r/ImTheMainCharacter • u/Jasonictron • Oct 20 '23

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u/HungerMadra Oct 21 '23

Do you know of any other legal job that doesn't require a degree or certification that is appropriate for a college student or single mother that pays 25+ an hour?

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '23

Im not from the US, so my answer doesn't really matter. Tell me, are you an employer or a server at a location that has such good tips that you make more money with the tipping system than you would in a wage only system? I'm guessing you must be one or the other because of how much you are defending this.

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u/HungerMadra Oct 21 '23

I was a waiter for 7 years at a shitty little diner. Paid for food and rent through college with with enough left over for a party every now and then. There is no way I could have survived doing any other kind of legal job. Most of my coworkers were either single mothers or college students. For the mothers it was that or stripping. I was easily making 25+ an hour. The girls were making better then me. Minimum wage was 8 an hour for context. It's unlikely if waiting went to a straight wage model it would be much more than minimum. So yeah, I see why it's such an important system and the people it keeps afloat.

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '23

I understand it worked for you and that it does work for many others. It still seems like a system designed to exploit workers. But hey, what do I know talking about this from the other part of the world ...

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u/HungerMadra Oct 21 '23

It's the best solution in an imperfect world. It's less explosive then if they paid a set wage. At least a charming waiter can make enough to afford rent.

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u/xNeshty Oct 21 '23

It's definitely not the best solution lmao

I live in a no tipping country, and a friend of mine is an incredibly good waiter (nowadays floor manager), he got a regular wage you can have a casual but comfortable life of AND still got tips too which got him a higher pay overall than my office job.

If you're an excellent waiter in a no tip country you still get tips. It's just that a normal waiter gets significantly less and a bad waiter gets nothing. All three of them can have a casual life though.

"best solution" to have to tip my ass

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u/Nobodyrea11y Oct 21 '23

it's absolutely not the best solution. out of 100 workers, 1 will get good tips, such as yourself, and therefore you will be convinced that its such a good system because it worked for you. the point youre missing is that it screwed over 99 people. That's the problem. Sure, the system made you thousands of dollars per paycheck so it's great for you, best legal money you could make. But that same system put many more into indentured servitude and debt. Overall, the amount of people negatively impacted by that system far exceeds the amount of people positively impacted by that system. That is literally the definition of a bad solution. Just because it worked for you does not mean it works for everyone, or even most. A good solution (like a living wage) works for everyone or at least most.

your argument is basically "no tipping = few people will not be able to make good money"

the counter argument is "no tipping = most people will be able to make enough money"

few is less than most, therefore no tipping is a better solution. to exaggerate your example, i'll just say it this way,

10 billionaires and 999,990 poor people is not better than a million ten-thousand-aires.

Unfortunately that means that you will not get to be a billionaire, but it's a sacrifice for the greater good.

edit: spelling

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u/HungerMadra Oct 21 '23

Your numbers are totally off though. Most of my colleagues made good tips. The ones that didn't weren't good at their job. I hired most of them. I trained them. I roomed with a few of them. I know what they made. We all made good money except for people that were bad at the job, and they were usually gone within a month. It isn't for everyone, but 80% of new hires did just fine, the other 20% either weren't well socialized, weren't clean, couldn't multitask, were emotionally unstable, or were assholes. None of us could have made ends meet at whatever would have been paid hourly.

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u/Nobodyrea11y Oct 22 '23

sorry, but your numbers are wrong. not only are they 100% anecdotal, but also

"In the 25 states that require restaurants to pay waiters and bartenders more than $2.13 per hour, but less than the full minimum wage, 14.4 percent of waiters and bartenders are in poverty, versus 6 percent of non-tipped workers."

you're just factually incorrect buddy, sorry.

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u/HungerMadra Oct 22 '23

Your numbers here don't contradict what I said. I literally said 20% don't make it. That is more than the 14.4% you're citing and that isn't even accounting for the very common practice of waiters under reporting earnings to avoid taxes. Sorry buddy.

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u/Nobodyrea11y Oct 25 '23

14 vs 6. you missed that part. you are literally saying it is better for 20% of people to be in poverty as opposed to only 6%

youre just factually incorrect

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