1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Nke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 7 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,240 Speaker 1: If you work as a food server in a restaurant 8 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: or ever have, you can expect a typical customer interaction 9 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: to go something like this. The customer arrives, they eat 10 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,480 Speaker 1: their meal, and then you take them their bill. When 11 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: they pay, they hopefully leave you a nice tip. And 12 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: then finally you clear the table of any remaining dishes, 13 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: wipe off the table, and reset it for the next customers. 14 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: After your shift, you count up all the tips you earned. 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: Hopefully it's a good amount, because other than that, your 16 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: employer probably only pays you a couple of dollars an hour, 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: and there's a whole history behind that. The history of 18 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: tipping in the United States is actually complex and controversial. 19 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: Its origins can be traced back to medieval Europe, when 20 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: the feudal system dictated that wealthy masters employed servants and 21 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,279 Speaker 1: paid them in tips. This practice continued in various forms 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: across Europe and eventually made its way to America. Following 23 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: the Civil War, Americans who traveled to Europe and European 24 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: immigrants brought the custom back to the States. However, not 25 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: everyone welcomed this practice with open arms. In fact, many 26 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: found it offensive and un American people believed tipping was 27 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: insulting and that it allowed employers to shirk their responsibility 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: to pay fair wages. One such critic was William Howard Taft, who, 29 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: during his presidential campaign in nineteen oh eight, was hailed 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: as the champion of the anti tip movement. He prided 31 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: himself on never tipping his barber, reflecting a sentiment shared 32 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: by many who saw tipping as unjust. In nineteen fifteen, 33 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: the anti tipping sentiment led to the passing of laws 34 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,959 Speaker 1: in states like Iowa, South Carolina, and Tennessee which aimed 35 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: to abolish tipping altogether. Even Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky joined 36 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: the fray, refusing to tip and arguing that tipping allowed 37 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: capitalists to exploit the workers. But despite this resistance, opposition 38 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: to tipping waned over time. A nineteen forty two Supreme 39 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: Court ruling argued that employees had the exclusive right to 40 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: their own tips, preventing employers from forcing those employees to 41 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: share them with other workers. However, this ruling did little 42 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: to address the underlying issue of low wages for tipped workers. 43 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six, Congress introduced the concept of the 44 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: tip credit, which allowed employers to pay tipped employees a 45 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: subminimum wage under the assumption that the tips would make 46 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: up the difference. This is why, even today, the federal 47 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: minimum wage for tipped employees remains as low as two 48 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,119 Speaker 1: dollars and thirteen cents per hour. Interestingly, while tipping originated 49 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: in Europe, countries like France have long abandon the practice. 50 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: There's a lot of debate these days about whether the 51 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: US should do the same thing. After all, American people 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: contested tipping as soon as the practice arrived here. But 53 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: here's the thing. The people who opposed tipping didn't oppose 54 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: it for all types of workers. You see, how tipping 55 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: spread first through the US is darker and more complicated 56 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: than tourists and immigrants simply introducing a concept. Let's go 57 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: back to the post Civil War era. Millions of formerly 58 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: enslaved people found themselves, without land, without education, and without 59 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: employment opportunities. Restaurant owners began hiring them as workers, often 60 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: paying them nothing and expecting them to rely solely on 61 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: the tips from the customers as income. And the restaurant 62 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: industry wasn't the only one taking advantage of people like this. 63 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: Another example is a guy named George Pullman who specifically 64 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: hired black back Southern men as porters for his Pullman 65 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: Car company. These workers received inadequate wages and relied heavily 66 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: on tips to survive. The prevailing racism of the time 67 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: justified this exploitation, perpetuating the notion that it was acceptable 68 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 1: for black workers to rely on tips while white workers 69 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: deserve steady, livable wages. Even with the establishment of the 70 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: first federal minimum wage law as part of the New 71 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: Deal in nineteen thirty eight, restaurant workers were excluded, further 72 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: entrenching the reliance on tips for income, and this exclusion 73 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: codified the practice of paying workers solely through tips, cementing 74 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: its place in American restaurant culture forever. Many people don't 75 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: like to tip workers because they think that their employers 76 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: should just pay them a decent wage in the first place. However, 77 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: restaurant owners argue that in order to do that, they 78 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: would have to raise all the menu prices. There's no 79 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: telling where this debate will lead us. Restaurant culture has 80 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: changed so much over the years, but hopefully there's even 81 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: more to come. In the years following the Revolutionary War, 82 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: the growth of this new nation skyrocketed. People started leaving 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: the more populated cities on the east coast to explore 84 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: and settle territories elsewhere, and not just out west either. 85 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: Mainz population ballooned from about fifty six thousand to over 86 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand by eighteen twenty. Now, by this time, 87 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: the original thirteen colonies had expanded to include states as 88 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: far west as Missouri and Arkansas. Things were moving fast, 89 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: and it was up to cartographers to keep up with 90 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: it all. But no two maps were the same. Map 91 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: making was at art as much as it was a science, 92 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: and there was a heavy dose of politics involved too. 93 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: You could take a map of the same part of 94 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: the country drawn by two different individual map makers and 95 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: they would show you shockingly different results, which was why 96 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty two, the best way to get the 97 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: lay of the land, so to speak, was to see 98 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: it for yourself. That's when two Connecticut business men, Frederick 99 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: and Roe Lockwood, started giving tours of the United States. 100 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,280 Speaker 1: Their father, Lambert, had made his living as a bookstore 101 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: owner in Bridgeport, but his sons, wanting more, moved to 102 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: New York City sometime during the eighteen tens, and several 103 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,239 Speaker 1: years later they came up with their big money making idea. 104 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: Here's how it worked. They would offer customers the ability 105 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: to see the country, but only if they could prove 106 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: themselves first. It was a kind of contest in which 107 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: travelers would be quizzed on the names of cities in 108 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: each state. Sometimes they would be asked about the local populations, 109 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: and they could only progress to the next location if 110 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: they answered it correctly. Whoever made it to New Orleans 111 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:52,479 Speaker 1: by getting all the answers right won. But here's the thing. 112 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: There was no cash prize or free trip for the winner, 113 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: only bragging rights because the Lockwood brothers weren't travel agents 114 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: or did they guide anyone across the country. They were 115 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: book publishers. They had started out by publishing titles from 116 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: foreign countries before moving on to religious texts, but then 117 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty two they branched out into a new 118 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: industry entirely so new, in fact, that by all accounts, 119 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: they started it all. They released a board game. It 120 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: was called The Traveler's Tour of the United States, and 121 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: it was designed to teach players about America's changing geography. 122 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: The board game was printed on wood and relied on 123 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: a numbered teetotem or spinner to determine how pieces moved. 124 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: Dice were not allowed because they were considered tools for gambling. 125 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: As many as four players could engage at one time. 126 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: According to the official rules and I quote, the numbers 127 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: commenced at Washington and end at New Orleans. The Traveler, 128 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: arriving at New Orleans first, wins the game. On the 129 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: opposite side of the game board was a list of rules, 130 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: as well as information about each state on the map. 131 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: This included its name, what it was known for, and 132 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: its estimated population. The Traveler's Tour through the United States 133 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: was sold around Christmas time, even though many New Yorkers 134 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: back then didn't celebrate Christmas the way we do. The 135 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: tradition of visiting family and exchanging gifts often occurred around 136 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: New Year's Day. This explains the eighteen twenties newspaper advertisement 137 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: the Brothers published. When their game was released, it read 138 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: Valuable New Year Presence. The game was a big enough 139 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: hit that it spawned two sequels, including one named Traveler's 140 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: Tour through Europe and another titled Traveler's Tour around the 141 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: World Now for a really long time. Historians believe that 142 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: the first American board game ever produced was an eighteen 143 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: forty three Christian morality game titled The Mansions of Happiness. 144 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: It had been adapted from an English board game, one 145 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: in which the player navigates a series of vices and 146 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,559 Speaker 1: virtues on their way to that thing in the title 147 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: The Mansion of Happiness. But after a little bit of research, 148 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: Traveler's Tour revealed itself as the prototype for all American 149 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: board games going forward, and it held onto that title 150 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: for a long time. It would be another sixty one 151 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: years before another land based game, called The Landlord's Game 152 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: would make its way into the public Created by Elizabeth 153 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: Maggie in nineteen oh four, it was a not so 154 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: subtle illustration of how the wealthy stayed wealthy by buying 155 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: up properties and forcing everyone else off the board. Sound familiar, Well, 156 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: that's because The Landlord's Game went on to inspire the 157 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: creation of another game, Monopoly. But even though Monopoly has 158 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: withstood the test of time, it lacks one thing that 159 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: the travelers tour had in abundance, a whole lot of homework. 160 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,079 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 161 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 162 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 163 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 164 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 165 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 166 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore 167 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.