never bought a thing. Your father's approval of the McDonald's model showed how times have changed, yet stay the same. You STILL don't tip at McDonald's if I recall correctly. Personally, I'm a Burger King fan over MickeyD. And I KNOW you don't tip at Burger King. Most places in this pandemic that have take-out won't get tips, either. However, delivery is a very different animal.

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  9. TIPS is an acronym that stands for To Insure Prompt Service so you would tip the Maitre D' at a restaurant to get a good table. I don't know when it evolved into giving the waitstaff a few extra dollars. Or because of tips, management doesn't have to pay the waitstaff the (state) minimum wage but can pay them significantly lower.

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  10. @CJ Kennedy -- The myth that TIP is an acronym doesn't hold up to historical analysis, as acronyms are a 20th century thing, and the word "tip" has been around for several centuries. To quote SNOPES:

    "Tip is an old word, and it has nothing to do with either acronyms or the act of attempting to influence quality of service. Although the word has many meanings, both as a verb and as a noun, the use of the term as it applies to monetary rewards to servants dates to the 1700s. It first appeared in this context as a verb (“Then I, Sir, tips me the Verger with half a Crown” from the 1706 George Farquhar play The Beaux Stratagem) and was first recorded as a noun in 1755. However, the use of tip to describe the act of giving something to another (where that list of possible ‘somethings’ could include small sums of money, intelligence on horse races, or the latest silly joke) goes back to 1610. Tip slipped into the language as underworld slang, with the verb ‘to tip’ (meaning ‘to give to or share with’) being used by shady characters as part of the then-current argot of petty criminals."

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  11. In South Africa the waitrons rely on tips as their basic wage is the minimum allowed by law. I agree with your dad's viewpoints.

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  12. Interesting. Your father had an interesting take on things.

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  13. Mc Donald´s came ... much, much later to my old home town´s tiny place (in fact it´s at the big gas station next village to my Brother´s place only! Here we have some...).
    Have you read "Grinding it Out: The Making of Mcdonalds" by Ray Kroc?
    I loved that book. Well written.
    Tipping, yes, not easy.

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  14. I'd favor paying wait staff a living wage and abolishing the tip completely.

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  15. I’m with your dad. I think tipping is used by some business owners to exploit their employees. I wish wait staff were paid a living wage.

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