My example is indeed the best case scenario, the one that is held up as a standard to excuse the labor abuses that occur as a result of tipping culture.
I’m not exploiting free labour. The owner does that - and even in the USA they’ve made it illegal to totally rely on tips (even for Black people, even in the South, for now). As a customer, I’m not really in a position to assess the compliance of the company with labour laws. Even if I tip, I can’t know whether the employer is skimming the top. In any case, it’s unlikely that the people responsible for making the food are getting a cut. I don’t eat out often and when I do, there’s a few places I’ve been going for a while that have had the same staff for over a decade. I have to hope that the reason for employee retention is that they’re treated well.
You do understand that the federal minimum wage for tipped positions is about $2 and they only have to bring it up to $7 if almost nobody tips, right?
The employer not paying more because the wages are primarily tips isn’t as bad as someone who refuses to tip but still expects the same labor. The employer expects someone else to pay for the labor, the non-tipping customer expects free labor.
Wait staff that stick around do so because the employer treats them well enough and their customer base doesn’t try to fight tipping culture by punishing the wait staff.
My example is indeed the best case scenario, the one that is held up as a standard to excuse the labor abuses that occur as a result of tipping culture.
I’m not exploiting free labour. The owner does that - and even in the USA they’ve made it illegal to totally rely on tips (even for Black people, even in the South, for now). As a customer, I’m not really in a position to assess the compliance of the company with labour laws. Even if I tip, I can’t know whether the employer is skimming the top. In any case, it’s unlikely that the people responsible for making the food are getting a cut. I don’t eat out often and when I do, there’s a few places I’ve been going for a while that have had the same staff for over a decade. I have to hope that the reason for employee retention is that they’re treated well.
You do understand that the federal minimum wage for tipped positions is about $2 and they only have to bring it up to $7 if almost nobody tips, right?
The employer not paying more because the wages are primarily tips isn’t as bad as someone who refuses to tip but still expects the same labor. The employer expects someone else to pay for the labor, the non-tipping customer expects free labor.
Wait staff that stick around do so because the employer treats them well enough and their customer base doesn’t try to fight tipping culture by punishing the wait staff.