Curious by Design
Curious by Design is a podcast about how things get built, and why they end up the way they do.
Every product, city, system, and business is the result of a series of choices. Some intentional. Some accidental. Some brilliant. Some… less so.
Hosted by Jason Hardwick, this show explores the thinking behind the work: the history, the tradeoffs, the constraints, and the invisible decisions that shape the world around us. From design and engineering to culture, technology, and everyday systems we take for granted, each episode pulls on a single thread and follows it deeper than expected.
This isn’t a how-to podcast.
It’s a why-did-they-do-that podcast.
If you’ve ever looked at something and wondered how it came to be—or how it could’ve been designed better, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Curious by Design.
Curious by Design
Why We Still Tip for Service
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Before you even see the total,
you know another decision is coming.
A percentage.
A screen turned toward you.
A quiet pause that feels heavier than it should.
In this episode of Curious by Design, we unpack why tipping persists, and how a practice that began as a display of status evolved into a structural feature of the American wage system.
Tipping didn’t start as gratitude. It emerged in Europe as a signal of hierarchy, then arrived in the United States where it was initially rejected as undemocratic. After the Civil War, businesses discovered it served another purpose: shifting labor costs onto customers. Over time, laws formalized a separate wage structure for tipped workers, embedding the practice into the economy itself.
This episode explores how tipping moved from bonus to substitute, how emotional labor became monetized, and why digital payment screens now amplify the pressure through default percentages and subtle social cues. What feels like a personal choice is often a carefully structured decision environment.
Tipping isn’t just about service.
It’s about responsibility.
The next time a screen asks you to choose fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five percent, notice what’s happening. You’re not simply rewarding performance. You’re participating in a system that quietly shifted wages from employers to customers—and made that shift feel normal.
That’s Curious by Design.
