I’m not in the US and I’m not mad at the system. I just think the system is massively flawed and encourages people to lay the blame on everyone except those who take advantage of it.

Getting angry at people who have no capacity to fix the problem won’t fix the problem.

Why are you saying “In theory”? and “Supposed to”? Wouldn’t not making up the difference in these cases be illegal?

What I’m hearing is that if everyone decided not to tip, then servers would(should) still walk away with minimum wage. So servers aren’t incentivised to change the system because sometimes they take away more than minimum?

Except the same is true for other tipping cultures, minimum living wage is garunteed, tips are extra.

Seems like the US has the same outcome in terms of meeting minimum wage but with many complications and without the legal protections for the employee.

I’m talking about a standardized minimum living wage that applies to all labour.

Is there a different minimum wage depending on what work you do in the US?

The “abuser” in this situation is the employer that doesn’t pay enough so that their employees can pay rent and then shrugging it off as if there is nothing that can be done. As if there is a law stopping them from paying a fair wage.

They know that the server will stay on a less than livable wage because otherwise they’ll fire them and find someone else who is desperate. This is predatory behaviour.

By not tipping I am not “siding with the exploitative business”. Continuing to perpetuate this “culture of tipping” is, however.

I DO already boycott all businesses that make servers rely on tips for a livable wage. I do also tip servers for good service, but it is in addition to their wage, not to make up what the employer refuses to pay.

It really is that easy.

This is hilarious. I have difficulty beliving this is what Americans do before every visit to a restaurant.

And what gets me is that it’s not even to ensure that the employer is providing a living wage to their employees! It’s to ensure that you, as the customer, are adequetly supplementing the wage of your server, so that they don’t end up homeless.

Is this what stockholm syndrome feels like?

I mean, rather than a spanking, maybe you could just make a law to make employers pay a livable wage?

If they can’t because they would go out of business, then they should go out of business.

So introduce a minimum wage.

If they need tips to make a living, then their employer isn’t paying a living wage. I don’t see how that’s the customer’s fault.

It’s true that the only person getting hurt by this failed system is the server… and perhaps the reputation of the industry as a whole.

You made something that is normally optional, mandatory - but only in expectation. Add it to the bill or make it a legal requirement if it must be paid.

No, we’ll just shame anyone who refuses to tip (as is their right, apparently) or who isn’t aware of the “US tipping culture” (which is different from the rest of the world’s tipping culture).

Oh what ever shall we do? The cash registers are bursting with cash due to the influx of visitors… but they’re not tipping the servers.

I see absolutely no way that employers could make the situation fairer for servers, even if it were only for the duration of the event.

Gosh, if only there were some way!