Cultural IQ

African Americans Leave Smaller Tips: Does It Matter?

By Linda S. Wallace | Published  01/20/2012

For years, waiters and waitresses have taken to the Internet to complain about tips left by African-American customers and their discontent has been widely reported.

Now, after years of independent research, academics have reached the same conclusion: African Americans tend to leave smaller tips at restaurants than whites.

The answer that has eluded them is why? Do blacks tip less because wait staff discriminate against them and provide inferior service? Or do they tip less because they simply are not familiar with the tipping norms in their community?

Dr. Michael Lynn, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, recently designed a new online survey to put these and other popular theories to the test. The idea is to use research-based tools to determine cause and effect rather than rely on anecdotal personal opinions and experiences.

Finally, African Americans have a chance to weigh in and contribute to the industry understanding of this issue by visiting http://bit.ly/xq1h5b and filling out the survey.

“The purpose is to help me understand why blacks tip less than whites,” Dr. Lynn told The New Tri-State Defender (TSD). “I have tested a bunch of different explanations.”

In 2008, the TSD wrote an award-winning series on tipping that explained the connection between minority tipping practices and jobs. If customers tip less at sit-down restaurants, then these chains will likely have higher staff turnover. In May 2008, median hourly wages (including tips) of waiters and waitresses was only $8.01. Many servers rely on good tips to make ends meet.

If wait staff tips are too low, the chain experiences higher operational costs, which may then reduce profits. Thus, some industry insiders have reported that major restaurant chains have been reluctant to locate in African-American communities for fear that the below-normal tipping levels will hurt profits.

This situation closes off a key gateway into the workforce for many unskilled African-American youth – including those trying to get through college. The $604 billion restaurant industry employs more than 12.8 million, and is among the largest private-sector employers in the United States. If chains don’t locate in minority neighborhoods, many youth lose access to job opportunities. According to the National Restaurant Industry, the industry is expected to add jobs at a rate of 2.4 percent, compared with the 1.8 percent expected for the national economy. In the next decade, the industry expects to add 1.3 million positions.

If the underlying cultural differences surrounding tipping could be understood, Lynn said that he, and other industry experts, could develop suitable programs. But first, they have to know which issues to tackle!

In the survey, responders are asked questions about how much they regularly tip as well as those that measure cultural attitudes and beliefs. For instance: If you leave a small tip do you think that is likely to reduce the quality of service during a future dining experience?

It takes only a few minutes to complete the survey. Try to answer the questions honestly. Industry experts such as Lynn say they need an accurate snapshot of the complex issues connected to tipping practices to help restaurants respond in a manner that benefits their customers, their staffs and their investors.

 

 Related Stories:

Tri-State Defender's Award-Winning Tipping Education Campaign

Leading Conversations That Lift Us All

 Everybody's talking but is it taking the country or the global village anyplace new or different?

How many everyday dialogs identify pathways for new collaborations or new ways to view old challenges? Whether you are talking to others at an occupation or at a tea or coffee party, check out these guide posts and keep moving forward.

Additional tips and materials are available at  www.libertylights.info  The Liberty Lights are ordinary people who made a commitment to leading community conversations online with grace, diplomacy and skill. They seek to engage neighbors and each other in efforts to increase community capacity, learn through mutual support and care, and create a tone and culture for holding meaningful dialogs.

1.  Ask powerful questions that seek to stimulate curiosity, unlock creativity and encourage others to examine their hidden assumptions, beliefs and biases. Transform dialogs into experiential learning opportunities. The questions below are designed to help you facilitate a thought-provoking conversation: Tell me your life story so I might better understand your beliefs. Who are you? (Explores partisan differences) Imagine we got it right. What steps did we take as a nation to reach consensus? (Helps stimulate creativity and curiosity) Could we take inventory of all the assets in our community and then decide how to bring the talents of those on the margins into the mainstream?  Where did you get your information from? Who is your source? (Demands accountability) As William Edwards Deming, the American statistician and management guru said, "In God we trust; all others bring data."

2.  Reflect on the following: What we know. What we don't know. What we don't know we don't know.

3.  Use universal sources that are likely to be accepted by broad audiences. Try to gather facts and statistics from a wide variety of news sources, books and experts. Sources must have credibility with the audience you seek to persuade. 

4.  Use words that inspire trust and develop avenues for collaboration and compromise. 

5.   Treat relationships as a form of currency: Maintain a diversified portfolio.

6.   Learn one surprising fact every day. Generously give away these gems to strangers. The more you share, the greater your return.

7.   Audit  your cultural assumptions and beliefs regularly to ensure they aren't limiting your ability to see truth or reality clearly.  

8.    When examining opponent’s arguments ask yourself: What is it they know that I don't know? 

9.    Embrace civility as a community and global investment strategy. As Mary Wortley Montagu says, "Civility costs nothing, and buys everything." We don't to agree but we ought to try to leave open the door to change.

 10.   Challenge a colleague's facts or conclusion, but never his or her character or grammar. 

11.  Refrain from using derogatory and offensive words that keep others from seeing how wise you are. 

12.   Model Cultural Competencies. Cultural competencies include: active listening, empathy, cultural awareness and knowledge, tolerance of ambiguity and more.

13.   Carry your culture into dialogs with you but don't let it hold you back. Keep in mind your beliefs, values and customs are but one book in the global library. Each volume offers fascinating life lessons. Individualists, who believe decisions should be based upon what's best for the individual, and collectivists, who believe decisions should be based upon what's best for the community, will often disagree. Combine both lenses, and a community gains a deeper understanding of the challenges.  

 Credits.: Making a Difference in Memphis Workshop 

Appreciative Inquiry: Asking Powerful Questions : Kansas Coalition Against Sexual And Domestic Violence 

If African Americans Use the "N" Word, Then Why Can't We All?

Dear Cultural Coach: If African Americans use the word “nigger,” then why can’t white people use it? This situation doesn’t make sense to me.  Is the word offensive or not?

 – Confused 

 Dear Confused:  In a vibrant, healthy garden, caretakers understand what individual plants need to grow. How much sunlight can they tolerate? How often should we water? Cultural groups, like flowers, require compassionate care and knowledgeable custodians. Instead of treating others as we wish to be treated, cultural cultivators and connectors must learn to identify and understand the emotional needs of others.  They, like the gardener, must know which behaviors will make relationships blossom, and which will cause the harvest to wither and die.

This isn't just about connecting with strangers: it is about expanding community capacity.

Words serve as a fertilizer. They make the soil richer, preparing it for new seeds.  Some words – love, compassion, assets, understanding, encouragement, gifts, inclusion, – are powerful. Spread them liberally, and they give communities the necessary nutrients to trust, tell personal stories and create new conversations about the future.  

Other words are toxic, even poisonous, like  insect sprays. They must be used sparingly, if at all.  Where these phrases are in liberal supply (news media websites, for instance), they limit opportunities for connection, collaboration and compromise.  Eventually communities become stuck and unable to hold useful dialogs.

My personal list of toxins includes: whitey, Jap, “the man”, Chinaman, bitch, spic, honkie, Hitler-like, “the white man”, darkie, colored, towelheads, "those people" … the list goes on and on. If you can’t tell fertilizer from insect spray should you be working in the garden?  Really?

Nigger is a word in a category all by itself. It is both a symbol of bondage and an emotional weapon.  For many African Americans, it brings to mind the brutal injustices they or their ancestors survived. Mentioning this word to some African Americans is a bit like saying to a family that lost a loved on 9/11, “Well, didn’t anything good happen to you on that day?”

Such culturally insensitive remarks are likely to prompt others to strike back, cry out, or wish that the space debris spiraling toward earth will land on you. It focuses their attention on a wound that has yet to heal. That doesn't help us or them.  

You mentioned, rightfully so, that some African Americans use that word often. This is true. Keep in mind that when they do, it is not used as a symbol or a weapon.  That is the distinction made by some African Americans.  Personally, I favor putting this – and all those words that deflate the human spirit -into early retirement.

My advice to the relationship builders toiling in the community gardens:

• Use fertilizer liberally. Try to use nutrient-rich words that are warm and invite discovery.  Be honest but respectful.  Authenticity is a rich soil that allows new conversations, new ideas and discovery.
• Focus on strengths more than weaknesses. If you spend all your time chasing the worms and birds, your garden might wither and die. Build capacity so your garden is equipped to survive the droughts and storms.
• Avoid toxins and poisons that harm and pollute the environment. I pick up my dog’s poop when we walk for a reason. I don't want to find dog poop in my front yard. Effective relationship-builders don’t  spread manure in public places because, ultimately, we reap what we sow.

 

Everyone Is A Bit Racist; It May Not Be Your Fault

 

Are you racist or are you just an American? Take time to read the next few graphs before you answer.

 Research shows that even people who have egalitarian beliefs can conjure up stereotypes or act upon hidden biases.  Stephanie Pappas, a senior writer for Livescience, recently sorted through this tangled  web of race in a new article. 

She says no matter how hard we try, each  of us  are influenced by culture: the words spoken on tv and  read in the newspapers and the opinions of family, friends, bosses and religious leaders. In other words, culture in a trump card in the deck we are asked to play.

She writes: "The new study finds that while people are quick to associate word pairs that bring to mind stereotypes (think "black - poor" versus "black - goofy"), this tendency is rooted not in the social meaning of the words, but in the likelihood of the words appearing together in literature and media. In other words, this implicit prejudice is driven more by culture than by any innate horribleness in the person, said study researcher Paul Verhaeghen, a Georgia Tech psychologist."

"There’s one idea that people tend to associate black people with violence, women with weakness, or older people with forgetfulness because they are prejudiced. But there’s another possibility that what’s in your head is not you, it’s the culture around you," Verhaeghen said in a statement. "And so what you have is stuff you picked up from reading, television, radio and the Internet. And that’s the question we wanted to answer: are you indeed a racist, or are you just an American?"

Can anyone really be colorblind?

Check out the entire article 

What If

What if, instead of bickering with each other, we could work alongside one another to learn what it takes to make a community great?

Imagine that you and I could sit together to have a conversation that emphasizes listening and learning rather than proving that our particular view of the world is smarter, wiser and more correct.

Imagine that communities had the capacity to grow simply by changing the words they use, the stories they share, the manner in which they ask questions and frame seemingly insurmountable challenges.

What might happen if diverse citizens, of all classes, learned to appreciate and invest in the extensive portfolio of talent in underutilized neighborhoods – capacity cities need to power local economies forward?

Liberty Lights is a new initiative designed to get the current political conversations unstuck by developing a culture and tone that supports new conversations, close connections and successful collaborations between groups and parties.  It shifts political discussion away from the “preach and teach arenas” and moves it toward open spaces where the culture and tone promotes honest exploration and discovery.

It seeks to increase community capacity to resolve human conflicts, consider opposing views, think creatively, listen, solve problems and promote the belief that diverse thinkers are compatible and interdependent, linked together by a shared future and common fate.

In lean economic times, the greatest challenge is not learning how to do more with less but rather how to appreciate and develop a wider range of community assets and increase the depth of our talent pools.

Liberty Lights seeks to:

1. Respond swiftly, with a sense of urgency, to the destructive floods of bigoted, inflammatory and false online posts on news media websites. 

• Establish and skillfully guide diverse online learning communities where individuals speak freely and respectfully, offer bold solutions and probe more deeply the textures of diversity, which are at the root of so many disagreements. 

• Demand shared responsibility and mutual accountability from elected officials, media, and corporate America.  

Learn more at www.libertylights.info

Mormon Defense League: We'll Help Journalists To Tell the Mormon Story Accurately

The more we learn about  world religions, the better equipped we are to build relationships, loving communities and a lasting peace.

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Published: Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 4:00 a.m. MDT

By Michael De Groote, Deseret News

 

SANDY — Jewish people have the Anti-Defamation League "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people." Muslims have the Council on American-Islamic Relations "to enhance understanding of Islam." Now some Mormons are launching their own group to "respond to false information put forward in the media."

 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research is announcing at 9 a.m. this morning the formation of the Mormon Defense League and the new website MDL.org. FAIR is a volunteer organization that attempts to answer criticism and questions about LDS Church doctrine and history. The announcement takes place at FAIR's 13th annual Mormon Apologetics Conference, which runs today and Friday at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy.

 Unlike its sponsoring organization FAIR, the new Mormon Defense League project won't be directed towards members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It aims to help journalists do their jobs better.

 "We hope to be a resource for journalists," said Scott Gordon, president of FAIR since 2001, "Religion writers tend to do a good job. Problems come when you get political writers or sports writers who are not as familiar with the nuances of the religion. So when you get a Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman or a Harry Reid, and someone makes a comment, the journalist may unknowingly pass on something that Mormons consider to be very bigoted, malicious or just inaccurate."

 

Click here to read the full article

Diversity: A Disconnect Between What we Say and What We Do?

Today’s nonprofit employees are approximately 82 percent white, 10 percent African-
American, five percent Hispanic/Latino, three percent other, and one percent Asian or Pacific Islander.5 The gap in representation is more pronounced in nonprofit governance, where only 14 percent of board members are people of color. Similarly, in specialized functions such as development, less than six percent of roles are filled by people of color.

 

 

Excerpts from new report examining diversity in the nonprofit sector:

"Across the nonprofit sector, most employers share the belief that racial diversity is a key component of organizational health, performance, and outcomes. Yet, according to today’s nonprofit talent, few organizations are doing enough to attract and retainprofessionals of color. There is a perceived gap between the intentions and actions of nonprofit organizations when it comes to promoting diversity.

A common perception held by nonprofit professionalsis that their employers value diversity, but that those values are not being translated into actions resulting in the creation of diverse and inclusive workplaces. For organizations seeking to increase the racial diversity of
their staff, or retain their current employees of color, the ineectiveness of mere “good intentions” around issues of diversity and inclusiveness presents a looming problem."

========================
President and Founder of YouthBuild USA, Dorothy Stoneman:

“If there aren’t people of color around the table, we’re going to make the wrong decisions. Race defines a fundamentally different perspective.”

 

Click here to get a copy of the report: "THE VOICE OF NONPROFIT TALENT: PERCEPTIONS OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE"

Is Your Cultural IQ Off the Charts?

 

 

Imagine the city that brings Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dreams to life.

It is likely to be a community of skillful learners.  High-performing political and business leaders will know how to connect, communicate, collaborate and compromise with people from all walks of life. Residents will listen and learn from those with differing world views and see the unique gifts in every child.

Instead of talking across the racial and religious fault lines, this community will engage in inquiry-based learning in order to build a cultural knowledge base and quiet tensions, fears and disinformation.

In a culturally competent city, residents take turns serving as teachers and learners. Cultural knowledge and beliefs are respected and valued by in-groups and out-groups.  This journey to a more secure future begins with life-long learners.

Take the test below to see how you stack up on the cultural competency scale. 

  Award yourself 10 points for every question answered "Yes, most of the time." Give yourself 5 points for every question answered "Yes, some of the time." Give yourself 0 points for every question you answer, "Hardly ever." 

As a culturally competent individual, I :

1) Understand how culture affects my behavior and beliefs and the behavior and beliefs of others.

 2) Am aware of specific cultural beliefs, values, and sensibilities that might affect the way I and others think or behave.

3) Appreciate and accept diverse beliefs, appearances, and lifestyles.

4) Seek to understand the perspective of nonmainstream groups when learning about historical events. I recognize that history is viewed through a cultural lens and, therefore, shaped by personal, political and social forces.

 5) Know about major historical events of other nations and understand how such events affect behaviors, beliefs, and relationships with others.

 6)  Am secure and confident in my identities and capable of functioning in a way that allows others to remain secure in theirs. I cam see the similarities among groups of different cultural backgrounds and accept differences between them.

 7) Understand the dangers of stereotyping, ethnocentrisms, and other biases and are aware of and sensitive to issues of racism and prejudice.

 8) Am bilingual, multilingual, or working toward language proficiency.

 9) Understand that I will encounter predisposed prejudices, which will need to be overcome in crosscultural relations. I communicate, interact, and work positively with individuals from other cultural groups.

 10) Use technology to communicate with individuals and access resources from other cultures.

 

Scoring:

0 to 50: Work in Progress.

50 to 80: Cultural learner

80 to 100: Culturally Competent!

 

Turning Diversity Lessons Into Child's Play

                  A Low-Stress Way to Talk to Children About Differences

Handout from the Conference on Unity & Hope, Memphis Tenn., June 25^th, at The Cannon Center

1)      Be both teacher and learner in relationships. Smart dogs figure out how to make people happy; brainy people learn how to treat dogs. The best teachers learn from their students.

2)      Watch your words. Tell a well-trained dog to “sit down” and it will sit, and then it will lie down.  Tell a human to “get busy” or “call out,” and you can’t predict what they’ll do. Words may have cultural connotations, so be precise.

3)      Use positive language as much as possible. “Good dog.” “Good Job.” “Good friend.” “Good food!” “Intelligent Republicans.” “Insightful Democrats.” “Compassionate conservatives.” “Loving liberals.”

4)      Rely on treats and rewards rather than punishment. Punishment will make the dog fear you. Yummy treats make a dog eager to learn. Punishment will make a human fear you. Rewards accelerate the rate at which humans can learn. What do parents say after a baby’s first fall? “Yea! Good job. Try again.”

5)      Recognize that you don’t need to change others; you need a toolkit to inspire lifelong learning. A dog learns faster with rewards – hugs, petting and treats. People learn best in safe places where others are  nonjudgmental, understanding, patient and supportive.

6)      Use a calm, assertive doggie voice whenever possible.  Dogs like the voice because it says you are in charge. Humans like the voice because it says you are able to control yourself.

7)      Play is a reliable way to build trust in new relationships. Play allows a dog to check out your sense of fairness and leadership skills. The same goes with humans. If you want to talk about diversity in your neighborhood, invite neighbors over for a party – rather than a meeting. Then ask each guest to identify three things in common with other guests.

8)      Walk away from aggressive behavior. Angry dogs and people bite. Don’t go in without protective gear. To calm angry people, soften your voice. Use reflective listening. Repeat back what they say to show you understand. Ask sincere questions. Show empathy. Validate feelings even if you don’t agree.

Leading My Pack

—  Learn the other person’s language and cultural preferences. My dog, Gabby, is learning Spanish and English. She also uses sign language to communicate. When she needs to go outside, she takes her toy to the door. When she wants food, she sits by her bowl.

—  Show others how well you listen. Dogs listen without interrupting or analyzing what we say. This allows humans to feel loved.

—  Be responsible.  Love has to be earned. It is not free. When a dog’s needs are met, it finds it easier to behave. This is true for humans as well. If a person acts out, find out what’s going on in his or her life.

—  Learn to forgive and let go. My puppy, Gabby, once ate my socks and underwear. Turns out it was a small price to pay for all the adventures we’ve taken together and all the times we have done the "happy dance.”

—  Use your powers of observation. Dogs use sign language and body language to tell us about their pain. Suffering isn’t always verbalized. Pay attention to quiet dogs and sad people.

—  Accept differences. Having a dog wouldn’t be nearly as much fun if it went to work every day, cleaned the house and went shopping. Diversity of experience makes for richer relationships.

—  Clean up your own messes. Dog lovers bring poop bags to the dog park to clean up after their pets. If you make a mess, don’t wait for the cleanup crew. Don’t get defensive. Take responsibility for your actions.

Copyright held by Linda S. Wallace, Memphis, TN. For permission to use with nonprofit groups and organizations, contact  theculturalcoach@aol.com

Work Outside of Your Comfort Zone

 

Imagine that you walk into a business, look around and notice nobody else looks like you.  You’re a different age, perhaps, or you may have a different skin color.

What would you do?

1) Hurriedly walk out.

2) Explore the new location.

3) Think of it as an opportunity to learn. Ask questions.

At work and in our private lives, we encounter new people and situations that push us outside our comfort zone.  When we learn by experience, it’s difficult because there are no cheat sheets or guide books. Chances are we are going to make mistakes and feel ill at ease.

To make diversity work, communities need a culture that supports teachers and learners.  When we walk into a restaurant where we are unfamiliar with the culture, wait staff need to teach customers about the customs and guide them.

In diversity rich communities, everyone needs to be a teacher and a learner.

Guide posts for cultural learners

• Try to think like nontraditional customers.  Present you are walking inside your business for the first time. Would you feel welcomed? Is staff trained to be nonjudgmental and welcoming?
• Learn to read facial expressions and body language. Don’t wait for out-of-place learners to sum up the courage to ask for help. Go out and look for people who appear anxious or unsure.  When I took my niece and nephew to Disney World years ago, we took a few steps inside the park and glanced down at our maps. A hostess walked over to welcome us, asking if she could answer any questions.  Later on, I asked my teenage nephew what he had enjoyed most during the trip. To my amazement, he replied, “I liked the way I was treated.”
• Accept learners where they are. Not everyone who walks into a Chinese food restaurant will feel comfortable with chop sticks. Have alternative dining ware ready for use. If you’re a Mexican restaurant that greets diners in Spanish (“Hola”), you might use English as well (“Hola, hello!”)  If the customer responds in Spanish, then proceed. If the customer appears to be uncomfortable, switch back to English. The same holds true for wait staff who like to use pet names for customers: darling, honey, sweetie, etc.  If your language makes your customer feel uncomfortable, chances are you will decrease the size of your tip.
• Prepare for the unexpected and take reasonable risks: My friend owned a beauty shop that catered to African-American clientele. One day, a white woman walked in and asked to have her hair done. My friend looked at her hair – not her skin color – and concluded she could do the hair. The woman ended up being a great customer. No beautician to the celebrity stars would ever say, “I can’t do (black, white, Asian, Hispanic) hair.” If you want to get to the top, you’ve got to be a fully committed learner.

For Learners:

• Ask questions. Delay making statements or generalizations, however, until you are more knowledgeable and learn the cultural customs.  Sometimes, we will find that businesses lack the appropriate tools and materials to support their newcomers or learners.  About 10 years ago, I walked into an Asian restaurant for dim sum but all the prices were written in Chinese.  As I asked questions, I found the wait staff couldn’t speak English. I approached the manager to propose that he prepare special cards or brochures in English to place atop tables for newcomers.
• Be willing to adapt. If a cat owner stayed overnight at the house of a dog owner, she wouldn’t treat the dog like her cat. We have to adapt and adjust our behaviors.
• Whenever possible, take a guide with you. It helps to take a knowledgeable friend along when we step outside our comfort zones. This accelerates learning and lends us a degree of credibility. It’s like having a tutor.
• Take time to reflect on the lessons and cultural insights. You need to process the information before you act on your knowledge. How can this information lead to better relationships and diverse collaborations?