As wish many things American, it goes back to slavery. Tipped workers were a way for employers to avoid paying (mostly black) workers, effectively providing slavery-lite even after slavery had ended (Happy Juneteenth).
In any case, current U.S. labor law has specific carve-outs for certain tipped jobs that allow the minimal wage to be not the already unlivable $7.25/hr but the unsustainable $2.15/hr. Technically, employers are required to bring a tipped workers pay up to $7.25/hr if they do not report enough tips, but in practice employers encourage reporting incorrect tips and find reasons (if needed) to dismiss employees that do not report enough tips.
Fisherman, Sailor, Teamster, and Chef are not tipped positions. Waitstaff is a tipped position.
Tipped workers were a way for employers to avoid paying (mostly black) workers, effectively providing slavery-lite even after slavery had ended
It’s not just about being cheap though. It reinforces the idea that the worker is of a lower social status than the customer. The customer may, at their own discretion, choose whether or not to pay the worker a fair wage for the work they have done. That’s a very clear power imbalance.
my wife hates this but money burns a hole in my pocket. i inherited it from my dad. so while i contribute to the problem, it’s because a larger than average tip really brightens someone’s day. it means i can’t eat out as much, but that’s my problem not theirs.
As someone in the industry, I can’t thank people like you enough. A great tip can make a shitty shift so much better. I wish so many others were as kind. Or at this rate, just kind enough to tip 20%.
I mean let me read a book in a quiet corner for a shift and check in every hour, keep me full of bread and coffee? That’s worth a hell of a lot more than 20 per cent. More like $25.
Yes and “tipping” has gone insane. Not just amounts (tho even when I was a child, my parents consider 10% the bare minimum) but also you get prompted to leave a tip for transactions that don’t involve a tipped position.
My experience is from one of the shittier states for workers (Arkansas), right-to-work effectively eliminates all union activity, the state would remove the minimum wage if it could, and there’s even people that want to make it easier for 14-18 year olds to work.
Inside the US its you directly subsidising the businesses refusal to even pay minimum wage.
So bitching about a higher tip is bitching about fair wages for work. You got an issue paying that, you take it up with the employer who has shoved the burden of paying their waitstaff onto you.
Or we could tip while we continue advocating for legal ends to the system of tipping. I won’t stiff someone who isn’t making a fair wage, but I’d really like to switch over to how europe does it
No, you hit the nail on the head. A lot of Americans are fooled by this sort of anti-worker division propaganda. This is a conservative / right wing comic.
Uh, false. So called “serving” class jobs (wait staff, hotel maids and a few others) have a lower minimum wage in many of the provinces. In Quebec, their sales for their shifts are even tracked an proactively taxed for the expected tips they should receive. Which is why you get stink eye from servers in Quebec, they get taxed on expected tip output even if they don’t get tipped.
I see they have removed the “service” terms held over from slave nomenclature and now call it a “minimum tipped wage”.
Yes, but waiter are underpaid and should have a salary too.
… Apparently. This is too american for me to understand
As wish many things American, it goes back to slavery. Tipped workers were a way for employers to avoid paying (mostly black) workers, effectively providing slavery-lite even after slavery had ended (Happy Juneteenth).
In any case, current U.S. labor law has specific carve-outs for certain tipped jobs that allow the minimal wage to be not the already unlivable $7.25/hr but the unsustainable $2.15/hr. Technically, employers are required to bring a tipped workers pay up to $7.25/hr if they do not report enough tips, but in practice employers encourage reporting incorrect tips and find reasons (if needed) to dismiss employees that do not report enough tips.
Fisherman, Sailor, Teamster, and Chef are not tipped positions. Waitstaff is a tipped position.
It’s not just about being cheap though. It reinforces the idea that the worker is of a lower social status than the customer. The customer may, at their own discretion, choose whether or not to pay the worker a fair wage for the work they have done. That’s a very clear power imbalance.
my wife hates this but money burns a hole in my pocket. i inherited it from my dad. so while i contribute to the problem, it’s because a larger than average tip really brightens someone’s day. it means i can’t eat out as much, but that’s my problem not theirs.
As someone in the industry, I can’t thank people like you enough. A great tip can make a shitty shift so much better. I wish so many others were as kind. Or at this rate, just kind enough to tip 20%.
I mean let me read a book in a quiet corner for a shift and check in every hour, keep me full of bread and coffee? That’s worth a hell of a lot more than 20 per cent. More like $25.
True but some states don’t have this distinction and it means servers actually make pretty decent money.
Yes and “tipping” has gone insane. Not just amounts (tho even when I was a child, my parents consider 10% the bare minimum) but also you get prompted to leave a tip for transactions that don’t involve a tipped position.
My experience is from one of the shittier states for workers (Arkansas), right-to-work effectively eliminates all union activity, the state would remove the minimum wage if it could, and there’s even people that want to make it easier for 14-18 year olds to work.
Outside of the US it’s a reward for good work
Inside the US its you directly subsidising the businesses refusal to even pay minimum wage.
So bitching about a higher tip is bitching about fair wages for work. You got an issue paying that, you take it up with the employer who has shoved the burden of paying their waitstaff onto you.
Stop being little bitches and unionise. Tip is not pay.
How many unions you a member of?
Exactly! Don’t like paying tips? Stop eating at those establishments.
Or we could tip while we continue advocating for legal ends to the system of tipping. I won’t stiff someone who isn’t making a fair wage, but I’d really like to switch over to how europe does it
And ironically one of the biggest proponents of keeping the tipped minimum wage was Herman Cain (who is black. Or was. He dead now).
please oh please phrase it Herman Cain (who is dead) it tickles so many ex-cultists on here’s funny bones
Waiter is the only one who gets their wage subsidized by their bosses customers.
(I get it. It was just for the meme)
No, you hit the nail on the head. A lot of Americans are fooled by this sort of anti-worker division propaganda. This is a conservative / right wing comic.
(I get it. It was just for the meme/joke)
Right wing propaganda is still right wing propaganda when packaged in a “joke” or as “irony”. You were correct to question it.
I mean the last part of my message. I fully understand it,
Visit Canada where wait staff don’t have a separate minimum wage yet still we have American tip culture.
Uh, false. So called “serving” class jobs (wait staff, hotel maids and a few others) have a lower minimum wage in many of the provinces. In Quebec, their sales for their shifts are even tracked an proactively taxed for the expected tips they should receive. Which is why you get stink eye from servers in Quebec, they get taxed on expected tip output even if they don’t get tipped.
I see they have removed the “service” terms held over from slave nomenclature and now call it a “minimum tipped wage”.
https://www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca/en/working-conditions/wage-and-pay/wages/minimum-wage
Canadian from Quebec here.
Yes, we do.
So is the fisherman and the cook.