r/antiwork Jan 14 '22 Silver 5 Helpful 16 Wholesome 10

So sorry, I'm broke so I can only pay you $77 for my food. You were great though.

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272

u/AlphaOhmega Jan 15 '22

The tip system is so dumb. Waiters shouldn't have to depend on tips, tips should be a nice but unnecessary boost for good service. It's all twisted around.

15

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '22

[deleted]

3

u/Stinky_Cat_Toes Jan 15 '22
  1. The current minimum wage is inhumane. No one should make less than $25/h.

  2. Many (most?) servers should make above a $25 minimum wage because of the knowledge, training, and expertise required.

  3. Every penny of all credit card tips is declared on taxes. In the past, when many tips were in cash, a lot of it was undeclared. The vast majority of tips are on the credit card receipt now, and that's all declared.

  4. I promise that most servers want to abolish tipping culture in favor of an actual livable wage, public health care, and federally mandated PTO and family leave.

4

u/bigdickmagic69 Jan 15 '22

Yes and no.

I am a server, and the occasional horrible tip can sometimes break my night. But on a weekly basis, I make pretty decent money. No complaints there.

What I have noticed over the last 10 years is how tip-out for servers is out of control. I used to tip out 2-3% of my sales. But it used to just be for the bartender and maybe a food runner/busser if you had one. In recent years tip-out is closer to 5-7% of sales. They've started taking servers' tips and giving them to the line cooks and hosts. I have even worked at a place where I had to tip out the dishwasher. And I've never experienced this personally (I would walk the fuck out immediately if I did), but I've heard several instances of servers having to tip out MANAGEMENT.

I think a breaking point is going to come soon and dining out is going to drastically change. Covid has shined a light on a lot of bullshit on the workplace for people on both ends of it. Even though this is how I make my living I have always recognized how bizarre it is that complete strangers are responsible for paying my wages. And now they're suddenly responsible for paying the wages of every employee in the restaurant apparently.

1

u/5LaLa Jan 15 '22

What servers DON’T want is to be hourly drones that make the same amount every week, regardless of how hard they work or don’t. That’s what keeps people in hospitality, the terror of fixed (low) pay, not being able to work & make more when you need it. But, I’d say that problem needs to be addressed in every industry. Every job should offer some profit sharing bonuses. Employees should be included, incentivized & have more share of the value they create. I’m Japan, employees get 2 bonuses a year based on their employers profits. Usually, each bonus is equal to 2-3 months salary. So, imho, servers shouldn’t be the only people fearful of making the same all the time, everyone should want better. Corporations can do this.

9

u/dacv393 Jan 15 '22

I mean this will get downvoted but the only way it will change is if we, as customers, collectively agree to stop tipping alltogether. It couldn't be just individual assholes trying to get out of paying - but some sort of mass movement where everyone writes a hashtag on their receipt and refuses to tip. Once enough people join along restaurants would be forced to pay minimum wage and then likely more than minimum wage once the nicer restaurants become competitive and start losing their employees to the highest paying restaurants. It would probably take multiple paycheck cycles to start creating the changes, and millions of people would have to be on board.

This is just a pipedream since the majority of people would never be convinced. Likely those who consistently tip above 18% would agree and participate, but the people who take advantage of the system and would refute such a movement with stupid arguments like "I used to be a server. You have to earn your tip. If you're rude, you don't deserve anything", since they're the people who consistently tip way too low to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else. They'd know internally that once tipping is gone they wouldn't be able to pay below market price for their meal the majority of the time.

3

u/scottie2haute Jan 15 '22

The fact that people cant collectively come together to fight stuff is probably why we’re in the state we’re in right now. We cant depend on the politicians and business owners to do right by the common folk. I know it sounds like victim blaming but alot of the time we just take whatever they tell us to take. I heard that people only tip 20% now because that’s the new standard and that the standard was a lower percentage a few years ago.

Too many people just agree to stuff because “thats the way it is”. I think we underestimate how much power we have to make a change if we all just collectively said “fuck no” every once in a while

2

u/AlphaOhmega Jan 15 '22

I wonder if it would work or if they would just screw over waiters more by keeping the rules in place and then waiters get no tips. Either way I hope it does change.

1

u/Ballbag94 Jan 15 '22

Could service workers strike? Not sure of the legality of it but if every service worker in America refused to work until wage demands were met it would be wild

Once enough people join along restaurants would be forced to pay minimum wage

How often does this happen? Full disclaimer, I'm not American so I'm not trying to challenge this, but there are often stories of employers simply just not paying minimum wage to "undertipped" employees and no one reports them because they're scared of losing their jobs. I'm curious as to if that's a widespread issue or simply confirmation bias

5

u/Anorak27s Jan 15 '22

Could service workers strike? Not sure of the legality of it but if every service worker in America refused to work until wage demands were met it would be wild

They could but guess what, they don't want to, because they know they can make more money like this.

1

u/raeumauf Jan 15 '22

the suggested percentages at the bottom, lmao. 18%, 20% wtf

if you've been an amazing waiter you get 10% above 50€ if rounding up coincidentally lands the tip there