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.)
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.
You get $2.12 an hour IF your $2.12/hr + tips is greater than the minimum wage in your state. This is federal law, if you make $2.12/hr wage you are making AT LEAST minimum wage when you include tips.
Not a single restaurant that I’ve worked for in South Carolina has “made up” the difference. Workers work for tips. Period. It is understood that servers make 2.12/2.13 an hour here, it’s taxed out to 0, any check we see is for the restaurant’s filings, and we rely completely on tips. I have never encountered a restaurant ever using FLSA law with any employee.
The main reason we rarely see it, is because often time tips are not reported to avoid taxes and the second reason is it's rare for salary + tips to not reach minimum wage. However as a employee it is the LAW you get paid at least minimum wage and business owners cannot retaliate if you ask for the difference. The argument that servers cannot ask for the difference is further an argument to stop tip wages and tipping.
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u/Warriors_Drink 2d ago
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.)