4 ms·

You seem to be implying that the current minimum wage system is effective in some way. Try living in any city in the US on minimum wage... Tips are weakly prop

by cowpig 11y ago

You seem to be implying that the current minimum wage system is effective in some way. Try living in any city in the US on minimum wage... Tips are weakly proportional to rents and other costs of living (restaurants have to charge enough to make a profit, and tips are a % of what they charge). Minimum wage is probably enough to get by if you live outside of a major city, but that is definitely not true inside them. Businesses will pay whatever the minimum people will work for, which tends to be well below what society at large feels is reasonable. Obviously, because the business' interests are directly at odds with paying the employee a reasonable salary. With tipping, social forces decide what is reasonable, not the businesses.

mhurron 11y ago
> You seem to be implying that the current minimum wage system is effective in some way. Try living in any city in the US on minimum wage... You're talking about a completely different thing, unless you're advocating tipping everyone you believe may be on minimum wage. At no point did what I write imply the current system is good, I simply said it exists and that the restaurant industry carved a special little exception out for themselves. That exception was carved out so they could directly push the burden of paying employees on the customers while continuing to get the same profits from their product.