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Things are different in America - restaurants get a special exemption under labor law [1] that allows them to pay wait staff about 25% of the minimum wage requi

Things are different in America - restaurants get a special exemption under labor law [1] that allows them to pay wait staff about 25% of the minimum wage required for all other professions. The social understanding is that patrons are obligated to make up the difference via tips - you have to pay to use their services. The system sucks but that's how it is, if you don't want to tip then you can always eat at McDonalds or other establishments without wait staff. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_Stat...

mjevans 9y ago
Sad but true; and something that should be fixed.
Mediterraneo10 9y ago
> The system sucks but that's how it is, if you don't want to tip then you can always eat at McDonalds or other establishments without wait staff. Or you can simply eat at that establishment and not leave a tip.
- unethical_ban 9y ago
  So in the name of changing labor laws, we should cause tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs, effectively. For something like that to work, labor and consumers would have to be on the same page, and do something like a national week of no tipping, which would still hurt only the workers, not the businesses. This needs to happen in Congress.
lotsofpulp 9y ago
The legal understanding is that the employer will make up wages if tips fall short of minimum wage. The social understanding is that the merchant doesn't need to advertise higher prices, and the merchant and the employee get to evade taxes. The customer gets to feel like they're a big shot, rewarding people for "serving" them. In reality, it's just a big old loophole around paying taxes and having to account for the actual cost of things, while spreading around the real costs onto a collective that doesn't have enough incentive to work together to stop it. Basic price obfuscation strategy, and it works well.

mjevans 9y ago

Sad but true; and something that should be fixed.

Mediterraneo10 9y ago

> The system sucks but that's how it is, if you don't want to tip then you can always eat at McDonalds or other establishments without wait staff. Or you can simply eat at that establishment and not leave a tip.

unethical_ban 9y ago
So in the name of changing labor laws, we should cause tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs, effectively. For something like that to work, labor and consumers would have to be on the same page, and do something like a national week of no tipping, which would still hurt only the workers, not the businesses. This needs to happen in Congress.

lotsofpulp 9y ago

The legal understanding is that the employer will make up wages if tips fall short of minimum wage. The social understanding is that the merchant doesn't need to advertise higher prices, and the merchant and the employee get to evade taxes. The customer gets to feel like they're a big shot, rewarding people for "serving" them. In reality, it's just a big old loophole around paying taxes and having to account for the actual cost of things, while spreading around the real costs onto a collective that doesn't have enough incentive to work together to stop it. Basic price obfuscation strategy, and it works well.