Only seven states currently bar “subminimum” pay for tipped workers like bartenders and restaurant servers, but activists see 2024 as ripe to expand the tally to as many as 20.
I live in a state that pays minimum wage to tipped workers. The annoying thing is they still expect you to tip. They’ll even add 5% for worker healthcare and an 18% gratuity then give you a receipt with a tip line.
We need to do away with the whole concept of tipping. The employer should pay their workers end of story. The problem with tipping is it is never enough. If employees complain about low wages, the employer will just go to the customer for more. It used to be that a 10% tip was enough, then 15, then 18, then 20, now I see 25 and 30.
100% agree, pay your employees a decent wage, if you need to raise prices to do that then do that. If I can’t afford it then I’ll make different plans. Don’t charge me menu price and then expect me to subsidize your payroll off-the-books. If you can’t pay employees maybe your business plan is shit and shouldn’t exist.
If they’re taking extra are you workers actually getting the health insurance and coverage you deserve or are they straight up lying?
I’d believe you, the worker, before I believe anything a corporate entity has to say.
Growing up in WV someone gave me a bag of scrip they had collected and when I lost my house I lost that bag.
One of the many things that broke my heart losing that place.
So fucked up the way I lost it too.
My siblings, mother, and I all lived with my aunt when my mom got the place. Since we were there often she never bothered to have the mail sent to her. I took over payments, lived there for about 5 years, paid the bill every month. Apparently it was an adjustable rate and the payment had gone up. They never bothered to tell me the few times I made the payment in person, probably because it wasn’t in my name (usually dropped it in the overnight box after work). One night I came home from work to a note on the door telling me I had 2 weeks to vacate. My aunt never opened the mail, she’d just toss it when we didn’t get it. I don’t blame her. No one asked for it for years. When my mom called, I was behind over 2k on the payment. We didn’t have it, couldn’t come up with it (minimum wage was 5.15 at the time) and they wouldn’t budge. They thought “well they owe 40k, we can sell it for whatever” and wouldn’t budge. I’ve had people tell me I could have hired a lawyer, but I was homeless, ignorant, and selling everything I could to come up with a security deposit to rent a place. I lost many family heirlooms and prized possessions. It was a huge house, 5 bedrooms. I had three of the unused bedrooms full of stuff I and my family had collected over the years. I had the one of the very first home video tape recorders ever sold (Ampex). Tons of neat stuff like that just tossed in the landfill.
The house was in bad shape and this is the only thing about it that puts a smile on my face. It sits empty today, windows boarded up, ceilings caving in. They got nothing for it. Hoorah!
Sorry for the story. It just crossed my mind because you brought up scrip and I just typed away with my ADHD ass. Take care.
That’s… not how it works. The key word here is “minimum” wage which we all know is woefully inadequate. Going from making $2.13 to $7.25 isn’t going to pay anyone’s rent without help
This is why I’ve been saying we should be focusing on raising minimum wage before worrying about tipping. I’m telling you right now almost nobody is going to put up with the ass tier job of being a server for minimum wage. It’s short sighted to be worrying about tips just because they annoy you now when that’s nothing compared to just letting everyone make a living wage.
There is nothing bad faith or strawmanning about my question. I’m just going to take that accusation as a sign that you know you don’t actually have a valid argument and don’t want to continue.
Not to mention, by using the service which “forces you to tip to compensate the worker” at all, if you don’t participate in the tipping, you’re simply exploiting the worker with the business owner who got his money and doesn’t give a fuck about the worker thus the $2.13/hr. The only ethical option to “not tip” is “not order,” opting instead to heat up your own nuggies, or pop in a Freschetta, or find a business that does pay fairly and support them, or start one. By ordering, paying in full, and not tipping the delivery or wait staff, you’ve affected no change beyond exploiting that worker and making it harder to afford rent, even if they quit they will be just replaced and the cycle of exploitation begins anew.
Minimum wage is sad, yes. I wish it were higher. But fast food workers and many others make it work without the tips. There is no logical basis for tipping servers if they are being paid the same minimum wage as many other people doing equal (or sometimes harder) work in other contexts.
Fast food workers A) make more than minimum and B) so accept tips depending which establishment it is
Also, they don’t “make it work” because you can’t live on that without assistance. If your sole job is McDonald’s or Walmart, most of those people are also on food stamps
I understand where you are coming from but the purpose of the free market doctrine is to allow both consumers and workers to choose where they buy from and where they work at.
No one is forced, gun to head, to work at (X) location or buy at (X) location. If you believe you are worth more, you need to work somewhere that is willing to pay you what you’re worth.
I used to work the service industry and ended up getting my red seal as a chef and around the same time I got my red seal I abandoned the industry. I saw where it was going, I trained to make 5 star meals and then once working at a five star restaurant got paid minimum wage and treated like shit by both employer and customers alike.
I took out loans and went to university and because I did this I will die in debt, but I will at least die having access to somewhat reasonable accommodations and food.
My advice to anyone stuck in a similar situation as I was is to avoid college/university and get online accreditation and certification for network security or similar. You can practice the materials for free and when ready pay for the certification tests then leap from whatever unfavourable job to one that pays, in some cases, obscenely more than necessary.
Great. I’m never tipping again.
Paying your employee’s is not my responsibility.
I live in a state that pays minimum wage to tipped workers. The annoying thing is they still expect you to tip. They’ll even add 5% for worker healthcare and an 18% gratuity then give you a receipt with a tip line.
We need to do away with the whole concept of tipping. The employer should pay their workers end of story. The problem with tipping is it is never enough. If employees complain about low wages, the employer will just go to the customer for more. It used to be that a 10% tip was enough, then 15, then 18, then 20, now I see 25 and 30.
100% agree, pay your employees a decent wage, if you need to raise prices to do that then do that. If I can’t afford it then I’ll make different plans. Don’t charge me menu price and then expect me to subsidize your payroll off-the-books. If you can’t pay employees maybe your business plan is shit and shouldn’t exist.
If they’re taking extra are you workers actually getting the health insurance and coverage you deserve or are they straight up lying? I’d believe you, the worker, before I believe anything a corporate entity has to say.
Since you used the possessive, I think you forgot a word.
Employee’s salary?
I don’t know about you, but I pay employees in company scrip…
(/s… scrip is illegal. Also evil, but details.)
Growing up in WV someone gave me a bag of scrip they had collected and when I lost my house I lost that bag.
One of the many things that broke my heart losing that place.
So fucked up the way I lost it too.
My siblings, mother, and I all lived with my aunt when my mom got the place. Since we were there often she never bothered to have the mail sent to her. I took over payments, lived there for about 5 years, paid the bill every month. Apparently it was an adjustable rate and the payment had gone up. They never bothered to tell me the few times I made the payment in person, probably because it wasn’t in my name (usually dropped it in the overnight box after work). One night I came home from work to a note on the door telling me I had 2 weeks to vacate. My aunt never opened the mail, she’d just toss it when we didn’t get it. I don’t blame her. No one asked for it for years. When my mom called, I was behind over 2k on the payment. We didn’t have it, couldn’t come up with it (minimum wage was 5.15 at the time) and they wouldn’t budge. They thought “well they owe 40k, we can sell it for whatever” and wouldn’t budge. I’ve had people tell me I could have hired a lawyer, but I was homeless, ignorant, and selling everything I could to come up with a security deposit to rent a place. I lost many family heirlooms and prized possessions. It was a huge house, 5 bedrooms. I had three of the unused bedrooms full of stuff I and my family had collected over the years. I had the one of the very first home video tape recorders ever sold (Ampex). Tons of neat stuff like that just tossed in the landfill.
The house was in bad shape and this is the only thing about it that puts a smile on my face. It sits empty today, windows boarded up, ceilings caving in. They got nothing for it. Hoorah!
Sorry for the story. It just crossed my mind because you brought up scrip and I just typed away with my ADHD ass. Take care.
That’s… not how it works. The key word here is “minimum” wage which we all know is woefully inadequate. Going from making $2.13 to $7.25 isn’t going to pay anyone’s rent without help
Do you tip everyone who works minimum wage, though?
This is why I’ve been saying we should be focusing on raising minimum wage before worrying about tipping. I’m telling you right now almost nobody is going to put up with the ass tier job of being a server for minimum wage. It’s short sighted to be worrying about tips just because they annoy you now when that’s nothing compared to just letting everyone make a living wage.
Everyone? No. Most places can’t hire if they’re paying minimum, so not a lot of people working non tipped positions are paid the absolute minimum.
Food workers, yes.
Regardless, this is a bad faith strawman argument
There is nothing bad faith or strawmanning about my question. I’m just going to take that accusation as a sign that you know you don’t actually have a valid argument and don’t want to continue.
Not to mention, by using the service which “forces you to tip to compensate the worker” at all, if you don’t participate in the tipping, you’re simply exploiting the worker with the business owner who got his money and doesn’t give a fuck about the worker thus the $2.13/hr. The only ethical option to “not tip” is “not order,” opting instead to heat up your own nuggies, or pop in a Freschetta, or find a business that does pay fairly and support them, or start one. By ordering, paying in full, and not tipping the delivery or wait staff, you’ve affected no change beyond exploiting that worker and making it harder to afford rent, even if they quit they will be just replaced and the cycle of exploitation begins anew.
Minimum wage is sad, yes. I wish it were higher. But fast food workers and many others make it work without the tips. There is no logical basis for tipping servers if they are being paid the same minimum wage as many other people doing equal (or sometimes harder) work in other contexts.
Fast food workers A) make more than minimum and B) so accept tips depending which establishment it is
Also, they don’t “make it work” because you can’t live on that without assistance. If your sole job is McDonald’s or Walmart, most of those people are also on food stamps
I understand where you are coming from but the purpose of the free market doctrine is to allow both consumers and workers to choose where they buy from and where they work at.
No one is forced, gun to head, to work at (X) location or buy at (X) location. If you believe you are worth more, you need to work somewhere that is willing to pay you what you’re worth.
I used to work the service industry and ended up getting my red seal as a chef and around the same time I got my red seal I abandoned the industry. I saw where it was going, I trained to make 5 star meals and then once working at a five star restaurant got paid minimum wage and treated like shit by both employer and customers alike.
I took out loans and went to university and because I did this I will die in debt, but I will at least die having access to somewhat reasonable accommodations and food.
My advice to anyone stuck in a similar situation as I was is to avoid college/university and get online accreditation and certification for network security or similar. You can practice the materials for free and when ready pay for the certification tests then leap from whatever unfavourable job to one that pays, in some cases, obscenely more than necessary.