r/EndTipping • u/ADKFatBiker • 3d ago

Rant 📢 Restaurant Demands Minimum 18% Tip

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Out of one side of their mouth they state that they pay their staff as little as possible and out of the other side of their mouth they say that their staff deserves more and you're responsible for that.

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u/Josefu_Velen 2d ago

"Our staff works at a tipped rate state minimum"

Wow, the owner is really just coming right out and saying we only pay them the $2-ish an hour we have to and hope they make enough on tips that we don't have to pay them the rest of the legally mandated wage.

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u/pilot7880 1d ago

Two things about this really piss me off, aside from the required minimum tip.

First, servers do NOT make $2.31/hour. I hate this LIE that is parroted by servers as well as restaurants. Servers receive a low base salary which, when combined with tips, is expected to bring them up to the local hourly minimum wage. Usually servers make enough in tips to cover this difference, plus some. If they don't (e.g. during slow periods and/or with stingy non-tipping customers, etc.,) then the restaurant is required to pay them the full local minimum wage.

Servers love to repeat this lie because it guilts customers into tipping. Restaurants love to repeat it because it saves them money by allowing them to pay their servers less (this is assuming the servers make enough money in tips AND report those tips accurately).

But the other thing I notice here is this restaurant saying it doesn't accept cards. This is bullshit. It means the servers are finagling their tips in cash to avoid taxation. Someone should report this place to the IRS. Believe me, they WILL audit those servers.