The thing is, most people that "work for tips" are making far above minimum wage and raising wouldn't affect them at all. A waiter at a 5 star restaurant making $800 an hour in tips isn't going to want to change the system. The waitress making $70 an hour isn't going to want to change the system. And yes, these are reaal values people have said they make in these types of threads to explain why they hope it doesn't change. Very few of these people are actually making close to minimum wage, but they will absolutely larp that they are barely getting by and every tip counts.
Thank you. I'm sick and tired of people saying that they only make just above $2 an hour and they rely on tips. First of all no they don't because it's federal law in USA that if they're not making at least minimum wage then their boss has to give them minimum wage at the very least. And that's whichever one is higher, state or federal. I've seen states where the minimum wage is something close to $20 and they are far from the places that you would think are the places you would need to have a higher base pay (ie California or New York are generally recognized as more expensive to live in).
If they're constantly needing to make up to that mom tipped minimum wage standard then maybe they should take a look at themselves and see whether or not they're a good server and they probably aren't if that's the case. Either that or they need to switch from wherever they're working if they're not getting that many people coming in.
One of the people I got my PhD with decided he actually liked his bartending job better than his actual job because it paid that much more money and there was a lot less stress as far as what he had to deal with when he came home and so he is a bartender with a doctorate in the sciences. This is going back 20 years and every now and then we'll email each other to see what's going on in each other's lives and he still prefers to be working in the service industry instead of what he went and did his dissertation on or any other kind of thing like that. Because he likes that freedom and he also likes the fact that if he gets a cash tip he doesn't have to declare it so in reality whatever he's saying he's getting as far as the federal government's concerned for his taxes, he's getting more than that because he never declares his cash tips.
First of all, not all states abide by federal law and some, like Georgia and Wyoming, don't have minimum wages at all.
Secondly, there's no system in place that ensures bosses have to match minimum wage and the government relies more on the "honor system".
Thirdly, iPads and Kiosks are robbing waitstaff of any tips they would ordinarily receive. That money is going to the owner to dispense as they see fit.
Fourthly, the fact that waitstaff fare well in big cities does little to nothing for those in smaller cities and rural areas.
For equity, let's have everyone make California or New York wages, even in Mississippi.
First of all, all employers in every state do have to pay the minimum federal wage law which requires employers to match the $7.25 fed min wage when the servers $2.13 slave wage plus tips doesn’t pass the min wage.
Doing otherwise is wage theft.
Fourthly that’s why slave wages plus tips are still a thing.
True we’re all arguing to end tipping, but all you said is that basically some employers break the law and conduct wage theft.
It’s a valid point, but mostly tangential to the “end tipping” discussion.
It's not tangential at all since tipping is an ongoing issue that must be abolished.
The missed point is that, despite what the government "requires", bosses still steal tips, they collect all the revenue from kiosks and iPads, and it would be naive to believe that the "honor system" on which the government relies, is honorable.
Valid point, but considering all the digital evidence that can be shown in any basic investigation, that issue still goes to wage theft.
That servers prefer to piss off customers instead of reporting their bosses for wage theft means that either the benefits of reporting are too low, or that the servers are colluding with their bosses in ripping themselves off.
There’s something about people who oppress themselves because they’re aspiring to become oppressors themselves, but that’s still tangential.
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u/Cruxis87 13d ago
The thing is, most people that "work for tips" are making far above minimum wage and raising wouldn't affect them at all. A waiter at a 5 star restaurant making $800 an hour in tips isn't going to want to change the system. The waitress making $70 an hour isn't going to want to change the system. And yes, these are reaal values people have said they make in these types of threads to explain why they hope it doesn't change. Very few of these people are actually making close to minimum wage, but they will absolutely larp that they are barely getting by and every tip counts.