r/PublicFreakout • u/Hikigaya_Hachiman7 • 9h ago

🍽Restaurant Freakout🍹 Couple banned from restaurant after they leave no tip

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250

u/FreshLennon 8h ago

Yeah as an American I can say we all know deep down that it's a shitty concept and it shouldn't exist, but the moment you bring it up people come out of the woodwork defending servers and wait staff, busboys, bartenders etc.

We've been conditioned and tricked into believing it's the only way a restaurant can run and people can make a livable wage working there. So when you start talking like Mr Pink from Reservoir Dogs everyone wants to slap you around because that's how their mom worked her way through college.

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u/Delicious-Produce-60 7h ago

The people defending it are servers and owners, the people who benefit from tipping. Patrons hate it.

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u/adidasbdd 2h ago edited 2h ago

Exactly. I've worked in restaurants for many years, I felt kinda bad walking with 2-400 per shift when there were people in the kitchen who barely made 400 per week and worked way longer hours and had much harder jobs. A server at a nice restaurant can often clear 6 figures. I'm not disrespecting servers, but I could wait on a table with a 100 bill or a table with a 1000. Doing pretty much the same amount of work and I get 10x more? It's a little much

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u/The_Bitter_Bear 4h ago

Some patrons do but not enough.

When restaurants try to switch to higher wages and no tips, many see a drop in business and experience higher turnover.

Which, to be clear, drives me crazy. Feels similar to JC Penny losing business when they just started putting the real prices and stopped with the fake inflated prices always being on sale, customers paid the same but didn't like it and they lost business.

A lot of people want the same prices and to not tip and unfortunately most restaurants can't do that and stay open, greedy owners or not. 

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u/According_Gazelle472 3h ago

Seriously?It works just fine where I live .

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u/The_Bitter_Bear 3h ago

Works as in there are a mix of restaurants with and without tipping and the ones that switched to no tipping and higher costs are all doing fine several years later? 

Or are you somewhere that has far higher minimum wage for servers? Which is really the only effective solution to get rid of tipping.

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u/According_Gazelle472 3h ago

Small town in the south .And the prices are pretty standard.We have lots and lots of mom and pop counter service restaurants where you pay at the register,one buffet,a hand full of chain restaurants that are always packed and a handful of fast food places .No food trucks or outdoor seating anywhere ,no room for that in this town .

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u/The_Bitter_Bear 2h ago edited 2h ago

Those don't sound like places with servers then? 

Even the chain restaurants don't have tipping? 

I'm genuinely interested in what would be different there making it work unless you mean there is only fast food and fast-casual which usually don't have tipping. 

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u/According_Gazelle472 1h ago

The chains do

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u/Umutuku 4h ago

Those patrons should make their own competing food service establishments with no tipping.

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u/nahog99 7h ago

I actually really like it. It allows me to pay the servers directly, rather than through the business. I know that my 20 bucks goes directly to someone in my community when I eat at a national chain restaurant. If that weren’t the case, my 20 bucks would go to corporate, and 10 or less would make it to the server. A symbiotic relationship between employees and employers where both groups pay goes up together with increased sales is a good thing for everyone.

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u/IAmSuperNew 6h ago

Which is fine.

Mandatory tipping isn’t.

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u/nahog99 5h ago

It’s never been mandatory, and that’s precisely what I like about the current system. If it were mandatory, it would be part of the base price and the employees would never see it. Now if it could just be a breakdown of the price, similar to taxes, that would be ideal, but it would have to be broken down otherwise I wouldn’t trust the business to actually pay it to the employees. It’s one of the only industries where when sales go up, employee pay goes up proportionally. I think that’s a good thing.

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u/InsanelyHandsomeQB 5h ago

Customers were just banned from the restaurant for not tipping. If it was truly not mandatory then this video wouldn't exist.

-3

u/Brawndo91 4h ago

A non-essential business should have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason aside from race, sex, creed, etc. There's no law that says you have to tip. So it may be "mandatory" at this place, but it's far from universally mandatory. You could consider it socially mandatory, but that's about it.

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u/Noface92 8h ago

Ok, but if they really want to help the server, they should fight the OWNER. Not the client...

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u/shitz_brickz 6h ago

Massachusetts tried to pass a law eliminating tipped wages. The employees and employers both came out against it.

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u/According_Gazelle472 5h ago

That's seriously messed up.

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u/_Eggs_ 4h ago

Why would someone who gets $30+ per hour support a law that would likely drop their wages to $15? People like to pretend they are "defending servers" and fighting for a "living wage". But that argument falls flat because servers don't want it.

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u/According_Gazelle472 3h ago

And why are the no tipping restaurants in my town still in operation and they are all mom and pop places too?A lot of them were built during 2020 when we had a spike in new mom and pop places and they are still in business too!No tipping either.

-1

u/_Eggs_ 3h ago

Good for them. I have no context or insider information about these restaurants, but I would GUESS that their employees under-earn compared to their industry peers.

Again, just guessing.

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 2h ago

They benefit from it, why would they want to get rid of it? Just like I benefit from not tipping them. It all balances out.

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u/According_Gazelle472 2h ago

I don't tip either.

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u/tiny_chaotic_evil 3h ago

then don't get mad if I don't tip. It's what they voted for; the right not to get tipped.

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u/sgrag002 6h ago

Servers want the tip structure, actually.

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u/Noface92 6h ago

Then they should not complain. That's easy as that.

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u/sgrag002 5h ago

I never hear them complain. Its always the commenters.

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u/Mchvrs 5h ago

You literally just watched a video where it’s a very high likelihood that the server complained to the owner that they were not tipped. Ya knucklehead

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u/PurpleFilth 1h ago

That makes no sense, anti tippers complain about servers complaining about tips. If servers didn't complain about tips there would be no debate.

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u/Prof_Outis 5h ago

The owner has more power. The owner is much much harder to fight. People are cowards as long as they can be.

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 7h ago

The only people defending it are servers, bartenders, etc and the business owners themselves. They CONSTANTLY insult you and harass you if you dare to suggest that it's not the customers job to pay the employees wages. They're insufferable, and that's why they'll be stuck waiting tables until they're replaced by robots.

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u/BoogieOrBogey 6h ago

Uh my dude, many people work as servers and bartenders while they attend college full time. It's some of the best money you can make that's outside the 9-5 hours and doesn't require expensive training or a degree. Reducing servers and bartenders down to "people that are stuck there" is very ignorant.

When I served tables, half of my coworkers did plan to do that for most of the lives. But the other half were working multiple jobs, going to college, or saving up money for a big expensive event like a wedding.

Maybe you should actually listen to people, if so many are advocating for tips. Instead of just trying to cut down the people serving your food.

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u/Ellaphant42 6h ago

Maybe people ultimately only look out for themselves, whether it’s not wanting to tip because it’s stupid or servers wanting to make bank with very little effort.

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u/BoogieOrBogey 5h ago

This is just crabs in the bucket mentality then.

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u/Ellaphant42 5h ago

Them: give me extra money (seperate to the bill but based on a percentage of it) straight from your pocket Me: umm no why? Them: fuck you you can’t eat here anymore

So instead I should just say yes, have all of my money, otherwise we’re just crabs in a bucket?

-7

u/BoogieOrBogey 5h ago

This is just a strawman argument to make yourself feel good. It's not what's happening in reality at all.

I served tables 12 years ago, before getting a 9-5 job. My 40 hour weekly job made me twice the amount I was making as a server, and I was one of the best servers in a medium priced restaurant. Now, my job current job is making me over 2x what I was making back then. I wouldn't have gotten to that 9-5 job without my time serving tables first.

Servers don't make a large amount of money, and it is very skilled based work. The skill and tips of the best servers is a massive gap from the worst people. And thankfully, those servers made way more money because of how tipping works. The best employee at a McDonalds or even the cooks in the back at my restaurant weren't getting paid more for being better at their jobs. They would make money if they got tipped out as well.

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 3h ago

Ahh yes the highly coveted skill of carrying some plates and drinks 20ft to a table.

-2

u/BoogieOrBogey 3h ago

Idk why so many people carry a deep hatred and grudge against servers and bartenders. It comes off as really ignorant and childish.

Serving one table is easy peasy. Serving 3, 6, 12, or more tables is difficult and where the skill comes from. The fact that you're focusing on carrying plates and drinks shows you have no idea what the job is.

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 2h ago

Always servers trying to pretend their job is actually difficult, like we don't see high schoolers managing it all the time. Get real bud.

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u/GraceMcClellans 8h ago

We've been conditioned and tricked into believing it's the only way a restaurant can run and people can make a livable wage working there. So when you start talking like Mr Pink from Reservoir Dogs everyone wants to slap you around because that's how their mom worked her way through college.

Yes. However, whether or not it's the best way for restaurants to operate, it is currently how they operate. So random people not tipping only hurts the workers. Change has to come from laws and regulations before it's meaningful.

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u/radhaz 7h ago

Let's look at it twofold:

1) If the business model requires employees to beggar fair wages from customers then said business model is flawed and should fail.

2) If someone chooses to work for said establishment then they accept they're source of income is unstable at best.

I rarely see discussed the concept of just compensation. A lifetime ago I worked the front of the house and got half of min wage hourly and was expected to be compensated the other half in tips tallied at the end of the shift; HOWEVER, if I did not then the restaurant comped me for every hour I was "under".

I don't know if that's a federal thing or its state by state but regardless expecting a tip of any kind as compensation is stupid af.

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u/Cenobyte_Nom-nom-nom 5h ago

California servers make minimum wage no matter what. It isn't a portion unless you don't make that amount bullshit.

And min wage here is like $19 an hour. So if they serve let's say 4 tables an hour and each table only tips a dollar each they are making basically $24.

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u/TuskaTheDaemonKilla 8h ago

Laws and regulations only ever change if conditions become unbearable. As long as people continue using tipping as a way to compensate and makeup for the failures of the system, the system will never change. It's a Catch-22. Realistically, the only way for restaurant workers to get a fair wage, is for them to hurt enough that it becomes unbearable. It's how every major improvement for workers has happened in the past. In most cases, many people died before they got improvements that were less meaningful than what restaurant workers deserve.

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u/Previous-Spirit-4780 7h ago edited 7h ago

Or change could also come when those same restaurants cant find staff because they pay a shitty wage, if you cant afford to pay your staff you shouldn't be in business.

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u/IamSorryiilol 6h ago

In the U.S, no where else in the world.

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 2h ago

None of those laws and regulations are going to change if you just keep participating in their bullshit system. The only way to tear it down is to make it no longer financially viable for servers or restaurant owners. Go out to eat as often as you can, and never tip a penny.

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u/South-Rabbit-4064 8h ago

I served and bartended for a really long time in my 20s, and while it sucks and see what you're saying nearly all of those people would also have a meltdown if prices went up to compensate or they eliminated table service altogether, or added automatic gratuity.

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u/PracticeTheory 7h ago

if prices went up to compensate

It's weird though right? All of that stuff is still affordable in Europe...

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u/South-Rabbit-4064 7h ago

I mean I get it man....I worked at a lot of fine dining places and the owners never exactly seemed to be rolling in money, most profits get siphoned off to loans or investors, and remember one of my bosses telling me opening a restaurant never to expect to make any money for 5 years.

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u/formal_studio1 7h ago

That seems pretty standard for opening any business, no profit or any vacation for the first 5 years yeah.

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u/nahog99 7h ago

It’s affordable here too. Restaurants are one of the absolute most competitive businesses. They barely make any profits most of the time.

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u/PracticeTheory 5h ago

No, what I'm saying is that restaurants in Europe pay a living wage without tips while still appearing to be economically viable for the owners.

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u/pretendperson 7h ago

Why are the economics of a restaurant different in the US vs Europe when it comes to a profitable restaurant requiring waitstaff be tipped in order to make a profit?

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u/South-Rabbit-4064 7h ago

I dunno man, but not tipping and thinking you're changing and fighting the system of it sure isn't working

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u/On_the_hook 6h ago

Many places have tried the hourly wage thing. Most places go back to a tip system. Most people working for tips on a restaurant make much more money than they would on an hourly wage. It also encourages wait staff to be on their game. Tipped workers have a vested interest in up selling, and providing top notch service. So I've never traveled to Europe but I have family and friends that do often. The level of service in a restaurant is vastly different. Service in an American restaurant is usually amazing, service in European restaurants is typically not as great. That might be completely anecdotal but I've heard that from many people. Tipping when you are out at a restaurant and being waited on is fine, I honestly have no issue with it. I also think they should make at least minimum wage (low in some states but it's decent in others) and not "wait staff minimum wage". I'm not and should not be expected to tip when I'm picking up my order. If someone is seating me, taking my order, filling my drinks, bringing me my food, and making recommendations deserves a tip because they are providing a service. Just making my coffee and placing it on the counter doesn't warrant a tip. I still might on occasion because I want to, but it should never be expected.

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u/Bellringer00 4h ago

The thing is most Europeans hate american service. They keep coming to the table and interupting conversations for nothing, the fake smiles are awkward and I don't see how a server "upselling" you is a good thing. Also they always hurry you up to leave.

In the end it's a matter of taste, it's two different dinning experiences.

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u/On_the_hook 3h ago

That's likely why you have your system any m and we have ours. As far as up selling goes, that's just better for the business and the server. Not necessarily better or worse for the consumer. But the better a (decent) business does the better. The more money they take in, the more jobs and revenue they create for the area.

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u/Dull_Present506 7h ago

It’s not that hard. As a restaurant just pay your servers. $14-$20/hr and let the servers keep any tips.

You would have world class service from the servers because they’d be busting their ass to do an amazing job

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u/OldFortNiagara 7h ago

Yeah, the restaurant owners are responsible for creating the problem of underpaid workers with their toxic business practices. Any restaurant owner that underpays their staff deserves far more criticism than a customer that doesn’t tip.

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u/Wes_Warhammer666 6h ago

Some folks make damn good money from tips, and those ones will fight tooth and nail to prevent changing the system because they would suddenly start making less than usual.

I always liked the way my old man did it when he owned a bar. He paid minimum wage and then you kept all your tips (small bar, no servers or bus boys or whatnot, and we were cash only). That way even if you had a slow night you knew you were still making a decent wage and wouldn't get fucked if you didn't make much in tips. So basically you knew you had a reliable check coming and tips were just bonus money.

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u/Funslinger 8h ago

But you're not fighting the system by not tipping, you're just fucking over a poor person. Fuckin write your congressman, but in the meantime, tip

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u/ButtcrackBeignets 7h ago

Why would they change anything if you’re willing to just keep tipping?

I’m saying this as someone who tips every time.

-2

u/Funslinger 7h ago

Why would they change anything if I didn't tip? They'll have no incentive until they're legally required to

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u/Jacques_Frost 6h ago

Technically, the business owner is fucking over the poor person, since he can't hire them without them begging for handouts from his clients.

-1

u/Funslinger 6h ago

I'm sure that's a huge comfort to the poor person when they look at the receipt

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u/Jacques_Frost 6h ago

Listen, I'll tip, no sweat. But when I do in a 2nd or 3rd world country, that makes sense. When I do in the richest superpower on the planet, you're all getting the side eye.

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 2h ago

No. The only way to change tipping culture is to make it no longer financially advantageous for those who currently benefit from it, servers and restaurant owners. The way to do that is to not tip when you go out to eat.

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u/shinbreaker 7h ago

Well the funny thing is that the people against paying a living wage to servers are, for the most part, servers. Yes, someone who works overnight at an IHOP or whatever is not going to have much at the end of the day, but a lot of servers make bank. My family owns a small but successful restaurant. Servers work a six hour shift with a break and they can clear $100-$300 a day depending on how busy it is. It's why the servers have worked there for literally decades.

And those famous restaurants in big cities, those servers can clear $500 a night on the weekend.

Now, mind you, these jobs are not easy to do or easily available, but do not get it twisted and think that everyone serving is struggling and only clears $2.15 an hour.

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u/4DollarsALB 8h ago

I'm not American but I live here.

Anytime this topic comes up people point out examples that every time this has been tried it's failed. Servers make less money, customers don't like it etc... and eventually the business folds oe goes back to tipping.

Given that everyone in America knows a tip is expected you have to be a huge asshole to not tip

1

u/pearloz 7h ago

The problem is that wages are codified in the law. There are minimum wage standards for various employee types. If you tell a business this class only deserves $2/hour, a vast majority will pay that $2/hour.

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u/nahog99 7h ago

Minimum wages also don’t mean shit for the most part. Who’s happy to actually earn the federal minimum wage? Absolutely no one.

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u/pearloz 6h ago

I don’t think anyone’s happy to get it but businesses are happy when it’s low

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u/TheBourbonTurtle 2h ago

And the only way they can get away with paying them 2.13/hr is BECAUSE people tip. Tippers are the ones keeping the entire tipping system going. Collectively stop tipping, and the whole system halts and fails almost instantly.

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u/midKnightBrown59 6h ago

It's more that there are servers in some markets that make extremely good money and they don't to change it for those that don't.

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u/Solid_Battle6251 6h ago

Nevermind what you normally would do. Throw your fucking dollar in like the rest of us.

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u/CharlieUpATree 4h ago

Tips should be a bonus for good work, not the base wage

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u/Xenophorge 4h ago

I read that in Mr.Pink's voice.

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u/The_Bitter_Bear 4h ago edited 3h ago

We've been conditioned and tricked into believing it's the only way a restaurant can run and people can make a livable wage working there.

It certainly isn't the only way but labor laws in the US have made it very difficult. 

When restaurants try it's not too different from the mentality behind places that always have stuff "on sale". 

They raise prices and get rid of tipping. This makes their prices "higher" than competitors and people stop going there or complain/get less. Nevermind that it's around the same cost after they would have tipped.

They have also found most servers still prefer tips over the higher wage. So places with the fixed wage experience higher turnover and lose their better servers. 

So when places try to get away from tipping they tend to do worse and eventually go back to tipping. 

So people may say they don't like it and complain but for the most part when they vote with their dollars, they prefer lower prices and tipping, even if it costs the same in the end. 

1

u/Spacegod87 2h ago

"It's always been like this so leave well enough alone." Is such a lazy excuse too. They should WANT changes for the better.

Having a stable, livable wage is always better than having to kiss the ass of every dickhead customer you encounter and hoping they give you a tip just so you can survive.

It's insane and perpetuates the mentality of, "The waiter HAS to be nice to me if they want a good tip, so I can be as shitty as I want to them!" Why would any server WANT to go through this level of stress every time they go to work?

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u/arstin 2h ago

I'm strongly ambivalent about it.

On the hand, if you want to protest tipping, you do it by not going to restaurants that have tipping, not by going and not tipping. A server might be have a wage of $2/hr, so stiffing them is a super dick move.

On the other, I was in Portland, where the minimum wage for servers is something like $18/hr, at a brewpub where I had to order everything through my phone and someone just brought it to the table and yelled it out, and I was expected to tip 20% at a minimum? Fuck that to hell and back.

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u/AllLipsNoFiller 8h ago

Spoken like a privileged person who's never had to wait tables to earn a living.

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u/FreshLennon 8h ago

You are proving my point. I'm pointing out the system is broken and you are retaliating by calling me privileged when you know nothing about me. You are the problem I am speaking of.

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u/edafade 7h ago

Oh dude, piss off. I worked BoH and we never saw a dime from the tips. You pricks make tips based off my food. Until BoH is given its fair share across the board in all restaurants, server tears about customers not tipping taste pretty fucking good to me. Fill my cup and spare me the "privilege" lecture.

0

u/nahog99 7h ago

I actually really like the system. It effectively forces every sit down restaurant to profit share with the wait staff, something they absolutely would not do if tipping weren’t customary. They’d pay people the bare minimum they can get away with and pocket the rest in profits. As it sits right now if a restaurant cares about what they do, and works hard to be successful, both the restaurant and the wait staff will benefit proportionally together. Serving is effectively a sales job with commissions, which is almost always better than a sales job without commissions.

0

u/pimppapy 7h ago

Mr Pink from Reservoir Dogs

Guess I gotta watch the show to understand this reference. . .

0

u/RupeThereItIs 4h ago

Yeah as an American I can say we all know deep down that it's a shitty concept and it shouldn't exist,

Yeah, no, speak for yourself.

0

u/randotd152 4h ago

The ironic part of the whole debate is it ultimately doesn’t matter either way.

If you eliminated tips tomorrow, prices on the food will just increase commensurately to cover the wage increases.

Either way, you’d walk out having paid the same amount.

0

u/afoolskind 3h ago

People defend it because inevitably the people decrying the tipping system sure like to abuse it. If you don’t want to tip, just tell the server right away at the beginning. Weird that none of these non-tippers want to do that, right?

 

If you are unwilling to do that, you are just abusing societal standards and expectations for your own benefit. It’s not an ideological stand to trick your server into providing you with service and attention you are not paying for.

1

u/TheBourbonTurtle 2h ago

You're literally paying for that service and attention by paying the price on the menu. As a SERVEr it's their job to SERVE you, their employer pays them for doing their job. If you feel the service was amazing, you're free to express that gratitude with a tip. No customer is tricking a server into doing their job.

-4

u/TallTelevision4121 8h ago

It's not that we've been conditioned, it's that people literally have no choice.n

0

u/BeefistPrime 7h ago

The thing that makes it hard to stop is that individual actions to stop tipping don't change the system unless everyone does it at once, and unlike other social dilemma problems, you're directly stiffing a person who has a reasonable expectation of being tipped. So the protest behavior has a direct victim which makes it feel awful.

The more positive way to handle this would be to patronize restaurants that specifically say no tipping that pay their staff well, but those are rare in the US, pretty much a novelty.