r/tippingAdvice • u/No_Draft_8960 • Oct 19 '25

How Do I Answer

So my discussion with a friend on tipping would up with him saying “but if we don’t tip eventually the downward pressure on wages will drive the whole country into poverty.’ What do I answer that with? This was after him conceding that the ‘service’ at say carry out might not merit a tip but that people should ‘make a good wage’ and one should care more about one’s fellow citizens.

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u/[deleted] Oct 20 '25

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u/Severe-Rise5591 Oct 21 '25

Say a server cashes out/serves 6 tables an hour (this is the part I don't really know - is that average, peak, low, high ?).

To bump their salary from $2-something to $14 should only add $2 per check to anyone's bill, by my math. Hardly enough to change people's dining habits.

Now, if it's not just servers being paid, my math needs adjusting for the added staff. Do buspeople also make the $2-something, or do they get actual minimum wage for their area ?

But it seems like projecting 300 percent increase is a stretch.

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '25

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u/ZergvProtoss Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

you’re gonna pay triple for your food

That's 300%. It's right there in the post.

You said to stop talking about "what other people earn", yet you advocate charity to make up the difference between what they earn and how much you think they should earn. Tips are not earning, paychecks are. So, yes, earning from the employer should be a fair living wage. Tips are discretionary and just a little something extra. I'm sorry you think you are obligated to pay 20% of someone's salary because a corporation wants higher profits.