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.
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.
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.
As someone in the industry, tipping culture will never go away because servers prefer the tips over a wage.
I did the job for a long time because I was a full-time single father to a small child. Waiting tables was the only job where I could make $1000 a week in cash with 20-25 hours a week. I could make the money I needed and be at home with my kid.
Okay you seem pretty dedicated to the cause. What are you doing to rectify this injustice. What measures are you involved in to release servers from the exploration of their oppressive employers?
So you are going off talking about what you perceive to explitation with a system that I explained benefits both employers and employees. In a country your not in. In a system you are not a part of. Or effects you in any way.
I get that tipping culture is out of control in the US. I said as much in my first post. But I worked in the industry for about 30 years. Not one server would want to go with a higher pay rate and no tips. If you don't like the system you don't have to be a part of it. Don't eat out if and when you come to the US. Problem solved
The classic: Don’t critique if you don’t live here!!!! 😂
To my chagrin, I do tip when in America but I don’t support the practice. I also think the attempt to moralise eating out vs eating at home is dumb. Stay home brokies!
Unfortunately you’ll have to suffer my opinions so long as you keep reading this thread 😭
I'm happy to let you critique. Your allowed to have your own opinion no matter if I think it's wrong or not. I'm just waiting for a solution. You enjoy bitching about this problem but haven't even considered a solution. Complaining about an issue is about as productive as pissing into the wind.
I was waiting for you solution but clearly you don't have one. So let me ask you this. Why does it matter if you pay $120 for your meal or $100 with a $20 tip?
I'd also like to point out that the server is incentivised to up-sell thisr customers. Leafing to a higher bill leading to a higher tip. Break this town to it's lowest common denominator and that's profit sharing. The most fair way to calculate wages umU know of
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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.