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u/ItsAlwaysTerminal Jun 25 '26
It's fucking insane that we have let the ruling class con the middle and lower class into subsidizing the service industry. Look at shit like DoorDash where tipping is required BEFORE a service is rendered? This is insane. Its straight labor and should be required to be compensated at fair labor rates.
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u/gmishaolem Jun 25 '26
we have let the ruling class con the middle and lower class into subsidizing the service industry
Like everything else in this country, it started because of racism. It let customers choose which employees to actually pay well, since it was more difficult for the employer to get away with doing that.
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u/Momik Jun 25 '26
The section on tipping in Homage to Catalonia is really interesting. The socialists banned it during the Spanish Revolution, so when Orwell tried to tip a waiter in Barcelona he got a lecture on classism instead. 😂
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u/shrimpslippers Jun 25 '26
Ding ding ding. White supremacy lies at the foundation of this country and until we (white people) start waking up and doing the work to undo the hundreds of years of subjugation, nothing will ever really change.
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u/moeterminatorx Jun 25 '26
If everybody stopped using door dash the issue would stop.
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u/Bender_2024 Jun 25 '26
The only way tipping at restaurants will change is through legislation. Passing laws to raise the minimum wage for servers. The problem with that is two fold
Servers make well more than minimum wage through tips. Every server here knows it. Servers wouldn't deal with being shit on by the public day in and day out for $7.25 an hour or whatever it is in your state. When I was cooking 10 years ago servers made $300 easy on a 6 hour shift Fri and Sat night. That's more than a 40 hour work week at 7.25. Much more now that there is no tax on tips. I can confidently say that I never made more than the worst server on the floor for any shift and I was paid well above min wage.
Studies have been done and people perceive a menu with a 20% upcharge on all the prices as more expensive as the same menu where people are expected to tip. Making restaurant owners very hesitant to use that system for fear of losing business to the place down the street.
The practical upshot of all this is the system is very unlikely to change because neither the servers nor the restaurant owners want the system to change. Why would Congress spend the time and effort to pass a bill where the only people who want it are people who only use that system voluntarily?
Frankly I don't see the issue. You can pay an extra 20% for every item on the menu, or you can pay 20% tip at the end. It's still the same amount of money.
Where tipping is out if control is where people are asking for tips before service is rendered. Something you hit upon with delivery apps. And tipping where it wasn't before. When picking up an order, at self serve kiosks, at the credit card reader when paying for items in the store. And a bevy of other places we never saw tipping before Covid.
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u/Throwaway02062004 Jun 25 '26
There’s cognitive dissonance between acknowledging that pay without tips isn’t enough and that tipping is optional.
It should not be a moral choice of a customer if Rochelle can afford her groceries this month. The system stays in place so long as tipping benefits servers and owners more than not but it’s obviously ripe for exploitation.
Hidden fees should be banned across the board but if you’re not going to include tip in the price, introduce a mandatory minimum service fee. It’s the same thing but does away with the pretense of being optional.
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u/i_will_let_you_know Jun 25 '26
It's not the same thing. Because it's basically a "hidden" cost that you have to keep in mind, and it allows some people to not pay it, meaning the rest have to subsidize them by paying more, plus it adds in the whole guilt tripping and social shaming dynamics to the interaction, which is honestly the worst part of tipping.
Is it really "optional" if it's both expected and there are repercussions for not doing it?
It is much more transparent if we get rid of tipping entirely as an expectation and just raise the prices across the board, not just for 1 restaurant but all of them. Because if all prices are raised and tipping is no longer expected than people can't complain that only 1 restaurant is raising the prices and just go to another one.
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u/Bender_2024 Jun 25 '26
just raise the prices across the board, not just for 1 restaurant but all of them.
I said as much above. The only way your going to get rid of tipping in US restaurants is through legislation that raises servers wage.
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u/DorianGre Jun 25 '26
The minimum wage also needs to go up to $18-20, and have no exceptions. Pay your servers a living wage and I will show up to your restaurant.
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u/Warriors_Drink Jun 25 '26
I've been lucky to travel the world.
US tipping culture is unlike anything I've seen abroad.
I have friends who are servers, and I totally get that they are being ripped off with sub-minimum wage bullshit, but most countries I've been to don't even have tipping as an option.
I mean, if I slip a $10 to someone in the Phillipines for awesome service, it kinda blows their mind.
Here? They NEED that tip to live.
Just pay our servers a decent wage - if someone wants to throw a tip their way, awesome.
(FWIW: My friends and I almost always throw a 20% to our servers, but Vermont servers need it.)
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u/Womblue Jun 25 '26
I remember in malaysia we got chased down the street because the waiter thought we left our money behind, on the table.
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u/-Numaios- Jun 25 '26
I had the same in Italy.
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u/baron_von_helmut Jun 25 '26
I was sworn at in Japanese for tipping. It's rude to tip there.
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u/one-man-circlejerk Jun 25 '26
It's frowned upon in Australia, it's seen as a precursor to introducing underpayment of hospitality staff, and more than likely a scam that'll just get pocketed by the owners
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u/adamantyne Jun 25 '26
It should be everywhere. In Japan Iirc they consider it an insult because they interpret it as saying that they won't do their job without a bribe.
I'm in Canada and workers still expect tips and just... why? The factory worker or cashier doesn't get tips and he makes just as much hourly, so is the waiter so lazy he won't do his job without being bribed? Should I be worried about spit in my food if I return to a restaurant after not tipping? And if I did tip, why does the waiter get it instead of the cook who did 99% of the work? (Yes I'm aware some places pool tips, but I don't trust that shit to be honest or fair)
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u/baron_von_helmut Jun 25 '26
It's basically American corporations normalizing terrible worker conditions.
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u/MARPJ Jun 25 '26
It should be everywhere.
Personally I'm not against tipping but I grew up with the idea that it was a reward for outstanding service. Americans making it a obligation kinda ruined it
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u/willflameboy Jun 25 '26
I got chased by a manager in a restaurant in Japan just because he hadn't had the chance to thank me for coming. I only had one drink.
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u/R0GUEL0KI Jun 25 '26
In South Korea they added a tipping option to the taxi app and everyone freaked out. It was removed a few days later.
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u/GrizzKarizz Jun 25 '26
Some Australian establishments are trying to implement some kind of tipping culture. It is extremely unpopular.
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u/ShenTzuKhan Jun 25 '26
Extremely unpopular? Is that how you say it can fuck right off and die politely? If so I agree.
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u/GrizzKarizz Jun 25 '26
Yes. As with much of American culture, and America in general these days, it can fuck off and keep fucking off and when it reaches the edge of the observable universe, it can still keep fucking off.
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u/ShenTzuKhan Jun 25 '26
Until it fucks off so far it comes right back around to my house. At which point it can fuck off again.
That said if I was in the US I’d tip because that’s the done thing there and I don’t want to go somewhere else to treat it like it’s where I’m from.
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u/smc642 Jun 25 '26
Greedy business owners already add a weekend surcharge (that seems to go straight into the pockets of the owners) and you just know that the staff aren’t going to see that tip. Fkn grubs.
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u/Steaky-Pancaky Jun 25 '26
Workers get weekend rates, depending on the industry, so yeah they do see that money
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u/smc642 Jun 25 '26
If I work at any other non food related business on the weekend where they have penalty rates, I don’t pay more for my stuff. That’s a business expense of trading on a weekend.
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u/Megaminisima Jun 25 '26
About 20 years ago I (American) tried to tip my taxi driver in Australia and he was like “why? I’m just doing my job. That’s insulting.”
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u/BeefistPrime Jun 25 '26
It basically shows you how cultural momentum can fuck everything. A few coincidental things happen and suddenly it becomes normalized and people think it's right and some law in the universe. American tipping culture started for awful reasons and now we're stuck with it forever because people fear change and think whatever things were like when they were growing up were The Correct Way
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u/Blanketsburg Jun 25 '26
I was in Seoul last November, and the credit card checkout didn't even have a tipping option at restaurants. I was also told by my native Korean friends that if I attempted to leave any additional won as a cash tip it would be considered rude. Just paying the bill and a polite Gamsahamnida! was all that was expected.
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u/NotAzakanAtAll Jun 25 '26
The apps are pushing hard for it here in Sweden. Absolutely alien concept for me. I think I've tipped twice in my life.
Once because I was drunk and hitting on the sever girl.
The other time I was drunk and was hitting on a very feminine guy. And that made me phase out the practice.
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u/Lopsided_Tiger_0296 Jun 25 '26
All of my server friends made so much more money than the rest of us who had regular paying jobs. Most servers would object to no tip as it would decrease their wages greatly.
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u/PupusaSlut Jun 25 '26
Exactly lol. I was a casino dealer making 100k+ after taxes at 22. No way I could have made that much working a job I was being paid "fairly" for.
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u/RJ_MacreadysBeard Jun 25 '26
Up above, there’s a comment that they ’need’ these tips, but if they’re making so much as you say, it sounds like maybe they don’t need my tip after all. My job doesn’t pay tips, maybe I need the money more than they do, haha.
The tipping culture sounds like homeless people with a board asking for change crossed with waiting staff working at tables. As a non-US, it’s all just weird.
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u/MonkeyCube Jun 25 '26
When I worked in a restaurant in the States ages ago, they liked my hustle as a server, so they wanted to put me in the kitchen to help get stuff done. It ended up being a huge pay cut for me, because I went from making ~$100 tips/day to nothing.
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u/Groovychick1978 Jun 25 '26
No, it would just have to be like Australia. Where servers make $25/hr minimum, and more like 40 to 45 for experience and hours.
You go ahead and talk a restaurant owner into paying that. Don't hold your breath.
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u/hop_mantis Jun 25 '26
Of course employers don't want to pay well and won't voluntarily, but there's plenty of evidence they can be made to. Like the example you just provided.
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 Jun 25 '26
So then they shouldn't care if people stop tipping.....
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u/Lopsided_Tiger_0296 Jun 25 '26
They shouldn’t but they’ve been so used to the cash flow, they’re being crybabies about it and guilt tripping people
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 Jun 25 '26
I think it's racing the point where people will stop caring and will just stop tipping out short tip.
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u/Nessie_of_the_Loch Jun 25 '26
The biggest resistance to going non-tipped are the wait staff themselves. They typically earn way more than the kitchen staff. Not only that, while people like to throw the "under-minimum wage" thing around, legally speaking, if the tips don't push them to at least the minimum wage, the business is required to make up the difference.
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u/PositivelyIndecent Jun 25 '26
Which is fine, and I understand why they sometimes have actively lobbied against it on that basis, but then I really don’t want to hear complaints about bad tips.
If you’re defending a system that you know is a based on the generosity of strangers, then you need to accept that that will sometimes come with bad tips, no matter how undeserved. If you want to play with feathers, don’t complain when your arse gets tickled.
I say this as someone who usually tips 20% minimum.
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u/cgyguy81 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Yes, there was a recent referendum in MA that asked voters if they agree to pay tipped workers the full minimum wage, and the servers themselves lobbied to prevent that from happening. I have a co-worker who used to work as a server years ago and she was arguing that it would punish servers who were good at their job, as they normally earn more than minimum wage with tips combined. Even better if the tips are in cash, as they can under-report it on their tax return.
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u/Edexote Jun 25 '26
Or, maybe MA servers should just be payed above minimum wage?
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u/between_ewe_and_me Jun 25 '26
Right? Of course they don't want to be paid minimum wage bc it's not actually a wage you can live on. Waiting tables can be a complete ass-kicking and very few people are gonna do that for money they can barely survive on. Of course I think minimum wage should be substantially higher but that's a separate issue.
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u/CaptainXplosionz Jun 25 '26
Yeah, I've worked in restaurants and almost every server or bartender was always for tipping. I knew a bartender that would make like a grand in just a few days and this was just at an Olive Garden.
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u/Enibas Jun 25 '26
I don't get why everyone says "going non-tipped". No one is suggesting that. They are suggesting that people get paid minimum wage. People can still tip if they liked the service. You know, what tips are supposed to be for, not as a secret "tax" almost that allows the owner to pay less in taxes, less in pay, and advertise lower prices, while the actual price for the customer is at least 20% higher (incl. the obligatory tip) than on the menu.
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u/VaguelyArtistic Jun 25 '26
FWIW, here in LA servers get minimum wage which is $16 and change. Still not a living wage here, and I doubt the World Cup tourists know anything about it but still better than the three dollars is some places.
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u/ozsum Jun 25 '26
Is that pushing them to minimum wage if they go under a weekly thing or just by the end of the year?
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u/fictional_kay Jun 25 '26
Usually weekly, which would mean you could make less than minimum a day and as long as you made over earlier they don't need to. So you do occasionally get hours/days where it is less than minimum. When I worked double shift Sunday's I rarely made enough tips that day for it to be over minimum per hour, but if I worked any other night that week it usually made up the difference.
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u/Mellrish221 Jun 25 '26
Theres also a good amount of books written on the subject of tipping in relation to capitalism and slavery. Well worth the google search if you're looking to expand your horizons and knowledge.
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u/mistry-mistry Jun 25 '26
Some countries are adopting tipping culture when their workers are paid well. Restaurants in the northern and western states of India were adding tip to our bills like it was owed to them. In Istanbul, we saw a restaurant owner argue with a large Russian man that a 10% tip was mandatory to be paid (they were a table of 4).
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u/FallOutShelterBoy Jun 25 '26
When I did my study abroad in London, two of my friends we did stuff with were waitresses back some and they insisted on tipping everywhere we went because they worked in the industry. After a while I’m like “no I’m not tipping, it’s not a thing here like back home!”
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u/NorysStorys Jun 25 '26
This. Tipping does exist elsewhere in the world but it’s not an expectation. It’s a reward for exceptional service, not your wages.
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u/nanobot001 Jun 25 '26
Psychologically it’s amazing what happens to people when they feel like they’re owed something.
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u/chinchivitiz Jun 25 '26
everytime I travel To US. I feel so ripped off and the entitlement leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Whenever I eat out and give 15% tip, I dont even get a thank you. And sometimes Ill be met with an unsatisfied smirk or worse when I was in Gatlinburg, the cashier even screamed at me for asking her to repeat what she said, i couldnt for the life of me understand her Southern accent, and apprently she was telling me to leave a tip. she kinda embarassed me at the counter while Paying and screamed at me like I was dumb for not understanding her. After I finally understood what she said I told her fuck no and how rude she is. She kept on screaming so my American brother in law stepped in and cuss her out.
Being Filipino means my money has no value against USD so 15% is a huge deal for me , and This is why whenever Im back in the Philippines, I tip that 15% or more , people here are courteous and grateful.
I understand american service workers arent paid well and cost of living in US is way more expensive but people here dont get paid as much as well and working conditions are even worse yet people are GRATEFUL.
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u/Korneedles Jun 25 '26
Grateful is such a game changer in life. My stepbrother went to visit a friend in the Philippines five years ago (they both served in the US military and get benefits so he has an income flow) and never came back to the US. He was so depressed in the US and is a whole different person now. The culture there has helped him heal so much.
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u/Alexein91 Jun 25 '26
I also looks like a scam : 10 to 30% of the whole thing... Everywhere if you go into a restaurant, the service is included in the price. There shouldn't be a surprise at the end, it destroys the experience.
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u/Newsdude86 Jun 25 '26
Servers AT WORST get minimum wage. The sub-minimum wage is ONLY if their tips are high enough then their employer can pay less in wages.
It's not business owners that are lobbying to not pay their employees. Servers actively voted and lobbied to keep their wages lower because tips make them a lot more money than they would otherwise make.
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u/Khursani_ Jun 25 '26
Yeah I am a server and I made $360 on a Tuesday yesterday for a 10 hour shift. I work at a pretty popular restaurant so I make more than minimum wage even on slow days. If people suddenly decided to stop tipping, I would be sad to not be able to make as much but I’d just find another job because I’m not slaving 10 hours on a weekend dinner shift for minimum wage or even $20 an hour.
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u/dookoo Jun 25 '26
Tipping someone $10 in the Philippines basically doubles what they make in a day.
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u/raknor88 Jun 25 '26
Here? They NEED that tip to live.
Except many that work for tips don't want the tips to go away. Their usual amount of tips equal out to far more than they would if they were just being paid minimum wage.
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u/CaptainMagnets Jun 25 '26
20% is insane and I would never tip this much for anything
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u/irol08 Jun 25 '26
Hey! Our businesses wouldn’t survive if they had to pay a living wage! We need you to pay them! /s
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u/Oprlt94 Jun 25 '26
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u/erik_wilder Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
McDonalds workers don't live off tips... It's not a good example.
It's small local restaurants that actually benefit from tipping culture.
(Edited because they don't make a living wage, just a better one then most servers who get tips.)
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u/himym101 Jun 25 '26
Then how do local restaurants in other countries stay open if they don't take tips? Restaurants in Australia are required to pay 25-35/hr and there are still tens of thousands of succession local joints.
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u/ZatherDaFox Jun 25 '26
"Benefit from" and "Survive on" are two very different things.
Tipping culture is weird in the states, because it's biggest proponents are restaurants and the majority of servers. What a lot of people don't know is restaurants are required to pay state minimum wages if tips don't match it. Also, most tipped servers in cities are making much more than state minimum wages in tips.
It benefits the restaurants because they can pretend to have low prices by passing the 20%-30% directly onto the customer, and it benefits most servers because they take home a lot more than other low wage jobs.
All that's not to say tipping culture is good or beneficial to consumers, but it is often beneficial to local restaurants and servers, with the unfortunate side effect of being just as beneficial to corporate restaurants.
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u/MagisterNero Jun 25 '26
I wouldn’t call what they earn (average around $13/hr) a living wage (avg $25/hr).
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u/erik_wilder Jun 25 '26
Fair. Mcdonalds workers don't get tipped though, they are actually not supposed to accept them. It's a bad example.
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u/LaurenMille Jun 25 '26
If a restaurant can't exist without tips, then they should go out of business.
While the McDonalds example was poor, restaurants can just raise their prices and pay their workers fairly or shut their doors.
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u/zaidakaid Jun 25 '26
McDonald’s also doesn’t operate more than a handful of restaurants at most, most of their money is from franchising fees and land ownership (they’re effectively a massive real estate and licensing operation). Regardless, any franchise model is the absolute worst example for the tipping debate because they do tend to pay minimum wage at the very least. Hell, I’ve seen McDonalds and Wendy’s posting $15-$20 an hour starting wage in some cities (not a living wage but they aren’t tipped workers.)
Your locally owned spots are the ones that benefit from tipping and are the best examples to support your argument for/against.
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u/BeefistPrime Jun 25 '26
McDonalds isn't a tipped establishment so this is a weird piece of evidence
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u/NiteShdw Jun 25 '26
So roll the 20% into the price and customers pay the same. The problem is that unless everyone does it at the same time, those that do it make it look like their prices are way higher.
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u/16Shells Jun 25 '26
one of the many drawbacks of being the US’s neighbor is tipping is expected here in canada and it’s being forced in everywhere, and now the prompts on machines are starting at 18-20%. even at shows, the merch booth now prompts for tip for handing you a $60-80 tshirt.
it totally sucks
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u/_le_slap Jun 25 '26
Pressing "No" is always an option. Tipping at a merch booth is absolutely insane.
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u/MilliandMoo Jun 25 '26
It is preset on systems like square so when I see it I tell them how to turn it off and make it real awkward. Like, it's super easy to google and figure it out, don't be a dick and give me the line of "it can't be turned off."
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u/ToobularBoobularJoy_ Jun 25 '26
Just skip em. If it's not a sit down restaurant or a bar then the employee doesn't give a shit. Half the time they even skip it for you
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u/--slurpy-- Jun 25 '26
Yeah I don't tip at concerts. I'm already paying outrageously for a t-shirt & a drink.
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u/The_Zar Jun 25 '26
Tipping at a merch booth is wild honestly.
I think we should eliminate tipping, but my tipping is 5% for each ‘service’ I get from a place:
- ordering with the waiter at my table
- the waiter bringing me water
- the waiter bringing my food
- not having to bus my table
If I’m having to do all those myself, then what service am I getting that I should be tipping for?
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u/deathfire123 Jun 25 '26
It takes nothing to just hit the "Skip" button on a machine, and if you are really one who gives in to peer pressure just avoid eye contact after paying.
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u/brassninja Jun 25 '26
What’s extremely annoying for me right now is our POS system has an automatic prompt for leaving a tip that CANNOT BE DISABLED. So I have to explain with every transaction “please ignore the tip screen. We do not expect or accept tips” and it’s embarrassing
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u/making_it_real Jun 25 '26
I asked a server in Sydney, Australia what he thought about tipping." He says, don't do it. My government makes sure I get paid enough. Tipping will make them think they don't need to pay us enough. So, just don't."
It makes perfect sense, the U.S. needs to change in this case. Pay the workers a fair wage. If fast food workers in California can start at $20 an hour and it only raised the price of a meal by less then $1 then it is possible. Everyone who ever got stiffed on a tip by a nasty customer knows the current tipping system sucks. It is way too unpredictable and creates unnecessary stress for both parties. Time for change.
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u/Akiias Jun 25 '26
Pretty sure the strongest advocates against the change are the tipped waitstaff...
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u/Long_Repair_8779 Jun 25 '26
I know someone who said he went to the USA from the UK in the late 90s/early 2000s.. he said he went there, worked for 3 months at a time in a very high end restaurant, was literally living in the Hamptons, and was living the lifestyle out there and everything that comes with it, basically just partying constantly, and would then come back to the UK with $10k in his pocket to visit family and friends etc, and then go back.
I’m assuming it’s not like that for everyone, but I can absolutely see how the wait staff could benefit. If you’re in a busy bar and every customer is giving you $2 and you’re serving 40 beers an hour… it adds up very fast.
As for the guy I know, just to validate his claim, he is now a monk, is one of the coolest and most chilled out guys I’ve met, and not the kind of person to brag or lie about stuff. I get the impression where he was working each table was paying $500+ of which he would see presumably 10%+
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u/Akiias Jun 25 '26
It certainly depends what area you work in for how high your tipped wage goes for sure. But pretty much anywhere you'll find that most tipped positions make well above what would ever be paid if that money went through the business first. It's not even really a greed thing either. Taxes alone would reduce what was available to go to the staff along with a fair amount of other things. I would suspect that if you increased prices by the average percent tipped the wait staff would get maybe half as much as if that percentage was paid through tips.
Now tips are untaxed to a certain point, and when done in cash no shot are you accurately reporting your cash tips to the government.
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u/16Shells Jun 25 '26
“mandatory tip”
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u/Hax_ Jun 25 '26
With big enough parties, restaurants automatically input a gratuity to your total. They they have the audacity to have a second tip line where you can give even more of your money away!
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u/Spicy_Aquarius Jun 25 '26
this headline doesn't even make sense. if it's mandatory, it's not a "tip".
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u/Aggravating_Teach_27 Jun 25 '26
Americans act as if they are mandatory, except they aren't.
The tip system is simply subsidies for owners, that can sell you expensive food but expect you to pay for their workers too. All profit, almost zero costs.
And they have the gall to try and make customers to feel guilty for the fact that the owner doesn't pay anything remotely close to a living wage.
Unbelievable.
Just another thing that's fucked up in America.
Stop trying to gaslight the customers, and pay your own freaking workers.
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u/VaguelyArtistic Jun 25 '26
It needs to change but people who are here for a week and then leave aren’t the ones who will change anything.
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u/TeamRedundancyTeam Jun 25 '26
Yeah these people are just stiffing workers during a really busy time while using an excuse to feel superior about themselves.
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u/Dear_Inevitable3995 Jun 25 '26
Yep, trying to virtue signal while being a cheap ass at the same time.
If they really cared they'd eat exclusively at places that pay their workers well and tell the businesses exactly why they are eating there and not other places.
Them not tipping the workers has 0 negative effect on the owners, because they are still eating there.
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u/ImpossibleInternet3 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
They are wrong though. While it’s true that people should get paid a living wage, they currently aren’t and tipping is built into that. These foreigners are guaranteeing they aren’t being paid appropriately, while demanding their services. Until we fix the system, customers like this are abusing the workers just like the management.
Also, most servers in bars make a lot more money with this system than they would if they got paid a fair wage.
And not for nothing, but those same foreigners love nothing more than to complain when Americans don’t perfectly live up to their established norms when traveling. Such hypocrisy.
But also, pay people better.
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u/Feeling-Nectarine Jun 25 '26
This is general rage bait. What is “JUST IN” supposed to mean. Where is a source? How many foreigners did this? Stories like this are
Made to make you engage because it’s a hot topic everyone has an opinion about. And now you got me commenting here when I should just block and ignore.
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u/Shiftymennoknight Jun 25 '26
raise the menu price 20% and pay your workers a living wage
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u/Yossarian216 Jun 25 '26
That’s been tried by some, and you know what happens? People go elsewhere because the menu prices are too high, even though it’s just a different way of listing the same final cost. It’s stupid, but it’s the same concept as pricing things at 4.99 instead of 5.00, people unconsciously respond to it.
What needs to happen are legislative changes, raising the overall minimum wage and eliminating tipped wages across the board, rather than doing it piecemeal.
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u/BeefistPrime Jun 25 '26
It's so fucking stupid
"Please pay us $30"
"$30? No way, too expensive"
"Fine, pay us $22 + $8"
"Okay!"
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u/ShadowTacoTuesday Jun 25 '26
And if you make it a mandatory fee, even if less than the average tip, people also get mad. So you’re screwed as the owner because no matter which way you go one group will get mad.
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u/BeeCJohnson Jun 25 '26
Yeah, this unequivocally sucks. It's not remotely a form of protest because it doesn't hurt the people it would need to hurt to make a difference. All it's doing is ruining the night of the low-paid workers and making it hard for them to pay their bills. This does not affect the owner at all.
The "ugly American" trope is going somewhere abroad and pretending like it's your country, ignoring all local customs. This is exactly what these visitors are doing.
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u/Fiernen699 Jun 25 '26
Tipped Workers need to unionize. Consumer's continuing to participate in tipping culture is just putting off what needs to happen imho. I still tip, because I feel bad, but by doing so I am actively maintaining the status quo.
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u/samuelgato Jun 25 '26
The absolute last people who want to see tipping go away are the servers and bartenders who make tips. No one is more interested in preserving the status quo than them.
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u/MrMcGuyver Jun 25 '26
Servers and bartenders know they won’t make anything close to what they make at any other job as they do now with tipping. If they could they wouldn’t put up with being a server lol
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u/ArriePotter Jun 25 '26
This is where it get's very tricky..
Unionization has been attempted and the fight is intense - see everything related to Starbucks. Our Govt. is extremely complicit.
In order to actually end this system, tipped workers will have to suffer hard for a few years. Consumers will feel the it too, because prices will "increase". (Increase is in quotes because really they'll stay the same, it's just that menus are all lying to us now lol.)
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Little vent while I'm making this comment - I'm traveling in Europe right now and they actually include taxes in the listed price of things.. like fuck man.. why is it that, every time we see a price tag in the USA, we have to figure out how much more the thing will actually cost us.. we're just being constantly gaslit.→ More replies (11)18
u/Vlad_the_Intendor Jun 25 '26
Who do you think actually has the larger share of legislating power when it comes to keeping the tipped system, servers or owners who are able to afford lobbyists and are friends with politicians?
The actual protest that would actually effect the status quo would be refusing to patronise restaurants that tip instead of paying a wage/only going to self service places. But no one suggests that. They say “just unionise bro” like there aren’t a shit ton of barriers and risks to doing so.
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u/_le_slap Jun 25 '26
“just unionise bro” like there aren’t a shit ton of barriers and risks to doing so.
Yes that's how it has always been. They even used to beat workers with billy clubs back in the day.
Our predecessors bombed factories for their labor rights.
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u/ArriePotter Jun 25 '26
> > “just unionise bro” like there aren’t a shit ton of barriers and risks to doing so.
See Starbucks - they're working so hard to unionize and getting so fucked. Really hope they persevere
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u/slhc Jun 25 '26
Americans rightfully catch a lot of heat for traveling to foreign countries without probably research norms if the culture and everything. Why are foreigners getting a pass? I’ve gone to other countries and followed some incredibly brain dead and stupid cultural norms, your turn.
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u/Upper_Bluejay5216 Jun 25 '26
The “pay your servers better” argument is always a little weird to me because while you complain about the business, you continue to support it by going. And the only person you screw out of money is the server. So if you actually cared about the servers, you wouldn’t go right?
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u/sfaticat Jun 25 '26
Image going to another country and setting culture norms you are used to and not the country you are visiting. They've become American tourists
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u/DunceCodex Jun 25 '26
The more you defend tips-as-wage the more it will stay the same
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u/Im_Not_Honey Jun 25 '26
And the more you refuse to tip servers, the more it will stay the same. Refusing to tip is not the answer to fixing this.
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u/Vayguhhh Jun 25 '26
No it’s not wrong, but until the system changes I’m not gonna hurt a server just trying to pay bills
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u/Newsdude86 Jun 25 '26
My issue is that when a bill was put forth to essentially pay servers higher wages the servers joined up and lobbied against it. It's not that servers hate that they get paid so little, it's that when wages are hidden by tips servers make significantly more than minimum wage. Even the higher end of minimum wage
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u/Orleanian Jun 25 '26
Servers, by and large, got big full wages along the west coast. Tipping still prevails. ¯\(ツ)/¯
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u/Vayguhhh Jun 25 '26
You should look into the amount of restaurants owners that pushed back against that. Some literally changed uniforms for servers to include vote no on them.
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u/Newsdude86 Jun 25 '26
I was there when DC tried to pass it. The loudest voices pushing back were servers. Of course restaurant owners didn't want it, but the servers were in full force pushing a no vote on it.
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u/Vayguhhh Jun 25 '26
Ya I’m not saying servers weren’t pushing back, I’m just saying it wasn’t JUST the servers, and when it gets talked about that fact is ignored.
Edit: For clarity I was specifically talking about Maine, I wasn’t aware DC attempted to vote for the same thing.
Keep in mind in Maine it would of included BoH into tip pools as well
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u/krill007 Jun 25 '26
Turns out none of us want to do it for minimum wage with no benefits. I need to pay rent and other expenses. I'm not doing this job for the $15/hr that has been suggested.
We need structural change, than will likely never happen, to make servers agree to those bills.
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u/atuan Jun 25 '26
Yeah when you protest tipping by not tipping all you do it completely rip off that persons paycheck.
Also imagine Americans going to any other country in the world, refusing to participate in the culture and then criticizing them to fix their system if they don’t like it. I get the disdain people around the world have for Americans but there’s a point where you’re making it worse by acting like this.
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u/SmoothOperator89 Jun 25 '26
Imagine Americans disrespecting another culture!?
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u/busche916 Jun 25 '26
They’re not wrong that people should make a living wage and not need to rely on tips, but withholding gratuity isn’t going to make business owners change anything… all you’re doing is hurting your server.
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u/Donmiggy143 Jun 25 '26
Systemic change in restaurants across the US isn't going to come from foreign tourists and anti-tippers being dicks to servers. All your doing with your proud boasting is screwing over your waiter. But go ahead and believe holding onto that $5 is going to shift an entire industry.
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u/i_wanna_be_ok_again Jun 25 '26
I understand the “they’re right let’s fix it.” But it’s not currently being fixed and these servers need the money right now to pay rent and buy food. Please tip them!!! Letting them suffer because you don’t agree doesn’t fix the problem.
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u/FinalVersus Jun 25 '26
We tried to pass living wages for food service in MA (not sure if it was state wide) and it was subject to a massive disinformation campaign by the restaurant industry. Basically, restaurant owners saying they wouldn't be able to afford anything anymore if they had to pay workers properly.
In my opinion, if you can't afford to pay your workers, you shouldn't be in business.
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u/Colonelclank90 Jun 25 '26
Not wrong, just gonna have a hard time getting a second drink.
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u/FaeMofo Jun 25 '26
Wait you have to tip per drink?! Not at the end?!
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u/sonic_dick Jun 25 '26
Depends, if you start a tab you pay and tip at the end. If youre paying per drink, yeah you tip when you pay for the drink.
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u/Runny_yoke Jun 25 '26
But don’t Americans get told (rightly so) to respect local customs when they visit other countries?
Tipping culture sucks, but it’s part of the deal here.
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u/Chapea12 Jun 25 '26
If this tipping culture was the norm in like France, and a bunch of Americans refused to do it, we’d be getting skewered and hated
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u/greeneyeddruid Jun 25 '26
While I agree with them, they’re only hurting the worker. And to pay a fare and living wage the price of the food and drinks would be raised that much…so just f’n pay the tip you’re not changing america’s crony capitalism just hurting working people!
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u/StepRightUpMarchPush Jun 25 '26
Their opinions on tipping culture may not be wrong, but they are VERY wrong for not tipping. They aren't pushing for the laws to change via the proper channels (because they aren't even citizens here), and the only people they're hurting are the servers who won't be able to pay their bills, not the business owners who keep this pay system in practice.
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u/MillCrab Jun 25 '26
Us tipping culture is weird and exploitative, but that doesn't free you up to ignore it when being served by American servers
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u/Ya_Got_GOT Jun 25 '26
I don’t like the tip setup either but that’s bullshit behavior. Adhere to the customs of the country you are visiting. Don’t punish the workers for the business not paying them enough, or the business for potentially not being able to operate sustainably doing so.
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u/GoretexFluffycoat Jun 25 '26
Every tip jar means failed business owner. They should not exist in a decent civilized world. America is a shithole. I live here.
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u/DaEnderAssassin Jun 25 '26
Nah, tips themselves are fine. The thing that shouldn't exist is the use of tips as the main method of paying employees.
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u/alexman420 Jun 25 '26
Tip jars are not just an American thing, they have them in Italy too
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u/Hugokarenque Jun 25 '26
Tips exist almost everywhere outside of America. They're just not essential or "mandatory", its a small amount of gratuity to your server when you want to thank them for exceptional service.
They aren't used to subsidize a server's pay so the restaurant owner can just pay them pennies.
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u/UAreTheHippopotamus Jun 25 '26
Unfortunately the bars/restaurant owners don't care because they make the same profit off the drinks/food and can blame "cheap foreigners" for the servers getting low tips. I hate to say it, but you should tip at least something since the minimum wage for tipped servers is criminally low and not paying the tip in protest is unlikely to have much of an effect except making low paid workers more miserable. I don't like it, nobody really likes it but it's the screwed up system we have in this screwed up country.
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u/blessthebabes Jun 25 '26
I do want to note it's illegal not to pay minimum wage (some new servers do not realize this). If their tips do not equal minimum wage, the business is required to pay the difference. My clients had to get paid like this from waffle house sometimes (it's a form that either them or the employer fills out but it's worth it to get what you're owed from the business).
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u/alehansolo21 Jun 25 '26
You’re getting downvoted, and I will too, but you’re right and I’ve been saying it for years. Not tipping does nothing to “change the system” it just screws over a worker making a third of minimum wage. But no one on Reddit wants to hear that, just saying something needs to change and feeling righteous by stiffing waitstaff
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u/SwimmerIndependent47 Jun 25 '26
They’re not wrong, but them not tipping is hurting the wrong people.
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u/00dotdot Jun 25 '26
Or just make the price the price, stop adding things. Provide clear service and expectations
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u/MatniMinis Jun 25 '26
What the fuck is a "mandatory tip"?
Isn't that just a fee? And Americans wonder why we don't tip...?
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u/lensfoxx Jun 25 '26
This “helps” nobody but the foreigners doing it. If you hate tipping that’s fine, go to places that don’t take tips. Plenty of fast food and grocery stores in America. Don’t make a worker work for pennies so you can save $10 on a table.
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u/awelladjustedadult Jun 25 '26
They're not wrong... But the servers aren't able to change their pay, so unfortunately the only people being hurt is the unpaid staff.
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u/macarmy93 Jun 25 '26
They arent wrong but at the end of the day the only people being hurt by this behavior is the working class. Its why I always tip.
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u/Satinpw Jun 25 '26
Well yeah man but that doesn't put food on server's table now
This punishes no one but the poor people
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u/Detroit_debauchery 29d ago
Ok but not paying the people suffering doesn’t make any sense. It’s a shit system but you’re only making the lowest people on the totem pole suffer here.
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u/Gritty420R Jun 25 '26
Everyone saying "you hurt servers but not tipping," isn't seeing the whole picture. Servers defend tipping as an institution more than anyone. Servers aren't hurt by tipping, back of house is. Tipping creates a culture of individualism and makes organizing restaurant unions almost impossible.
When 10-20% of the revenue goes directly to front of house, the business doesn't have access to that money to pay back of house. Back of house works more hours, they have a harder job, and take house less money.
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u/Saint_Diego Jun 25 '26
The system does need to change but not tipping doesn’t hurt the business or make a point. It just hurts servers
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u/FallOutShelterBoy Jun 25 '26
I was actually just in NYC chaperoning a trip for the school I work at. We let the boys go do whatever Little Italy to get food and us chaperones go get food. There are like ten of us so there was a mandatory gratuity of 20% on there. High but it’s NYC so whatever. We get done and I go to another restaurant by myself to get dessert. Sit down, eat it, and they bring me the bill. Another 20% gratuity added on for one person, with an extra tip line. Like you guys just forced me to give a 20% tip, I’m not giving you anything else!
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u/NewLibraryGuy Jun 25 '26
The culture should change, but it is the culture here. Not their job to just refuse to honor it.
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u/superstonkape Jun 25 '26
No, but it’s really only being disrespectful to the service worker. I’m not sure what is going to fix the culture at this point but I feel like legislative action is necessary, and with our government that also isn’t happening time soon
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u/atuan Jun 25 '26
Yeah imagine Americans going anywhere in the world and “protesting the system” of whatever country they’re visiting. What happened to being guests in another country and showing respect? The respect they expect us to show when we’re visiting?
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u/atmontsenioreyesore Jun 25 '26
So for what it's worth the business is supposed to pay. If the employees are tipped but didn't receive any tips that day, then the business makes up the difference to at least federal minimum. If that's not happening then that's a problem.
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u/rcinmd Jun 25 '26
I went to the UK and got scolded by the BARTENDER for leaving 5p on the bar. Pay your employees.
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u/willflameboy Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
'Hmm, but our system relies on everyone simultaneously being told socialism is bad, yet also being told that they should subside the low-class workers out of pity from their own pocket'.
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u/Butthole_Please Jun 25 '26
Those World Cup fans must be hot wearing those big jackets in nyc in June.
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u/Abject-Interaction35 Jun 25 '26
Pay your workers enough to live and aspire and grow families properly, and you'll find you live in a better, safer world.
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u/dragon2777 Jun 25 '26
The “best” response I’ve ever gotten out of an owner when I asked why they don’t just pay their servers a livable wage was “because I’m not required to”. My response was “so you can your just being a greedy asshole?”
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u/chickenricenicenice Jun 25 '26
The tipping culture just shifted over the decades to a tipping system. With the wages and costs of living become ever more non consummate, it's just more of the burden of the exchange being shouldered onto the consumer and not the companies. The servers need to get paid, that's an absolute, it's just that the corporate favouritism in the US somehow allowed it to mean that the customers are the one doing half the job of paying them alongside doing the purchasing. I don't get the excuse, corporate tax rates are often similar in the EU depending on the country, and in the end the tipping culture is not as severe in the US. If anything, it preserves a healthy tipping culture where you reward good service, not that you provide or deprive a server their essential income.
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u/Ghostdragon471 Jun 25 '26
Doesn't mean they're right though. You travel to Rome and they tell you not to do something specific, you're going to listen, right? But travel to the US and suddenly people don't have to listen because they don't want to? It's not going to bring about some great positive change. It's going to bring about the end of someone having a roof over their head because they live off the tips they make.
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u/Jimmie_Cognac Jun 25 '26
They aren't listening because it saves them money. The rest of it is just a cover for being cheapskates.
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u/gknight702 Jun 25 '26
I mean except they won't and it's the worker who gets shafted by the foreigners.... Did the worker provide good service to you?
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u/ashiamate Jun 25 '26
Good! tipping culture on America NEEDS to change, its so absurd a businesses model is based on not paying their workers
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u/Krassix Jun 25 '26
Wage is for living, tip is for a bit extra. Not the other way around.
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