Common cents: Peet’s employees should be allowed to have a tip jar
Photo of the new coffeeshop in the Hekman Library
In need of some caffeine following a late layout night, I ordered a small Black Tie iced coffee from Peet’s last week Thursday. The price came out to $3.82 and I was left with 18 cents in change. After I asked where I could drop my change in a tip jar, the kind and helpful barista informed me (without complaining) that the Peet’s employees were not allowed to have one out like they had at the Fish House. The reason she and her coworkers were given: not all student workers on campus are able to make money through tips at their jobs. (However, student workers at the Prince Conference Center who work in housekeeping and bus shuttles can and do accept tips.)
This argument, although well-intentioned, makes no sense. Yes, student tour guides can’t ask prospective families for some tip money at the end of a Friday’s at Calvin visit, but they also don’t have to work the late nights that Peet’s employees do. Yes, deskies can’t make tips while organizing mail and passing out toilet paper rolls, but unlike Peet’s employees, they can also do homework while on their shift. Yes, the students doling out burritos and sandwiches in the dining halls can’t divvy up a tip jar at the end of the day, but Peet’s employees can’t grab a free meal and dessert alongside of a free coffee either.
I’m not trying to lift up the student baristas on the second floor of Hekman as student worker saints; I’m just trying to show that every job on campus comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and students have to let these factors inform their decisions. Eventually, students will have to make these decisions about their jobs off-campus and post-graduation.
So let the Calvin student baristas make money off tips. Tuition is expensive, and perks like some non-taxed cash attract students to work at Peet’s rather than at a coffee shop off-campus.
Calvin students are adults and can handle the trade-offs involved in choosing an on-campus job. The powers that be shouldn’t stop Peet’s from putting out a tip jar.
Jose • Oct 22, 2019 at 3:47 pm
Tips are meant to compliment service-industry minimum wage, which is usually around $3.00/hr. That is the purpose of tipping.
Student workers at Peet’s make minimum Michigan wage, which is currently around ~$10.00/hr.
Now, your argument about how Peet employees work longer hours and work long nights does not stand when you remember these students are getting paid for those hours.
You also compared them to students who do tours or those who work as deskies; well those students work less hours than the students at Peet’s. You work more, you make more money; you work less, you make less money,
You also say that allowing a tip jar at Peet’s will make it more attractive for students to want to work there. One could also argue that knowing you will be paid a set amount, no matter if its slow or customers are cheap, is something that makes working at Peet’s more attractive (without mentioning the fact that you do not have to drive anywhere and you can walk less than 5 minutes to class).
Now, I will be honest, when the Fish House had a tip jar, it was mostly empty.
I am not saying that I am against putting an empty jar, go for it. It does not hurt anyone and can help those students a little bit. I am just saying your arguments do not make cents.
As someone who worked in the dining hall as a student, if Peet’s employees deserve a tip jar so do all the students in the dining hall who go above and beyond to serve even when the other side is rarely polite. But then again, I guess that is a part of almost every job – so put a tip jar wherever there is a student worker.
Brian • Oct 21, 2019 at 10:39 am
Tips are considered taxable income.