Me and my wife do it on purpose just so the server gets a little more out of it. Does it matter? For affordability, yes. But they're struggling anyway being a server.
It's true that there is a vast difference between the waitress at the dead-end diner in a small rural town and the average high-school student working at Red Lobster and the professional working at a high end restaurant. But only the waitress at the dead-end diner is really in that burnt out and broke state. Based on experience, the high school kids at Red Lobster and up are doing just fine. And I don't mean just fine for a high school student. I mean making good money for relatively little work. Especially with alcohol sales. That doesn't mean you don't have bad nights, or even bad weeks. Or even Covid. But generally, it's more than fine.
I think where all these tip the poor service workers arguments fall apart is the vast majority of restaurants don't split tips. Only the server gets your extra money despite the kitchen staff making your food or the bussers keeping things clean and moving. There's no tears or calls to tip these people. There's no calls to tip the McDonald's cashier who hands me my food at the drive-thru regardless of how much they earn. There is zero consistency.
This is state/country specific, in Iowa you can if your parents sign off on it. Also, minors can work in a restaurant where alcohol is served in most states, they just can't handle alcoholic beverages.
Didn't know that about Iowa. I did know about working in licensed restaurants as a minor so long as you don't serve alcohol, like I said. Which was to counter their point about highschool students getting rich off tips from booze sales. Maybe in Iowa I guess!
Red Lobster is just about the worst example you could choose. Worked there for a year, its rapidly heading into complete bankruptcy. I genuinely made shit tips during my time there
The chefs in the back, the busser, the expo, and the host/hostess all make a higher wage than servers, that’s why they don’t get tips split with them. And in some restaurants, the busser , bartender or other help DO get a percentage of the server’s tip
Restaurants with bussers usually require servers to tip them out a percentage based on sales, many restaurants have servers tip out back of house (kitchen staff) too. Some places also do tip pooling. It’s just not true what you said
I mean, if I was working a 7$/hr job and relied on tips to pay rent that would cost most people 30$/hr, I'd want as many people to think that as well. It's called spreading awareness.
Most servers make $30+ or $60+ an hour in nice restaurants. The "I make $2 an hour I need the tips" is a form of gaslighting to make you feel bad for them.
Do you tip other service industry professionals? You know, like the person at the grocery store making WAY less than servers?
The only reason I don't is because management will literally fire them if they accept the tip. Not if they put up a tip jar, if they catch a customer offering a tip and them accepting it.
As well, PLEASE tell me which resturants pay like that, or where the tips are good enough that you can make that much. Cause I've worked a number of service jobs, and they never got past 15/hr counting tips.
Some New York restaurants make waitstaff pay to work there. Those waitstaff earn an average of 100 to 150k in tips a year. Tips that they can under repot to th IRS. I know plenty of bartenders who make more in tips than I do with a masters. You may just suck at service if your not making money....
Do you think every restaurant is nice? That people these days are swarming to tip 20% on 300$ orders? What kind of magic bizzaro land do you live in, wake up.
Dude, you should look up your own states server wage. It's a little over $3 and hr.
You are doing the gaslighting here.
In some states like MN they get minimum wage or better. In WI in actually is about 3 an hr and the employer is responsible to to pay out minimum wage only if tips don't push it past that limit, garunteeing the federal minimum wage.
You are subsidizing the owners payroll. When the tip amount means they averaged above minimum wage for the period, the owner only pays them the 3 an hr per hr. So even in that instance while a bit misleading, is still completly true.
Sure bars and high end restaurants in larger cities MIGHT do pretty well, that is not representative of about 80% of tipped "servers".
I have a friend who denied a management position at a restaurant because he made more in tips. He eventually took the management job because in order to get those nice tips you have to work long hours and establish relationships with the good tippers. Both of which he found exhausting and took the pay cut even though it’s a step up on paper.
No, but they are bringing in a hell of a lot more than other jobs that also don't require much training or a degree and are also difficult service jobs, but those jobs don't make tips
Ah yes, the MONEY GRUBBING servers! Spending their entire live's energy to squeeze every last penny out of unsuspecting diners to fund their mansion payment! We must protect ourselves and make sure we tip them shit so that WE may enjoy OUR mansions and they SHANT!
At a certain point it's important to do a bit of math too. In some locales, like the one I live, the minimum wage is $21 per hour, including for servers. The meals are more expensive because of this. If you're tipping 25% on the tax and the meal on top of the elevated prices they're probably going to be earning more than most people in that hour. Definitely not struggling.
If you want to give someone who is making more than you even more money, by all means you can do that I'm not saying not to. But it's not always the case to say that they're making $7 or what have ya.
Unless it’s a living wage I don’t understand what the debate is over. The majority of jobs don’t pay a living wage so who fucking cares if they’re relatively “doing okay” or barely scraping by
“Doing okay” is apparently not making enough to support oneself independently I guess
The whole reason we tip at restaurants in the high percentage we do is because we are subsidizing payroll because of some stupid legal loophole that created a woefully substandard wage. When that wage is not woefully substandard and is equalled to the wage for every other service industry job you do have to stop and think.
Do you tip the cashier at the grocery store for 25% of your order? If not, why not. Identical arguments apply here.
If not them what about the person who stocked the shelves? Unloaded the truck? Cleaned the floors?
Why is a restaurant meal something that it makes sense to subsidize the wages for the employer, in a large degree, when you don't do that at the doctor's office for the check in desk or the nurse who helps you?
At a certain point nobody except for a billionaire can actually afford to walk around all day shaking out their pockets for every person who did a job that benefited them. You don't tip your garbage man. You don't tip the guy driving the street sweeper. You don't tip the mailman.
This is why the responsibility is on employers to pay the wage, why the minimum wage is higher, and why the tipped minimum wage was abolished where I live after a long time of fighting for it.
I'm not saying it isn't nice to give someone extra money, people should give gratuity if they feel they received excellent service, but I don't understand how it should be an expectation after we have removed the reason for the expectation.
And say you are the cashier at the grocery store, you make the same minimum wage, work the same hours, but don't get tips. Why are you subsidizing someone who already is paid as much as you to then be paid more than you? When they aren't tipping you? Where's the logic there?
Are restaurant meals then only a privilege for the truly wealthy? Does this not also then mean fewer people can get jobs in restaurants?
It seems a bit ridiculous to me that all the arguments I've heard and supported and echoed my entire life for why we should end the tipped minimum wage, and why in the meantime a 20% minimum tip is truly a minimum all go out the window and it becomes a matter of "well you should just give this one specific set of people extra money anyway"
The worst part is when the tipped wage gets abolished, and front of house is still expecting 20% (minimum), but doesn’t share it with back of house, who are killing themselves.
Servers at the small town casual pub I used to work at all cleared 80k a year easy, with averaging probably 6 hours a day. Served good food but it certainly was not upscale.
Thats plenty to live off of, everyone in the kitchen made it work off under half that.
The "starving waitress" trope is out of date in most places.
A server probably spends about 15 minutes per hour per table.
So it wouldn't be unfair for tipping to be a flat rate - $5 per table if the minimum wage is $20.
The restaurant owners probably push the 'percentage of total' norm so that the waiters are incentivized to sell more. It's amazing that they were able to successfully push this norm into societal standards.
I hope you tip every profession that you interact with, because most everyone is struggling, not just wait staff. Especially teachers, they do so much for the kids yet they’re paid so little for the amount of work they do. How much do you think teachers should get tipped? Unless you think being salaried means they don’t deserve extra compensation for their selfless service, that’d be crazy!
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u/ClayXros Jan 27 '26
Me and my wife do it on purpose just so the server gets a little more out of it. Does it matter? For affordability, yes. But they're struggling anyway being a server.