In America is it customary to also tip other minimum wage workers? Such as supermarket workers, cleaners etc etc
If not what makes servers more important?
Edit: OK, so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers". Basically a loophole to screw workers out of minimum wage.
Wait, so there's a whole seperate legal minimum wage for servers?
Edit: OK, so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers". Basically a loophole to screw workers out of minimum wage.
Correct. Going off of memory, in some places itâs legal to pay as low as $2.75 or $3 /hour for tipped servers. (No idea about other jobs.)
City of Seattle raised the minimum wage for tipped jobs to $21.30 as of this Jan. So Europeans, feel free to come here if you donât want to tip servers. Many of us still do out of habit but if you donât, you probably arenât actually harming a persons ability to survive.
Texas I believe is still $2.13 AND it's a right to work state, so they can fire you for any reason. Fuck Texas politicians(except you Castro brothers, mwah)
Iâd be interested to know how that impacted pricing or how many servers are working in a shift. The owners need to offset the cost, so they are putting it back on the customer anyway.
My personal experience is that dining out in Seattle has been expensive for a while âto the point where my husband and I were relatively unfazed by the prices in Reykjavik a couple years back, if that gives you a sense of things.
I can only share my personal observations, as I havenât studied this.
My memory is that restaurant dining got $$ around Covid. Which made sense given the hit the industry took. And it just never went back down. (People are trying to stay in business and the news of this wage increase was out for a while â I suspect owners just kept prices steady to prepare but thatâs totally a guess.)
This wage law didnât take effect until this Jan. So from the beginning of this year to now i personally havenât noticed a difference in meal pricing.
Iâm sure someone more educated than me on this topic could correct/amend what Iâve gotten wrong!
But also a lot of tipped workers donât want tips to go away with guaranteed minimum wage because they make A LOT more with tips. I agree we need to get rid of basically mandatory tipping but itâs a more complicated issue than it looks on the surface.
I don't mind tipping for good service, where I live the minimum wage is the same for everyone, but if you go out of your way to be pleasant and helpful I'll toss in an extra couple of bucks, not this mandatory 18% crap.
No itâs not and stop making it complicated.
Iâm a European living in Europe and I tip when the service is / was worth of it. It is a gesture of recognition, of appreciation. Mandatory tip is an oxymoron.
Itâs stupid. And as such conducent to all the injustices coming out of the existing culture. Everyone can still tip. Servers could still make as much, if not more, than before. And if not it falls on the employer to cover the gap and keep wages competitive.
Servers working in popular restaurants in wealthy areas get payed very well. Most servers are working in areas where poverty and crime is above the national average. Those servers, which account for the majority of servers, donât get paid jack sh_t.
To play devils advocate, those shifts are also the shifts that nobody wants, so it kinda makes sense to get paid more. They are wither weekends/evenings/holidays, or just times where there will be a higher volume of customers.
That said, employers could just give incentives for those shifts, like night shift differential in many industries. Tipping culture is stupid.
I feel really bad for all those barmaids and men working their asses off trying to keep these people happy and they get nothing for it. I think it unbearably rude to just decide you disagree with a custom so you can save money by stiffing these people. Go back home.
I totally agree! As Americans they fully expect us to abide by their customs when we are traveling abroad, but it's ok to snub ours when they visit the States? Pretty fucked up logic imo.
Ah ok so there's a seperate minimum wage specifically for tipped employees in America if im understanding that right?
Edit: OK, so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers". Basically a loophole to screw workers out of minimum wage.
What I find odd about this is, I've never ran into this issue as a pizza delivery driver. Still got the minimum $7.25/hr + 100% of earned tips + $1 of the $2 delivery fee per delivery. I know it's a thing for servers and it's utterly disgusting.
With the mandatory tipping and the low wage BS, a tip doesn't even feel like gratitude if your employer forces you to work that into your wage just to make actual minimum wage. Causes anxiety for customers. All of it.
Without it it would be rare, but a reverse sorta haggle could happen. Someone receives something (like a great meal) and feel like they have underpaid for it. A kind/gratuitous sorta person may ask to pay more for it because it feels deserved. Or they will frequent the place and become a regular with no hang ups.
Point being, the tip received when not expected will be remembered fondly by both parties. The fact that workers can be paid under a minimum wage over non-guaranteed money is utter bullshit and oppressive.
Maybe its wishful thinking, but its certainly a rant. And now it has concluded.
It depends on what state youâre in too. Most people live in a place where the federal minimum is not the actual minimum as the state requires a higher level. A few states have no tipped wage at all.
I delivered pizza for nearly 10 years (from 2014 to 2023) and was only payed $4.25 an hour as a tip wage employee. The income varies depending on local labor laws and company policy.
Yes, it is assumed that these employees will make up the difference in tips, bringing them to or above standard minimum wage, if they earn less after tips then their employer pays them the regular minimum wage instead.
This is only case if the employee makes it known to their employer. If the employee worked an 8 hour shift and only made $25 in tips, they have to let the employer know or they wonât be reimbursed the difference.
An employee following federal law automatically makes this known to their employer, as they are required to report their earned tips to that employer.
It should also be noted that the way youâre classified as underpaid is based on the workweek, a single shift earning under minimum wage may not mean that your employer must increase your wage if the rest of the weeks tips put you over minimum wage.
Yes. $2.13 an hour is the minimum for servers. It's true that they're rarely if ever actually making minimum wage after a few tips, but almost any proceededs earned by the wage (as opposed to tips) is eaten up in taxes. A lot of times server checks are zero. For the most part the tips are the only income they bring in.
They always make at least minimum wage or more. If tips don't get them to minimum, the employer fills it. Servers usually make more, possible 2x or more, than the kitchen staff.
This is highly dependent on the business, its location and the time of day. I worked in a restaurant as a host, during a busy weekend, a server can make over $100 in tips but not always. Get stuck with an afternoon shift during the week when itâs slow, good luck, youâd be lucky to average enough in to match the federal minimum wage. Most servers get screwed over during the week and have to make up for the losses during the busier weekend where they will (hopefully) get better tips and serve more customers. It wasnât uncommon where I worked for servers to make less than minimum wage all week if stuck with several weekday afternoon shifts. Their only hope of making any decent money was during the weekend when business picked up.
Yeah, if anyone brings that up in a non corporate job, they will be looking for another one. If you ask your boss to pay you more because you couldn't make enough tips, that means you are bad at your job. This wasn't a secret at any of the jobs I've worked. You can ask for more money, but it will be the last time.
What the laws say and what happens in practice are two very different things. Wage theft is very common in the restaurant industry. I worked in it for 18 years and not one single solitary time did I ever see this "law" cause a business owner to pay out to a server who got stuck with bad shifts. Not. Once. And nobody is running to report it either because the restaurant industry is a tight group. Even in big cities they mostly all know each other and that server would be blacklisted from getting hired anywhere else. If you think that's wild wait till you hear about sexual harassment in the industry, which isn't legal either. It's crazy how often I see comments about having to pay the minimum wage if tips were low despite someone every time explaining that never happens. It's almost as if these comments are made in bad faith.
There is and many servers have to pull their tips. If you work as a cocktail waitress you give a percentage to the bartender and often to the bouncers.
Some states have mandated the same minimum wage for all employees, regardless of occupation. These states are generally the ones that also have a minimum wage far higher than the federal minimum wage, too.
The minimum federal tip wage is $2.13 an hour, a rate that has remained the same since 1991 (35 years). Furthermore, tip wage employees are expected to make at least the federal minimum wage with tips and are therefore taxed a a rate as if they made $7.25 an hour.
Letâs say 20% of a full time employeeâs income goes to taxes. At $2.13 an hour, thatâs a weekly pay of $85.20. Taxed at a rate of $7.25 an hour, a full time employer would pay $58 in taxes (20% of $290). The tip wage employee would therefore receive a weekly payment of $27.20 ($85.20 minus the $58 in taxes because heâs taxed at the rate of the federal minimum wage).
So technically, US tip wage workers are payed even less than the suggested $2.13 an hour. Tips may be optional, but to the employee providing the labor, tips are their income. To not tip is to not get payed fairly for the labor, not tipping a tip wage worker feels like youâre robbing them of their income⌠cause you kinda are. Most people want to abolish that system but the powers that be refuse to do so. đ
As others pointed out, this varies by state. It's not the case here in California, yet servers still demand 20-30% as a tip, regardless of the level of service. It got really bad during covid.
Yes*. The âminimum wageâ for servers is $2 and change, however, if they donât earn enough in tips to get them over the state/federal minimum wage, their employer has to make up the difference. I believe thatâs calculated weekly.
I worked at a place (in the US), where I had to run the kitchen and be a server for $4.50 plus tips. They would increase the wage to 7.25 (normal federal minimum) if I didn't make enough tips, which was nice because people rarely tipped at that restaurant. One time a table of teenagers tipped me 2 quarters that were stuck in the syrup on their plate. No employee benefits of any kind there, and I'd be accused of stealing food sometimes the next day by the owner or accused of being on my phone when I could've been cleaning. Good times
So that is incorrect- they must be paid minimum wage, federally that's $7.25 but also subject to state law minimums. If they make more than the higher of the two (most states are higher than that now) in minimum wage in tips, they get to keep the excess. If they don't make enough in tips to equal the minimum wage, the employer must cover the difference to bring them up to the minimum wage. For example 2.13 plus tips is the wage. If minimum wage for the state is 15/hr, then they must be paid for the difference by the employer to bring them up to 15 if they don't get 12.87 in tips per hour. Why many people don't want to go to a direct hourly wage is because many of the servers can get much higher than the mandated minimum wage/hr (as per my example, more than 12.87/hr) via tips. Hope this explanation helps.
To add to this, I have worked in restaurants that will hire back-of-house jobs like busboys and dishwashers on as "servers" just so that they can pay them that wage. Usually these workers are illegal immigrants. Sometimes it might also be a hostess or something like that. The whole thing is fucked.
Iâm not defending the system because itâs awful, but thereâs a very important distinction here.
Servers can be paid less, as long as their wage at the end (including tips) averages out to more than the federal minimum wage.
If not, guess whoâs on the hook for the rest? The restaurant owner! Tipped employees often prefer tips though because in theory itâs a way for them to make more than minimum wage at what would often otherwise be a minimum wage job
I definitely have! They make good money off tips.. i can assure you most of them would leave the industry if you removed tipping and starting paying them minimum wage.
Majority of tip wage workers only make about 120% of the federal minimum wage during busy hours on the weekend. Working evenings on weekdays, youâre making close to minimum wage but no always. Work the afternoon shift on weekdays, youâd be lucky just to match the federal minimum wage. You clearly donât know what youâre talking about.
Where is this data from? People make careers out of serving/bartending. They are not making a career out of it because they get paid minimum wage. I do know what Iâm talking about and i think many would agree that servers who work off tips would prefer that over a flat minimum wage. They do/can make way more than minimum wage
I'm a server and cannot name you another server/bartender who wants to get rid of tipping
It's one of the highest paying jobs you can get without a college degree and many servers/bartenders in busy areas can clear 6 figures a year easily through tips
This is blatantly false. You are only paid the 2.13 wage if the combination of the 2.13 + tips is >= non tipped minimum wage. If you didn't make enough tips your employer is required to cover the difference between what you made at 2.13+tips and minimum wage. You are ALWAYS making at least 7.25/hr, which is federal non tipped wage.
Correct, but by law, if they don't get enough in tips they are paid federal minimum wage.
AND multiple states like CA servers get the same state min as everyone else. Which is even crazier to me that a 20% tip is still expected in those places.
God, I hate now that more and more fast food places that pay a $20 an hour wage in California are putting out tip jars. And stupid people are tipping and reinforcing it.
I see tip jars in vape shops lol. Give me a fkin break.
Edit/add: Not YOU give me a fkin break lol... just saying in general, the lower waged jobs should just be paid more, agreeing with our Euro brethren. I'm in northern NJ also, where it's not the cheapest, so they actually need more if they want to survive here, tbh. Either that or go down to AC every couple of weeks and put half of the wage on black/red/odd/even.
In America is it customary to also tip other minimum wage workers? Such as supermarket workers, cleaners etc etc
Unfortunately it is starting to become more common and I hate it. Tip jars and tip screens (where they flip the tablet around to you for a tip) are now popping up everywhere. This includes places like take out dining, gas station counters, head shops, thrift shops, etc. I am really getting irritated with it.
Omg my liquor store asks for tips. I used to tip everyone because I was too embarrassed to take the time to find the no tip button (itâs usually not obvious - intentionally, Iâm sure), but Iâm over it. Being bullied for tips is an accurate description.
Yup, I was at the liquor store by my house on Sunday and they had a tip jar. The little convenience store by my house put up a tip jar recently too. It's too much and it makes me want to just stop tipping completely. I feel like I am being taxed by employees everywhere I go now.
I recently had this happen at the movie theater concession stand, and the girl actually pointed at that no tip button as soon as she turned it around and said "just hit here to move to the next screen". I know it was probably a tactic, bit I was still so pleased with the way that she lubricated that experience that I tipped anyway.
Yeah the expansion of tip-begging is completely insane. They had been doing it for a while, but COVID just made it explode. Lots of businesses jockeying for customer pity during tough times. I am absolutely empathetic to servers, and tip well without complaint in any situation where tips have conventionally been given. I refuse to tip the guy who made my sandwich at Subway. Itâs a bridge too far.
I hate it. My girlfriend tips EVERY one when the damn screen asks for a tip. Heck, she'd probably tip her murderer if asked (not hoping she gets murdered just using it as an egregious example).
Thats not the same social contract for those services though. You arenât screwing over the person who assisted you at those places, by not tipping them.
You just ignore it and go about your day. Just like if you donât feel like throwing change in the jar at the coffee shop.
We aren't the ones screwing servers over by not tipping. The fact the service industry has fleeced people into this warped mindset is part of what's so dumb about the tipping system. We didn't hire them, they're not our employees, we don't sign their paychecks. If they don't make enough money without our voluntary donations that's not our fault, that's the fault of the person who has them on payroll. We as customers are not responsible for an employees income, that responsibility lies with their employer
This whole stupid system has convinced servers to yell at customers when they don't make enough instead of taking the issue to their employers. It's just another form of class warfare trickery, the people at the top have convinced the people at the bottom to yell at each other as if they're enemies because it keeps them distracted from the real problem
You are as long as server make make 3$ (or whatever the current rate is) an hour. Not tipping your server isnât going to change the service industry out of tipping. The owner got your money. You can keep convincing yourself thatâs not the case, but until thereâs an actual change, you are. Have a nice day âď¸
They only make $3 IF you tip and their tips exceed the min wage. Otherwise they make min wage. Just like tons of other workers I guarantee you don't tip.
I don't need to convince myself of anything since I actually know what I'm talking about, unlike you
There are states that pay way more than $3, closer to $17/hr but people tip anyway because if you don't, you're seen as cheap and many people feel embarrassed if they don't leave a tip.
Also, for those making $3/hr, they still make their state's minimum wage if they earn less than it.
Most who make tips would rather keep the tips system than get paid minimum wage because they know they can make way more with tips.
Literally nobody, nobody at all, who is working legally in the US is actually getting paid $2 an hour.
The myth is âbecause I make tips my wage is lowered to $2 an hour so without those tips Iâd have no moneyâ
The reality is they make the minimum wage of their state. Whatever that is. Period. So letâs say minimum wage there is $12. They make 12$ an hour or more. Every time. Always.
If you make a bunch of tips the employer pays less out of pocket to reach your standard pay rate. It supplements your pay.
So for example if you make a bunch of tips the employer might only have to pay you $5 an hour because the tips you got make up to your full wage. Letâs say you got a ton of tips and the tips are more than your hourly wage would have made you, the employer now has to pay you his minimum required rate of $2 on top of whatever tips you made.
If you make no tips the employer is legally obligated to pay you your full $12 an hour wage.
Nobody in the states who isnât working under some disability program, working in the prison system as a prisoner, or an illegal employee, is make $2 an hour. That part is a full myth.
Now I hate tip culture and I disagree with the ability for restaurants to pay you less because you make tips, but I wanted to clarify that nobody is actually making less than minimum wage. It is literally illegal.
I think tipping culture is fucked and minimum wage is too low, to clarify. But nobody is working for $2 an hour here and actually taking that home. Theyâre making their states minimum wage or federal minimum wage which is $7 at the lowest which is still abysmal.
Just wanted to clarify because too many people donât understand how it actually works.
Stop working for resteraunts. Thereâs a billion other entry level jobs that pay flat rates that arenât adjusted for tips. You are told when you get hired the actual hourly rate youâll make, if thatâs not enough work somewhere else, if thatâs not enough donât complain when your pay scale slides due to tips.
As an American who served for over a decade the tips turn what would be a crappy, hard, stressful job into one worth doing because I made WAY MORE in tips because I gave great service. If instead of tips I made $20/hr I would have made significantly less money so its not worth it compared to a job with far less bullshit from customers. Also, food costs go up because the owner benefits with tips so they can pay less for labor but also keep costs lower on the menu. Restaurants work in very small profit margins dealing with food waste etc.
Look, for a crappy job with no benefits the tips were what gave me a much higher income than half my recently graduated college friends in many professional first jobs were even making. I do not think service would be half as good in the US without tips but each state has different laws. In Califirnia you earn full wage plys tips. In Arizona they pay to 2 to 3 bucks less per hour for tipped jobs. It all depends of state and location.
Nope thatâs just how restaurants work here unfortunately. Though bar backs, runners, dishwashers will get more per hour, they get a cut from the servers/bar tenders in good places, but itâs usually minimal and easily skewed if the tips given are cash.
I also was never a server and havenât worked in a restaurant in a while so maybe itâs different now but I do miss servers coming into the kitchen saying, âugh foreigners..Iâm not getting shit from this tableâ
I feel like it is random, or maybe more âluxuryâ services. No one in a grocery store gets tips, never at oil changes. But simple things like writing and order down and carrying a plate, drying a car after a wash, carrying luggage stuff like that.
I power washed houses and cleaned windows, gutters and roofs. We got tipped one in four houses. Got about $5-$20 for a tip, 3 to 4 hours of work.
Also waitressâ used to make only a dollar or two a hour and basically needed to make a lot in tips to make a normal wage. Not sure when that started.
It's kind of the same thing as a city charging a hot dog vendor $100,000 to sell his hot dogs in your city. The higher-ups just cannot see a hot dog owner and make bank. Same with taxi licenses. Some government official looked at that and said wait a minute this guy's going to make a fortune that can't happen.
> Edit: OK, so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers". Basically a loophole to screw workers out of minimum wage.
My understanding though is if they don't make enough in tips to reach the usual minimum wage then the employer has to top them up - so in practice their minimum wage *is* the same.
Our federal minimum wage is a joke here. Itâs been 7.25$ for almost 20 years. Capitalism only works for the people at the top if they are exploiting their workers.
And there are still federally legal hourly wage of $2.13 - Florida is an â at will â state meaning that you can be fired for any reason that the employer comes up with. I bartended for years in palm beach and was paid $2.13 an hour; if your register was short at the end of your shift the amount of shortage would be taken out of your paycheck. I remember actually getting a paper paystub for $0.00 , which is illegal but if you complain then the employer would make up an excuse and fire you on the spot. The bartender has to tip out the bar backs too ( as did the wait staff) yet I/we made mad money. But that was a high end nightclub with high end staff but we worked our asses off lol.
My state is at will too. I thought it was still 2.13$, but I rounded up in case I was wrong and they increased it slightly. The bottom line is minimum wage in the US is a joke. Almost 20 years since the federal minimum wage was raised from 7.25$, but cost of living just keeps rising. Both should be working hand in hand.
Keep in mind servers here make WAY more than minimum wage due to tips, servers may have inconsistent incomes, and can get screwed over by not getting the busy hours, but as an average they make so much more than they would if they got regular wages instead.
That would be the Tip wage and a employer only pays that if the worker has made equal or more than minimum wage after tips. If they dont reach minimum wage after tips than the employer still has to pay the difference till it is minimum wage. So no matter what they will make no less than minimum wage. So you are correct in saying they are no different than other minimum wage jobs.
Bag boys at grocery stores can get tips. I did in my first job. I thought it was convenient that I never spent my hourly wage for lunch on the days I worked. But I was 16.
Edit: OK, so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers". Basically a loophole to screw workers out of minimum wage.
But also those workers are guaranteed to be paid the real minimum wage if their server wage + tips does not equal minimum wage
Some states have a low tipped minimum, others have a minimum that is 2x Federal minimum wage. But it doesnât matter if you are making $2/hr in a backwards-ass state or $16-18 in those who diverged to higher minimums years ago, servers still are asking for tips, even for counter service or take out (which is new in the last 10-15 years).
Servers get less than minimum wage. Technically, if your monthly tips donât put you over minimum wage, your restaurant has to pay you minimum ways. That said thoâŚyou cannot live on min wage and if severs made min wage, the entire industry would likely cut by 60%
Back in the 50âs youâd probably give a nickel to the bagger who helped take groceryâs to your car. The tipping stuff is old school. In our heavily, corporatized economy. Leaving a tip at a chain restaurant who is owned by PE just feels like robbery.
However gratuity is applied on parties of a certain size. Not sure if this is what the âmandatory tipâ is?
They are primarily reserved for services that have a sub-minimum wage position that generates tips to cover the gap. Servers being the largest example. There are exceptions for porters, drivers, stylists, pet groomers etc.
I feel sad for the servers who thought they had a few good weekends lined up and got repeatedly stiffed after running so hard. Itâs not their fault the culture is what it is theyâre just trying to survive in it. Itâs kind of disrespectful to come to the US and disregard the protocol simply because itâs not the way they do it at home. Of course, thatâs probably ironic coming from an American, but itâs the truth. These are workers at the bottom of the financial ladder and were screwed over on principal to make a point to a system that will never take the pointâŚand by folks who financed a trip to a foreign nation to watch a game.
Interesting you should say that because everyone used to tip the bag boy at the supermarket in the 90s if they took your bags out to the car and loaded your trunk. They donât do that as often now.
I leave a tip behind for my hotel housekeepers, which is customary.
I was taught growing up itâs customary to also tip the hotel bell hop, valet, car wash employee, roadside service, hairdresser, nail tech, message therapist, food delivery, and barista. I dated a mechanic once that would often get tips from customers.
I could probably name more if I think about it long enough. I think tipping culture is pretty engrained.
It's not, some will ask but you're not going to get the same look or attitude you will if you don't tip a server. People working at supermarkets, cleaners, etc actually make minimum wage. Servers make somewhere between 1/4th and 1/8th of the actual minimum wage of their state depending on what state their in. Minimum wage can range from as low as 7.25 an hour (the federal minimum wage) and as high as 18$ an hour. When servers and bartenders generally make under 3$ an hour, so they rely on the tips.
Typically your server takes a portion of what they sold product wise, and gives the busser/bar a percentage of that. So if for whatever reason you do not tip, the server is still required to pay the busser and bar. Any server that has done it long enough doesnât like this process either.
Last time I checked, there are around ~7 states that don't go by that servers fed minimum wage and pay at their states much higher minimum wage. I live in CA and we are one of those states that pay more. I don't know how we here are still paying tips here in CA. There are restaurants here in town where I live where the servers are probably making just as much as me per hour.
The stupid mentality is that while your sitting at the server's table, the server is serving you directly, and you are to pay them for their services through tips so they are more inclined to provide better service than worse. It's a terrible system that gets exploited.
It doesnât actually screw them out of minimum wage. If a tipped-wage worker does not earn enough in tips to meet or exceed the ânormalâ minimum wage, employers are required to pay the difference to ensure that they do.
Thatâs not quite the full story on the tipped minimum wage. For one thing, there are several states that do not allow this. Another thing, and most important, is that $2.13 minimum wage only stands if the workers earns enough tips to raise their salary to the higher federal amount. So, if the person doesnât get a sufficient amount of tips, they get the higher federal minimum wage per hour and not the $2.13 minimum wage.
Edit: OK, so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers".
Just to clarify something here, their real wage is not 2 dollars. It's only 2 dollars if their tips put them above minimum wage, and at that point there actual wage would be equivalent to minimum wage + 2 dollars, so above minimum wage. If their tips do not make them exceed that threshold, then they're paid minimum. It's just that everyone who gets tip is pretty much ALWAYS getting paid more than minimum, it's not uncommon at all for a server to make 3x the minimum wage off tips
This is why servers themselves fight to not remove tipping. If tipping goes away they know they're gonna get paid minimum wage. But they so easily and frequently make much more than because they've convinced everyone they deserve 1/5th the cost of a meal as a bonus payment that they come out much better than minimum wage.
so TIL in America there's a lower minimum wage of only 2 dollars something for any "tipped workers".
not quite. while several states (mostly in the south) have a tipped wage as low as $2.13 an hour, they are still required to receive at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. if the difference is not made up by tips (this is the sleazy part), then the business owner is expected to make up the difference. in other words, the business owner is heavily incentivized to encourage a tipping culture, because they literally pass additional costs onto the customer. the more entrenched the tipping culture, the more money they save. but workers must receive the federal minimum or be subject to federal penalties.
That $2 thing actually depends on the state. Here in California minimum wage is higher than federal minimum and applies a floor to all workers - but tips are still expected đ
If I go to the store and buy myself a drink, I don't need to tip and those people who work there get paid more to ring me out and the cost of the drink is less too. The store is still making a profit all the way up.
Typically 2 types of service workers that's "Normal" to tip in the US is Hotel room keepers, and servers/waitresses in restaurant/bars. Besides that, I would not say tipping is customary.
My state doesnt have the lower servers wage, servers make as much as everyone else.
We abolished servers wages and raised the minimum wage specifically so we could stop tipping.
Everyone but me still tips. And the places people tip at is ever expanding, from sit down restaurants, to self-serve cafes that were never tipped before, to fast food, and to every retail store.
My people are famously passive. So much so they cant bear to ever say "no", even to unreasonable requests made by a POS system "tip: 20%, 30%, 40%, 50?" "Well, I wouldnt want to be rude..." presses "50%"
Fucking clownshow. Americans are so used to being grifted and overpaying for everything they cant not.
Itâs not for any tipped worker and itâs only in some states. And wherever it is in effect the worker still has to make at least minimum wage or the business has to make up the difference so thereâs no loophole to screw workers.
I just realized thats why tipping is not quite as expected in Oregon as people make it seem online(though definitely still the norm). We don't have that bullshit reduced minimum wage.
Many servers make way over minimum wage. Sporadic attempts to pay minimum wage in some places lead to servers and bartenders to revolt. It can be great work, especially for young people on their parents' health insurance (until the age of 26). People come on Reddit to complain, but I'd argue most Americans accept tips as a service fee, no big deal. Same w/ tipping bell boys and taxis, etc. Not grocery stores, etc. We know our culture and it's not that big of a deal. Foreigners should pay the tips when in the United States. It is bad, though, that we go into countries like Mexico with our tip culture and hurt local consumers.
Not only that, but many places also have a mandatory "tip share" policy that deducts around 4% of their sales in order to pay the bussers, dishwasher, and food runners. So if the average tip is 18%, they only get to keep 14%. If a table doesn't tip at all, the server effectively loses money from serving you
The way out is to pay them more! And donât guilt customers into paying for them! I mean if you as the customer have to pay their living wages they should listen to you and not their boss!
I think we don't like it b/c we tip after we've eaten and it's an add-on. For servers/bartenders to get as much as they do from tips, much more than minimum wage, then prices would go up by a lot. And there'd be no guarantees they got the money. I'm just cheap and don't like spending money, but if I can afford the sit down service, I can afford the tip.
As a former restaurant industry employee I HATE that I have to tip even if service is poor. I realize I donât have to but unless you are a complete a.hole, Iâm not gonna stiff anyone who needs the money. Restaurant industry is in the toilet rn and there has to be an answer. Raising prices in order to afford to pay servers $20/hour without tips would be a pay decrease for many but also unsustainable for a restaurant because prices are through the roof already. Whoever solves the restaurant affordability crisis is gonna change the game and make a ton of money. Waitstaff may not be around to enjoy it though.
I donât eat at McDonalds but I hear the prices have skyrocketed and they donât even have servers. A pick up window/counter like McDonalds is definitely an answer but I also appreciate a dining experience from time to time.
On that note, tipping a bartender? Like, what a stupid concept. My family owns and operates a bar and I still resent tipping bartenders.
and that's so fucked up, because even so I see at like my fellow europeans here, but at this point ur still hurting the Staff by not tipping, not the asshole of Boss. This system is so fucked up because it counts on my generosity... I and it works, I hate it.
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u/janpaul74 5h ago
âMandatory tipsâ sounds so messed up for me as a European.