American restaurants have been talking about getting rid of tipping (给小费) for years. Now a major New York City restaurant group has announced a no-tip policy. The debate is starting to boil.

    When Danny Meyer, the boss of the restaurant group, talks, people listen. He’s been right before. When he banned (禁止) smoking at Union Square Café, he was told he’d go out of business. However, his business improved. Ten years later, smoking in restaurants was against law. Starting in November 2015, tipping began to be abolished (废除) at his 13 restaurants, the first major restaurant group to do this. It’s been all over the news and everyone has an opinion. “Why not earlier?” some say. “Americans will not,” others insist.

    It’s clear that tipping is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山). Beneath the surface are questions of pay fairness, labor law and rising costs. Tipping was borrowed from Europe more than a century ago and has been abolished there. But here, it’s deep-rooted American cultural practice.

    Usually, servers know there’s a higher chance that they’ll get a bigger tip on a bigger check, so they may rush customers out quickly to make room for new diners (and more tips!). Basically, they may adjust accordingly to serve only the people they think will be the best tippers. Therefore, it is bad for customers.

    Besides, many servers put tips together, so your reward is shared. Tips provide a large part of their income. But that money can’t be shared legally with the un-tipped, low-paid kitchen workers. No wonder there’s a growing labor shortage in restaurant kitchens. Meyer tried to abolish tipping 20 years ago, but the waiters disagreed. Is the time right now? The dining world will listen and watch.