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Part of the issue with tipping culture is that there's a grey area between the "obviously tipped" and "obviously not tipped" roles. This grey area creates space
by ashtonkem 5y ago
Part of the issue with tipping culture is that there's a grey area between the "obviously tipped" and "obviously not tipped" roles. This grey area creates space for companies to pay tipped wages, but customers to also not tip because they didn't think about it.
- alistairSH 5y agoIn most states (not sure if it's a federal law), tip-earners are guaranteed to be "topped up" or "made whole" if their tips don't bring them to the normal minimum wage. That minimum is still too low to be livable in many areas, Texas included, but that's a separate, albeit related, problem.
- 0xffff2 5y agoI only ever worked a tipped job in California, where there is no separate tipped minimum, but it's a very common refrain from service industry workers commenting online that this "top up" happens far less often than you would think.
- ashtonkem 5y agoNot surprising. The entire point of a tipped minimum wage is to make labor cheaper. Given the scope of wage theft in America, I’d actually be shocked if top up payments were regularly honored.
- alistairSH 5y agoSadly, I’ve heard the same. That’s wage theft. And a good reason to do away with tipping and start paying wait staff a real living wage.