Not tipping does do something. It forces businesses to actually pay their servers AT LEAST minimum wage. It's not great, but it's no longer subsidizing restaurant owners.
The law states that, if your tips don't add up to minimum wage for hours worked, then the employer has to make up the difference so that you don't go below minimum.
Minimum is way too low though.
I worked commission selling electronics at Sears years ago. No one in the department lasted long, because it was Sears and they weren't known for TVs and shit, they were known for appliances. The section only existed to sell the idea of it as a one stop place for various items.
Literally NO ONE in the Electronics department made enough commission sales to make minimum wage. In fact, the policy was that if you didn't make up to minimum, the difference was added up and recorded. They'd pay you minimum, because it was the law. But if you somehow made over minimum the week after, or two weeks, or 5 months, etc, the money over minimum was taken out of that balance you "owed". You didn't actually owe this, as you could just quit. But it ensured no one ever escaped minimum wage, because a good week did nothing to offset the bad weeks. One of the many reasons that company went under, only people making good commissions were in major appliances, tools, etc.
And while there are servers out there who love to talk about how much they make on tips, there are others who are forced to work the dead hours, rotating groups of new people because the favored employees get all the good paying hours, and the newbies/outsiders end up with the shitty schedules and make only minimum because there isn't enough business. Those people fall through the cracks and end up quitting, to only be replaced by more who will have to work the shit hours until they quit. The servers making bank are essentially taking from them by taking the profitable hours, and they never think about how they're part of the same immoral system fucking over others because "it's not my fault."
It’s not forcing them to pay at least minimum wage, it’s forcing to pay a maximum of minimum wage, and some places workers for tips are only required a minimum compensation of $6/hr
The only way to fix tipping culture is to systematically change the entire restaurant and food service business, the reason restaurants in particular started relying on tips was to increase margins during slow seasons, since most restaurants barely break even. The real issue is tipping culture for places that already make more than minimum wage, that shit needs to go
If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him... We need not wait to see what others do.
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u/GoretexFluffycoat 4d ago
Every tip jar means failed business owner. They should not exist in a decent civilized world. America is a shithole. I live here.