• Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Would fucking love it if we just got rid of tipping all together. Employers -not customers- should be responsible for providing employees good pay.

    Factor the difference into up front price of the food/service and be done with it.

    • pyrflie@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Tipping was never the problem, subsidizing owner profits out of worker pay was.

      Tipping is freedom of expression for the customer. Wage is the obligation of the employer.

      If it isn’t a living wage the company shouldn’t exist. Full stop.

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          9 months ago

          If Businesses don’t get a share of tips Square’s model dies and SE with it.

          That said their model dies if you grow a pair to hit zero tip and backcharge on poisoned delivery.

          Social engineering only works in this situation if you are a bitch.

          • AtariDump@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            If Businesses don’t get a share of tips Square’s model dies and SE with it.

            Not my problem to figure out their business model.

          • Misconduct@startrek.website
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            9 months ago

            Ordering from a place that you know pays workers in tips and not tipping makes someone more of a bitch. You’re not changing anything because without legislation there will never be enough people to make it happen. The system is too established. At this point claiming to be working towards change by not tipping is just making an excuse because you weren’t ever going to tip and it’s not fooling anyone.

      • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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        9 months ago

        Definitely. In my country, tipping aren’t expected but it’s a pleasant thing to receive in service industry, in US of A, tipping is expected and people will vehemently defend the status quo.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          and people will vehemently defend the status quo.

          Well, server employees will, because they don’t want to deal with the loss of pay and/or the upheaval in their salary intake. No one likes a negative change to how they make a living and pay the bills.

          Having said that, generally speaking, is it people, or ““people”” (aka corpo shills/bots) that are defending the status quo? Certain corporations have a big interest in maintaining the status quo and shaping the narrative towards that end.

        • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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          9 months ago

          Not only that, but there’s a very strong case to be made that from a purely economic perspective, a tipless system is better for everyone.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It’s expected because waiters can’t make minimum wage without it. It’s not defended because people like that waiters are paid so little, it’s defended because they’re paid so little and politicians, until now, have seemed to have no interest in changing that. Like so many things in this country, the people have to come up with a patchwork solution just to keep others alive because the politicians don’t care.

          So yes, I will defend tipping until this is fixed everywhere in the U.S. And I doubt it will be fixed any time soon. I’ll be surprised if it’s even fixed in these five states.

          • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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            9 months ago

            It has already become your culture, like it or not. Whether you tip or not, employer has to make up the different if the tip doesn’t add up to the minimum wage, so you’re essentially subsidising the employer as of now. Fixing the minimum wage will not get rid of tipping culture either, and exploitative employer knows that, so they will continue to pay the bare minimum and expect the customer to foot the bill.

            I wonder if everyone reaction will change if we change “Tipping” to “Subsidising”, because that’s what the current status quo are.

            • Dojan@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              This hits the nail on the head. Exploitative employers will always only pay the absolute minimum they can get away with. If you’re going to have a federally mandated minimum wage, then that wage will need to be adjusted frequently.

              Has it been adjusted frequently?

              In my country we don’t have a minimum wage. Wage ranges are determined by the market and negotiations with unions. It gets really easy to figure out which employers do the bare minimum and which don’t.

          • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Tipping is still expected here in Washington where the minimum wage for tipped employees is the same.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Sure, because it’s easier to have the same policy everywhere than to not know whether or not you should be tipping depending on the state you’re in. I think that makes sense. Do you really want people from Washington going to Oregon and not tipping because they think they don’t have to?

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            So yes, I will defend tipping until this is fixed

            Can’t defend the status quo and expect things to be fixed, they’re mutually exclusive of each other. Human nature demands that.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              You absolutely can defend the status quo until things are fixed and work for things to be fixed. Maybe you think a change should come at the expense of waiters feeding themselves or their families. I do not.

              • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                You absolutely can defend the status quo until things are fixed and work for things to be fixed.

                It hasn’t so far, and human nature being what it is, makes it a safe bet that it won’t. Having said that, I hope I’m wrong.

                Also, its ethically wrong to put the onus on the customer to support the status quo, that’s the employer responsibility to take care of their employees in all ways, and an employees responsibility to not work for any boss that won’t do that.

                Maybe you think a change should come at the expense of waiters feeding themselves or their families. I do not.

                YES! Tortuuure them, make them SUUUFFEERRRRR!!1!!11!!! /s

                If the guy in the next stall asks me for a roll of toilet paper (because he’s out), I’m going to give him a roll, as a civic duty to take care of each other.

                If the guy in the next stall asks me to come over and wipe his ass for him, he’s on his own.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  That’s a lot of words to say you don’t give a shit if a waiter can’t afford to feed their kids as long as you don’t have to give them any of your money. I hope you don’t go to restaurants if you feel that way.

        • Misconduct@startrek.website
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          9 months ago

          We’re not defending the status quo we’re stuck with it. But yes, going to another country and ignoring their customs would make people look at you like an asshole because you’re being an asshole unless you genuinely didn’t know. We’re not dancing around delighting in tipping people. We just know that not tipping hurts absolutely nobody except the server. Maybe you’re comfy with making someone else suffer to prove a point but I’m not.

          • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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            9 months ago

            You put too much emotional charged word into my mouth, thing i did not said, and that’s really tells a lot how you feels about tipping culture in US and will never spare a thought on why it’s as it is. I in no way should be responsible for the wellbeing of another’s employees, that is the responsibility of their employer. Not tipping isn’t making someone else suffer to prove a point, that’s like saying me not being a doctor is making someone else suffer. That’s some ridiculous kind of mental gymnastic.

            What tipping does is continuing the justification of paying them subminimal wage and demand the customer to foot the bill and hope it will make more than the minimum wage as employer might have to pay their worker more if the wage + tip didn’t add up to minimum wage. That’s some late stage capitalism stuff right here you’re supporting, or rather, “stuck” with.

            • Misconduct@startrek.website
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              8 months ago

              I told you in plain words how I feel about tipping culture. How you choose to interpret that is your business.

              I don’t need you to lecture me about what goes on in my own country or about how we feel because you’re not even talking from experience. Go ahead and “fight capitalism” by stiffing people on tips if it makes you feel better. You’re not helping anyone though so stop fooling yourself. You’re just being cheap.

              • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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                8 months ago

                Well if you say so, i don’t need you to lecture me about being “generous” either. Take your opinion elsewhere if you don’t want it to be challenged in a conversation.

                What a toxic country. 🙄

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Unless “we” change it via legislation, that’s never going to happen. Let’s explore how it would play out as an individual restaurant initiative:

      Restaurant raises staff wages, raises prices to cover the increase. Even if you disclose it on the menu, customers don’t care: they see prices 20% higher, they choose to eat somewhere with cheaper menu prices. This is frequently what happens when restaurants try to do that.

      If the restaurant increases server wages less than what they would make in tips, the servers will leave for another restaurant. The benefit of tips is that the harder you work, and more tables you take, the more money you make. Good servers can make $50+ an hour if they hustle.

      Source: 8 years experience in the industry.

      • AtariDump@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The benefit of tips is that the harder you work, and more tables you take, the more money you make. Good servers can make $50+ an hour if they hustle.

        I shouldn’t be paying my server’s wage; the restaurant should.

        Name one other job (that isn’t in the food service industry) where the buyers subsidize the worker’s salary voluntarily.

        • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Literally every other contractor. But that’s irrelevant to the point.

          This is the way it is. Whether or not it’s a good system, it’s the system which exists. Changing the system will require a transition. If that transition comes from individual restaurants changing their policy, they will have 1) staffing issues as no server will stay when they could make more elsewhere, 2) customer issues as customers will prefer restaurants with lower menu prices, even if the total is the same.

          This isn’t a value judgement, or a defense, this is a statement of fact. The only change that will stock would have to come from legislation. Societal systems have considerable inertia.

            • Misconduct@startrek.website
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              9 months ago

              Why are you so stuck on that? Other industries not doing it doesn’t matter. It’s the system in place now and would take a big effort from everyone (aka legislation) to change. That’s the point. They’re not even defending the tipping system.

                • fkn@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  Many services… Maid service in hotels and hotel services in the industry as well. Taxi/goods delivery(not just food, but things like target 2hr delivery)…

                  I’m not saying it’s good… And I think the fundamental problem exists in these jobs as well… Typing should just not exist. Japan, for example has no tipping… It’s ducking fantastic.

            • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              It’s entirely irrelevant.

              Name one industry with security theater like air travel. Name one industry with lobbying like politics. Name one industry with subsidization like agriculture.

              The tipping situation is a product of a problematic history, but it is what it is. The entire system is based on it. Saying something is unique has nothing to do with the process to change it.

              • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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                9 months ago

                Security Theatre is an overreaction to a single event. Most of it can also be trashed. Also, the air travel industry didn’t have security theatre for nearly a century.

                Lobbying? Very similar to shareholders and boards of directors. Other governments also have varying amounts of lobbying, so it’s definitely not intrisic to the system.

                Lots of industries get massive subsidies: Oil & Gas, Aerospace, Healthcare, Nuclear, Research, Energy, Automotive, Semiconductors, Real Estate, IT, many big corporation have squeezed a subsidy out just by threatening to leave a state! To some extent, every public service is a subsidy, just where the government owns the ‘company’. Some governments (probably) don’t do subsidies, but lots do, and one could argue that some system like subsidies is necessary for a well functioning government & country.

                However, I agree that the uniqueness of a practice says very little about how good it ultimately is for anything.

                • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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                  9 months ago

                  My point has nothing to do with whether a practice is good or not. It’s about how deeply entrenched the practice is, and the practical complexities of uprooting the practice. Bad practices still require significant consideration in undoing.

                  My point is that “we should do away with ___” is an impotent sentiment by itself. Who is we? How are “we” going to actually do it? What does the transition period look like? What are the consequences? These are questions that, pragmatically, must be taken into consideration when implementing any large change, totally independent of any value judgement of that change.

              • AtariDump@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Name one industry with security theater like air travel.

                The events industry. Do you really think those bag checks do anything with how quickly they “look” in your bag before going into a venue?

                I did one; now you do yours.

                • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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                  9 months ago

                  Again, this “argument” is totally irrelevant, but:

                  If that counts the same as TSA, then hair/nail stylists, massage therapists, valets, Uber (and taxi and limo) drivers, hotel housekeepers and concierges are all traditionally tipped.

                  But again, that doesn’t matter. The system is what it is. Changing it is an option, but that does have practical considerations associated with it.

    • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      The only people who have the power to eliminate tipping are the customers. Even if employers randomly started paying servers $50 an hour, people could still tip…and many probably would to get that feeling of moral superiority. And that is sort of irrelevant anyway because how the fuck are the customers supposed to know the servers wage anyway? I literally have no idea what my server (or hostess or line cook or after hours cleaning crew staff) makes at the last place I ate at. Do you?

      It’s really not complicated. If customers stopped tipping, and servers can’t support themselves and therefore they are forced to quit and move towards literally any other industry with a higher/stable wage. Then employers either go out of business altogether or, more realistically, raise wages to replace those workers who quit since the employer would like to keep making money instead of not making money. And thus, menu prices go up to account for the lack of tipping.

      No one has ever been able to provide me a scenario where tipping ends without servers quitting due to inadequate/unstable income. But I’m certainly open to suggestions!

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Thing is, no one would accept to pay what’s written on the menu if they charged enough to cover what people pay in tip, it’s all psychological manipulation.

      Prices would need to increase by about 20% and you wouldn’t have a choice to pay it anymore, contrary to tips. Or you accept that servers now only make minimum wage.

      • theherk@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        That’s interesting. In It works all across the world exactly how you say it wouldn’t work.

        • bjorney@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          To be fair, in the rest of the world there aren’t tipped establishments competing with next door no-tipping establishments. People are bad at math, a menu of $13 + tip options seems cheaper at a glance than a menu of $15 no tip options. We are talking about the country where the 1/3rd pounder burger failed after all

          • theherk@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            This is actually true and raises the most important practical point about it, in my view. Convincing people to give up tipping isn’t too difficult; I think we’re getting there. But transitioning to a tip-free culture is very difficult.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Do servers make over 70k/year everywhere in the world?

          That’s something people don’t realize in North America, restaurant servers make fucking bank! If they complain about not having money it’s because of the restaurant culture of going out after every shift.

          • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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            9 months ago

            Some restaurant servers make bank. Some don’t even make enough with tips to bring them up to minimum wage. Yes, the employer is supposed to top them up to minimum wage when that happens, but if I had a nickel for every labor violation in the US, well I’d be making a lot more than minimum wage.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              This lack of fairness even within the industry, is yet another reason to end tipping culture. Some servers make excellent money but all too many make little. This is yet another institution benefitting a few well off at the expense of everyone else

          • nomous@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            What’s your experience in the restaurant industry?

            Good servers make about half of what you think they make. Your number is reserved for senior sommeliers and chefs; the only way FOH hits that is by selling drugs to BOH or working 80hr weeks.

            If it paid that well there’d be no staffing issues at all, think about it.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              At my last job servers are making 300+ in tip every 8h shift and get their salary that’s way above minimum plus they have full benefits including a pension fund and the business still has a hard time finding staff because the restaurant industry in general is a mess including the people working in it that think grass is always greener elsewhere.

              Edit: Forgot, they’re unionized too

              • grozzle@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                most of your country is nothing like your extremely privileged little bubble.

                • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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                  9 months ago

                  I’m just pointing out that saying “If they were paid that much we wouldn’t have trouble finding staff!” is bullshit. With even better conditions my previous employer has trouble finding staff.

          • theherk@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            There is a lot more to economy than some number in some currency. There are servers in many first world countries making wages where they are able to pay for their homes and have social services like healthcare, all while customers at their places of employment pay the listed price.

            70k USD means nothing in isolation, without respect for local economy and cost of living.

  • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Please! For the love of God! Get rid of tipping!

    I hate tipping! As the consumer I should not be responsible for proving a living wage for someone else’s employees!

    • kameecoding@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      as a European I have to say both the Tipping culture and the not showing the full price in stores with VAT included is just mindblowing.

      It’s literally a culture of hiding true costs, weird af.

      • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Hotels too. The advertised price is never accurate because their stupid resort fees.

          • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Again, it’s prevalent in the US market, not sure about others. They advertise say $199 / night, but when you go to check out, there’s something like a ~$35- $50 /night resort fee to “pay for amenities like WiFi/ gym /pool”. You can’t reject paying the fee, so your hotel room is actually like 25% higher than advertised.

            • Paddzr@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Yeah, that’d be quite illegal down here. I spent basically half a year living in hotels straight due to work all across the UK and primarily London then continued for a few years after. So we’re likely talking +300 nights. I have never seen an additional charge.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s literally a culture of hiding true costs, weird af.

        Makes me happy though in this day and age that people are waking up to this fact, and are starting to push back on it.

        In the past corporations/governments thought people were a lot more unaware, than they are today.

      • wieson@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s a culture of trying to get away with whatever makes the most profits. We also have that, but there are some reasonable laws working against that. One of my favourites is the duty to display per kg or per litre price. Before that, shops made the package sizes deliberately confusing.

        • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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          9 months ago

          We actually do have that in the US as well, but it’s typically in very fine print and a lot of people don’t even know about it.

          • marx2k@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I don’t think there’s any law like that in the US. If there were, 2 out of 4 national supermarket chains local to me are breaking the law and have been for years

      • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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        9 months ago

        It’s really not that weird at all. It’s a simple consequence of the EU having better consumer protection laws. Unfortunately the far right in the US is a lot stronger than in most of Europe and has been since the post-war era.

        We also, in the US, have an old and antiquated system that was deliberately designed to be difficult to change because the founders had to convince the slave-owning class that abolition couldn’t be forced on them if they agreed to join the newly-formed union. How did they do that? You guessed it! By making the Constitution almost impossible to change, which is one reason why it required the bloodiest war in our history to end slavery.

        Again, there’s nothing especially “weird” about it. As is true of a lot of contemporary reality, it’s largely a consequence of history.

        Interestingly, tipping culture is also at least tangentially a product of slavery as well, but that’s a bit more complicated so I’ll save it for another comment.

        And if you’re starting to suspect that a ton of what ails the US can be traced directly back to slavery, here’s a hint; you may be on to something!

        That said, it was the European colonial powers who brought slavery to North America in the first place, which kind of brings us full circle.

      • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Have lived in both eu and us.

        Agree, but the challenge on tax is that it’s not harmonized across municipalities. This means that stores that are across the street from each other may have identical prices/profit margin and a different net price to the consumer. This would lead to consumer preferences biased by physical location and have lots of other weird side effects. You can see this in areas that border state lines when the tax is appreciably different.

        Step one is a harmonized tax rate, but that’s easier said than done.

        • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          The true cost is different no matter how it’s advertised, no? Harmonized tax is great and all, but lying about price is still bad, irrelevant of the actual price.

    • TangledHyphae@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I was going to say this but fear of mass downvotes kept me quiet. Glad I’m not the only one. I’ve worked for tips but I’d rather just work for a reasonable wage instead, remove the guesswork and chances for abuse.

    • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      One way or another, you’re paying those employees wage. One of them doesn’t get taxed or advertised is all.

      • ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yes and no. All tips are supposed to be reported to the IRS. Whether they are or not is not really relevant. What really matters is that the customers aren’t forced to do an owners job. If an owner needs their customers to prop up their employees then the owners shouldn’t be in business.

        I used to make $2.35/h when I was in the service industry. Without my customers I would’ve been fucked. What’s worse is on a slow night, I really did get fucked.

        • spader312@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I used to make $2.35/h when I was in the service industry. Without my customers I would’ve been fucked. What’s worse is on a slow night, I really did get fucked.

          I think that should be the point, employees should not be taking on the risk of a business doing poorly. That’s the business owner’s responsibility and risk, to be mitigated by them. Not screwing over a waiter because it was a slow night. Or because they were unlucky to work a tuesday night over a busy Saturday night.

      • ☆Luma☆@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        It’s not okay. I can hear some of my customers’ anxiety when they struggle to tip me. Some people lord it over me like I should revere them for their blessing. There is an unnecessary layer of stress to the customer service routine for everyone involved except the owner who benefits from this system. Not to mention some businesses pool their tips and share it with everyone, sometimes redirecting these funds into unscrupulous items like snacks without consent. >:(

        Tips don’t motivate me to provide great customer service to my customers. Tips serve to maintain cheap labor, but more important to me is how they erect social barriers. I can’t blame someone for wanting or being motivated by tips when they’re stuck near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. I’m there too so I understand, but there’s just no reason for tips when we can get/provide great service without adding layers of paranoia; When we can provide a satisfying quality of life for everyone in the process with a not-so-simple wage increase (and God forbid, better budgeting and management from business owners).

        They also in general make my job harder, especially when an old person who’s basically blind can’t find any of the buttons or follow simple directions (PRESS 3 FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MARIANNE)

        • ☆Luma☆@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          I’d like to supplement that I’ve had access to my various employer’s records multiple times… because why lock the admin computer.

          With my current employer, my entire wages for the month are paid for with net profits in a single day thanks to the skeleton crew we operate. I get to work knowing every other day is going straight to my boss’s luxurious life-style because it’s certainly not coming back here.

          Don’t be surprised when you hear of another staff walk-out~

          Fuck tips, support good living standards for everyone!

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        No. I actually kinda do. Like if I’m out with friends I literally get judged if I tip poorly let alone if I don’t tip at all which is social suicide.

        And if I have a coupon for a meal, say 50% or something like that I still have to tip on the original amount before the discount was applied.

        Moreover, and most importantly in some restaurants tipping is the only source of income the server gets. Regardless of how I feel about it I am still responsible for this person’s wage.

        I hate tipping culture.

      • Mamertine@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s not socially acceptable to not tip servers in a full service restaurant in the USA. It’s becoming a required social norm to tip fast casual.

        The pandemic really changed the tipping norms in the USA.

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    9 months ago

    As a german the whole tip system in the US is both redicilous and hilarious to me.
    We have tipping here, too (we literally call it “drinking money”). With the difference, that it’s pretty much voluntary and if you don’t have much money (e.g. as a student) noone will expect you to tip.
    Having tips be part of the actual wage totally defeats the point of them…

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        9 months ago

        This is actually a great reason for ending tipping. I used to feel like I was on the server’s side, slipping them cash the business couldn’t steal, but I never use cash anymore so have no idea who it’s going to. Also, businesses are getting more sleazy with required “tips” and fees, and it’s all one giant tax fraud no matter which way you put it.

        Actual prices on the menu are better for the customer, actual pay is better for the server, accounting for everything is better for the business and accurate reporting is better for all of us who depend on services paid for by taxes

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Are you a true American if you don’t shaft your employees for every penny that you can though?

        No, but a true Capitalist, yes.

        (Sad of me to write that, as there used to be a time where companies made good products and accepted reasonable profit margins, going for the win-win scenarios. Today’s Capitalism seems all about the win-lose scenarios.)

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        9 months ago

        https://time.com/5404475/history-tipping-american-restaurants-civil-war/

        After the Constitution was amended in the wake of the Civil War, slavery was ended as an institution but those who were freed from bondage were still limited in their choices. Many who did not end up sharecropping worked in menial positions, such as servants, waiters, barbers and railroad porters. These were pretty much the only occupations available to them. For restaurant workers and railroad porters, there was a catch: many employers would not actually pay these workers, under the condition that guests would offer a small tip instead.

        “These industries demanded the right to basically continue slavery with a $0 wage and tip,” Jayaraman says.

    • DBT@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I was so confused the first time I went to Germany. I asked someone there about tipping and they said, “you can, but you don’t have to.”

      That didn’t really clarify it enough for me so I just tipped like I do in the US. Didn’t want anyone thinking I was a jerk.

    • tiredofsametab@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      As an American and former tipped employee, living in a country without tips is so much better. However, there are some groups trying to make tips happen here in Japan. If you get good service, tell the manager or corporate. If you’re a regular, give them an actual small gift (this happens anyway because people exchange gifts when they go on vacation and such). If it’s a bar employee, buy them a drink. I like this much better.

  • solrize@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “Ballot measures pending in Michigan, Arizona, Ohio and Massachusetts, and a bill being reintroduced in Connecticut”. There.

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    9 months ago

    Greedy employers leverage tipping to pay their employees the least amount possible. It’s fucking disgusting.

    And too many people who receive tips don’t realize that it’s their employer fucking them over rather.

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      9 months ago

      It’s worse than that, most of the time, employers are skimming from the tips. Don’t tip for things that were previously non-tipped and give the person cash if you can.

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        9 months ago

        The scummiest thing I’ve seen is restaurants adding a percent service fee before asking for an extra tip on top. Not a delivery service or 3rd party, the restaurant itself. Basically it makes customers tip less because they see the service fee so it’s just flat out stealing the tip from workers.

    • CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      There’s a loop hole where companies don’t have to pay minimum wage if tips amount to the minimum wage that would have been earned by the employee.

      It’s a shitty way for companies to not pay their employees and expect customers to pay them.

  • fat_stig@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    While I abhor the whole concept of tipping, the thing that really grinds my gears is that we are expected to pay a percentage of the bill for service. If I order a basic cheese pizza or a 16 ounce tomahawk steak with a big chunk of foie gras and all the trimmings the server does not have to do much extra work for the latter. But if I have to tip $5 on a $20 pizza, why the fuck do I have to tip $100 for almost the same amount of service for the steak? Sure it weighs more and you might need to make an extra trip to serve the trimmings, but WTF, the server is not providing any more value by serving an expensive dish.

    If I order an expensive bottle of wine it takes no extra effort to serve, why should I pay a shit ton more service charge?

    USA, get your shit together, this is so not right. Land of the free? My arse.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Because restaurants decided to enforce tipping by percentage after world war 2 in order to keep payroll down. They lobbied for laws around it and ran advertisements to the public. Corporate governance is a huge problem in the US and tipping is just one facet.

  • BigTrout75@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    While I do tip. It does suck that eating out pretty much requires a donation because we all agree that food workers don’t make enough to live on. And I live in a State where they get full minimum. Just give the workers food and boarding and we can call it a deal, oh wait… Let’s not.

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        9 months ago

        You’re going to get banned from a bunch of restaurants then. Anywhere worth eating enforces tipping. Some of them have it already included in the bill.

        I understand your frustration but that’s going to add far more stress to your trip, will result in servers being underpaid, and could result in the police being called if you refuse to pay a tip that’s already included on the bill.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Sure thing buddy. Here you go. As for the charges sticking? Who cares? You just got arrested on holiday.

            • wanderingmagus@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Then I’ll turn around and counter-sue the restaurant, and make the restaurant owner’s life a living hell for the rest of their life. Maybe they’ll even end up on the street after their house gets taken from them.

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Counter sue what? They aren’t sueing you and they didn’t arrest you. The legal advice to restaurants is to have the police come even for removing people because that shifts the legal liability.

                You can’t just make it up. The courts will dismiss your car and charge you money for the pleasure.

        • marx2k@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Absolutely no establishments are going to ban a customer for not tipping.

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    9 months ago

    Reminder that a “living wage”, and what most servers make, is at least 3x minimum wage, so tipping is still going to be required.

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      Why? I hope this is just the first step toward the end of tipping culture. Why should servers be held out as a special category deserving higher pay? They deserve a decent wage at least minimum, just like everyone else. If businesses need to pay them more to attract employees, then that’s the free market at work. That’s more predictable, transparent, honest toward all of the business, the employee, and the customer

      • eclectic_electron@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Servers shouldn’t be special, obviously. The obligatory tipping system we have is an complete dumpster fire. But this is taking employees who currently make $30/hr in tips and changing their minimum wage from $2/hr to $7/hr. It’s not going to change anything. How could it? Would you give up a $30/hr job to take a $7/hr job on principle? Unless you’re independently wealthy, you couldn’t even if you wanted to.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          But this is taking employees who currently make $30/hr in tips and changing their minimum wage from $2/hr to $7/hr. It’s not going to change anything.

          Well at that point then the employers will need to raise how much they’re offering the employees, or the employees will look for other work. Normal capitalistic market scenario.

          Bottom line is for the employees to keep making the same kind of money, but having that be done out of the employer’s pocket, and not the customer’s pocket.

          And if the employer refuses to give up some of their profits to the employee to do that, and instead just tries to raise the prices of their products to offset, then they’ll find themselves going out of business right quick like, again, normal capitalistic market scenario.

        • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          Would you actually just put your head down and keep working there if that happened to you? Like…why?

          Especially when Joe’s Tavern down the road is starting people off at $40/hour! It’s like the only place left in town after everyone quit and all the restaurants went under, so they got away with charging $18 a beer and $29 a burger! The owner must be making a killing…

      • eclectic_electron@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Tipping is “not required” the way that not cheating on an SO is “not required”. No, you’re not going to get arrested for it, but that doesn’t make it okay.

        • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          This is more like someone I barely know and never agreed to be in a relationship with getting upset about me seeing other people.

          If you agree to monogamy, it’s cheating and unethical for sure. If you don’t agree to monogamy, cheating isn’t even possible lol.

          So if I agree to pay the listed price of an item and then I pay for it in full…

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          but that doesn’t make it okay.

          It’s okay to not to tip for normal service.

          Tipping is supposed to be done for extraordinary service, above the call of what the employee is normally required to do for the customer.

          If the employee is not earning enough then that’s a matter for between the employer and the employee to resolve, not the customer.

          • eclectic_electron@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            Unfortunately that’s not the reality in full service restaurants in the US, where I live. Servers are reliant on tips to live. The practice is pervasive. I don’t know of a single non-tipped full service restaurant in my city.

            • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Unfortunately that’s not the reality in full service restaurants in the US

              As someone who lives in the US and was actually at a full service restaurant just last night, I can’t agree, just depends on the place/region.

              Also, if you are basing your existence on just the goodwill of others, that’s not a smart or healthy way to live.

              Really get tired of repeating the same points over and over again, so I’ll just leave it as “everyone is the captain of their own ship”, metaphorically speaking.

              It’s okay to not to tip for normal service.

              Tipping is supposed to be done for extraordinary service, above the call of what the employee is normally required to do for the customer.

              If the employee is not earning enough then that’s a matter for between the employer and the employee to resolve, not the customer.

              • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                From all I’ve heard, wait staff actually like tipping because, if you’re good, you can make a decent amount of money that way.

                I personally would love to get rid of the tipping culture in the US, as I think we’ve passed a point where tips are just being asked for in far too many places, but the idea that tipping is bad for waitstaff is something I think they might, on a whole, disagree with.

                And where are you in the US where tipping at a full service restaurant is not customary?

    • DoomBot5@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Yup, servers often times make much more than other “minimum wage” jobs.

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    8 months ago

    Since Lemmy is trying to be better than Reddit, can we agree that titles should be like ‘5 US states…’? Not every person that reads news here lives in the United States 🕊️

  • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1. Restaurants lobby US government to pay their staff less than minimum wage
    2. Restaurants tell customers if they want better service, they should tip their server
    3. Customers begrudgingly begin tipping their servers
    4. Sexually attractive female servers in their early 20s absolutely destroy, making people think there’s a scam at work (seriously, I’ve seen girls I’ve worked with go on back to back WEEKEND vacations to Cancun on their tips, and I live in Canada, but it’s not a scam, it’s just horny dudes simping for their server)
    5. People start to complain about tipping culture, seemingly blaming the server for just working a job and not the restaurant owner for paying their staff starvation wages (we are here right now)
    6. States mandate minimum wage for service industry staff
    7. Restaurant prices go up to pay for wages but tip culture begins to go away
    8. Servers are making less money so they go get easier jobs that pay the same (working in a restaurant can be fucking BRUTAL)
    9. Restaurants hire more and more Indian immigrants, while hard working, are indicative of an even larger societal problem
    10. Restaurant owners continue to make out like bandits, while customers and staff get shafted.
  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The state of Texas is committed to ending slavery in the coming decade. As a first step they are proposing that minimum wage should cover an entire cardboard box living quarters. And we’re not talking shoebox size Amazon hand me downs that still have the return address tag! They will remove the tag and provide enough duct tape to seal that portion of the box. Under article 17 of the 2024 end of slavery pact, they propose that men and women under the age of 27 shall not be responsible for sealing and or weather proofing their cardboard boxes. Older people are not covered yet, but may be covered as soon as two or three more migrant babies are sold back to their respective Mexican families. Indeed, Texas is making strides to accommodate the world’s demands for fair treatment of human rights and the people who should have them.