The problem is the workers who get tips generally like it because they can potentially make a lot more than a comparable fixed wage. On a good night you can make several times over the base wage, and under-report cash tips on your taxes (or omit them entirely, but the IRS might catch that).
So a lot of workers don’t want tipping to go away any more than the restaurant owners do.
Non tippers get a reputation around town and then are treated with bad service, largely ignored by the staff. Big tippers get treated to complimentary meals, desserts, wine, and more.
There is also the angle of poor servers being treated with low/no tips, the long term goal of which being to get them to treat customers better or drive them out of the business.
That would also require being unfortunate enough to be in the US for a protracted length of time.
While the UK is indeed a shit hole and getting worse thanks to Trump wannabes and other associated scumbags only a hair’s breadth from being out and out Nazis, it isn’t quite as bad as the US. Yet.
Edit: I have spent time in the states, but it’s direction in the last decade has put paid to me ever returning, for business or pleasure. Fuck that.
But base wage for those positions is also significantly lower than minimum wage because the tips are expected to compensate for it, so the ceiling is higher but the floor is also lower. So refusing to tip at all does kind of make you out to be the asshole.
Unfortunately most people are just trying to survive and don’t really have the time or the energy to worry about the bigger picture.
Personally, I just split the difference and refuse to tip anywhere it’s not already factored into the wage structure. It’s not gonna change the situation but at least it helps hold the line.
That doesn’t make you some champion of the working man, it makes you a cheap asshole. You are taking advantage of their labor more than the restaurant owner.
Advocate for change, absolutely. Refuse to patronize restaurants that expect/require tipping. I’d even say it’s fair to stop buying into the tip-inflation (15% used to be standard, then 18, now 20+), that’s fair, stick to 15%.
Hell, since at most restaurants you pay after the meal, why even pay that? After all, you knew there’s a cost before you had the meal but “you can’t spare it.” I’m serious, you wan’t to make a point, leaving a note that says “pay your staff better” and no cash makes a stronger statement than simply not tipping.
Living in the UK, I easily avoid giving any such slave driver my money.
I’m simply explaining why the rest of the world isn’t like the US, workers collectively fought for rights, simple as that. Either get on with changing it, or keep complaining about being stiffed (while pocketing off the books income in a lot of cases). Shrug
This discussion is about Europeans coming to the US and giving money to the restaurants themselves (the slave drivers) but not tipping the staff (the slaves). Absolutely support a decision to protest such a system by not patronizing it; but patronizing it but not tipping is just cheap. You’re not some savior of workers rights, you’re a cheap asshole. That is a harsh truth you need to come to terms with.
Collective action against tipping isn’t individual action against tipping tbf. Just needs yanks to build on this and push further to break down this shitty culture that only holds because consumers accept it.
The problem is the workers who get tips generally like it because they can potentially make a lot more than a comparable fixed wage. On a good night you can make several times over the base wage, and under-report cash tips on your taxes (or omit them entirely, but the IRS might catch that).
So a lot of workers don’t want tipping to go away any more than the restaurant owners do.
Those workers are the equivalent of scabs, even if they don’t realize it and don’t have bad intentions.
Then they also have to deal with people who see through the shenanigans and refuse to tip. Fuck em.
Non tippers get a reputation around town and then are treated with bad service, largely ignored by the staff. Big tippers get treated to complimentary meals, desserts, wine, and more.
There is also the angle of poor servers being treated with low/no tips, the long term goal of which being to get them to treat customers better or drive them out of the business.
That would also require being unfortunate enough to be in the US for a protracted length of time.
While the UK is indeed a shit hole and getting worse thanks to Trump wannabes and other associated scumbags only a hair’s breadth from being out and out Nazis, it isn’t quite as bad as the US. Yet.
Edit: I have spent time in the states, but it’s direction in the last decade has put paid to me ever returning, for business or pleasure. Fuck that.
But base wage for those positions is also significantly lower than minimum wage because the tips are expected to compensate for it, so the ceiling is higher but the floor is also lower. So refusing to tip at all does kind of make you out to be the asshole.
Unfortunately most people are just trying to survive and don’t really have the time or the energy to worry about the bigger picture.
Personally, I just split the difference and refuse to tip anywhere it’s not already factored into the wage structure. It’s not gonna change the situation but at least it helps hold the line.
Unionise and change the situation, or lose. I’m not paying money I can’t spare because people refuse to help themselves. I repeat, fuck em.
That doesn’t make you some champion of the working man, it makes you a cheap asshole. You are taking advantage of their labor more than the restaurant owner.
Advocate for change, absolutely. Refuse to patronize restaurants that expect/require tipping. I’d even say it’s fair to stop buying into the tip-inflation (15% used to be standard, then 18, now 20+), that’s fair, stick to 15%.
Hell, since at most restaurants you pay after the meal, why even pay that? After all, you knew there’s a cost before you had the meal but “you can’t spare it.” I’m serious, you wan’t to make a point, leaving a note that says “pay your staff better” and no cash makes a stronger statement than simply not tipping.
Living in the UK, I easily avoid giving any such slave driver my money.
I’m simply explaining why the rest of the world isn’t like the US, workers collectively fought for rights, simple as that. Either get on with changing it, or keep complaining about being stiffed (while pocketing off the books income in a lot of cases). Shrug
This discussion is about Europeans coming to the US and giving money to the restaurants themselves (the slave drivers) but not tipping the staff (the slaves). Absolutely support a decision to protest such a system by not patronizing it; but patronizing it but not tipping is just cheap. You’re not some savior of workers rights, you’re a cheap asshole. That is a harsh truth you need to come to terms with.
Collective action against tipping isn’t individual action against tipping tbf. Just needs yanks to build on this and push further to break down this shitty culture that only holds because consumers accept it.
So be upfront and tell them you won’t be tipping, and get the service you’re paying for.
Shouldn’t servers tell the customers how much service they should expect based on the amount they plan to give in that case then?