International fans visiting the US for the World Cup have become frustrated by the culture of having to tip servers, telling the BBC that tipping fatigue has set in.
The funny part is that a 20% wage increase doesnt even get a server up to minimum wage. Tipping is the wage in the industry and its the difference between making rent and sleeping in the car.
Honestly, if you cant afford to pay 20% of the cost of your meal and not sweat it, you probably shouldn’t be eating at a restaurant. Grocery stores dont expect tips, and the food is at least half the price. Oh, and grocery workers make at least minimum wage, which is as much as a 500% raise over tipped wage depending on the state. Get your numbers up if you want to make a point.
I don’t need to get my numbers up; I come from a country that doesn’t dump the responsibility to ensure that people earn a living wage on me every time I feel like a sandwich.
Or in other words: we’re civilised.
Edit to add: I’m rereading what you wrote. A 20% raise doesn’t give you a minimum wage? What the fuck. Those are slave conditions.
You seem to really know your stuff, so can you please fill us poor confused Europeans in on whether we should tip:
Gas station clerk
Flight attendant
The dentist
Ticket booth
Restaurant server
Restaurant chef
Bicycle repairman
Maid
Car salesman
Cable guy
As a European I feel personally responsible to uphold a system where ultrarich oligarchs can pay workers sub-minimum wages, as is the Dream of all freedom-yearning people on the planet.
Tip wage actually came about as a way to keep small businesses and restaurants alive in economies that could not otherwise support them. It has since been abused by large chains and businesses as a way to lower overhead in the business. Tipping is often waived in small communities where everyone knows everyone and is only expected of outsiders who dont otherwise contribute to the community.
In that vein, the only people you need to worry about tipping is service personnel. You wouldn’t necessarily tip a gas station clerk unless they pumped your gas, which is still a thing in some states.
For a culture that globalized the service industry, you’d think you would all be more familiar with expressing your gratitude. I guess its hard to do when you’ve spent the last few centuries owning the help instead of thanking them.
Wait what, expressing my gratitude for a culture that globalized the service industry? I genuinely have no idea what that means. Am I to understand that the United States invented the service economy that Europe then adopted?
The funny part is that a 20% wage increase doesnt even get a server up to minimum wage. Tipping is the wage in the industry and its the difference between making rent and sleeping in the car.
Honestly, if you cant afford to pay 20% of the cost of your meal and not sweat it, you probably shouldn’t be eating at a restaurant. Grocery stores dont expect tips, and the food is at least half the price. Oh, and grocery workers make at least minimum wage, which is as much as a 500% raise over tipped wage depending on the state. Get your numbers up if you want to make a point.
I don’t need to get my numbers up; I come from a country that doesn’t dump the responsibility to ensure that people earn a living wage on me every time I feel like a sandwich.
Or in other words: we’re civilised.
Edit to add: I’m rereading what you wrote. A 20% raise doesn’t give you a minimum wage? What the fuck. Those are slave conditions.
You seem to really know your stuff, so can you please fill us poor confused Europeans in on whether we should tip:
As a European I feel personally responsible to uphold a system where ultrarich oligarchs can pay workers sub-minimum wages, as is the Dream of all freedom-yearning people on the planet.
Tip wage actually came about as a way to keep small businesses and restaurants alive in economies that could not otherwise support them. It has since been abused by large chains and businesses as a way to lower overhead in the business. Tipping is often waived in small communities where everyone knows everyone and is only expected of outsiders who dont otherwise contribute to the community.
In that vein, the only people you need to worry about tipping is service personnel. You wouldn’t necessarily tip a gas station clerk unless they pumped your gas, which is still a thing in some states.
For a culture that globalized the service industry, you’d think you would all be more familiar with expressing your gratitude. I guess its hard to do when you’ve spent the last few centuries owning the help instead of thanking them.
American tipping culture is a racist holdover and has nothing to do with supporting small businesses.
https://www.epi.org/publication/rooted-racism-tipping/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tipping-jobs-history-slave-wage-cbsn-originals-documentary/
Wait what, expressing my gratitude for a culture that globalized the service industry? I genuinely have no idea what that means. Am I to understand that the United States invented the service economy that Europe then adopted?
Depends on the state / county / city.
In my county, King County in WA state, servers make the same minimum wage everyone else does.
That being said most places offer more than minimum wage when I see signs out with their hiring rates.
They do expect tips at grocerie store just in a form of goverment taxes at checkout.
Thats one of the dumbest things I’ve heard all year. You think sales tax is a tip for grocery store employees?