That reminds me of that bit by comic Doug Stanhope. He says that stating America is the greatest country in the world is a kin to saying that America is the prettiest Denny’s waitress.
The United States is a wonderful country, but it seems like our political class are hell bent on ruining it. She has been going downhill since the 60s and has rapidly picked up the pace of its decline in recent decades.
You used to be, thanks to your, in my opinion, greatest president ever: Franklin D. Roosevelt.
He inherited a US in shambles after the 2029 crash and managed to build it into the world's greatest superpower ever.
How? Social Democracy, nicely concealed under the name "New Deal", to prevent the corporatists from going haywire. In 1950 the US taxed the richest 90% and nobody complained.
After that, red scare, Henry Kissinger, Reagonomics, war on terror and now MAGA.
It never was. My theory is that we used Hollywood to show an idealist version of the US to promote a capitalist agenda. Then, when communism stopped being a threat, capitalists show their fangs and are sucking us dry in the open, all over the world.
My ex was a waitress and she would have hated no tipping. On Friday nights she could make $300-500 in tips.
What was great was when there was a large family dinner or corporate dinner. Do everything extra special and you could walk away with $500 just for 1 customer.
You can still do that with a minimum wage. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Your employer can pay a living wage AND people can still tip you if you want.
Yeah I live in the UK and will usually leave a small tip but because I know the staff are paid a proper wage (well what the UK government considers a proper wage) I don't feel obligated to leave a huge amount.
Which makes it a true tip, instead of a subsidy to the business so that they don’t have to pay wages. I live traveling abroad for this, among so many other reasons.
Ok, low wage in this scenario is good for the worker. I understand that is counterintuitive, but in parts of the country (like where I live near Seattle) where servers are paid full wages, they make less money because people tip less knowing that the server is compensated elsewhere. I personally do this. 20% of bill tip in areas of low wage 0-10% in areas of full minimum.
Tip culture needs to end. Full stop. Employers should be made to pay living wages (based on the economy of the location), and the customer should simply see it in the menu costs. If the employer cannot successfully do this, like they do all over the world, they should not be in business.
Again, you’re taking the money out of the workers pockets if you do so. Many waiters make well above living wage because of the tips they make. Especially if they perfect their service capabilities and move to higher end restaurants.
That’s a career choice; however, when the customer is effectively subsidizing a business, that’s simple poor business and a burden that customers should not bear. There are servers and businesses all over the world that do well without foisting this business model on the consumer; and TBH, it’s a hell if a lot nicer to eat there than most restaurants here (high end excluded-)
Yeah, I’ve never been in the industry and I haven’t looked it up myself but come end of the year doesn’t the “man” assumed you were tipped so you pay tax on tips whether you received them or not? Our system is not the most reliable or stable for most but yeah it does work for some.
My ex worked Saturday nights at a steakhouse. She'd be bummed if she made less than $30 per hour. And this was 5ish years ago. We lived in a MCOL area.
You do the math…ten tables a night at 41.25. Add in the $2 an hour and remember…NO TAX ON TIPS in the USA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸. Servers are doing better here than in Europe..
Not only restaurants now but just about every place you go into has tip jars! Went to pick out a coffin for my dad and there was a tip jar for the funeral director for helping us to pick an expensive one over the pine box we picked out! 😂 jk
First-world, and a better system than Europe until relatively recently: wait staff used to make more than minimum wage without any issues.
In any case, $2.00/hour is a fabrication by the creator of the sign in the photo….wait staff will always make at least minimum wage. Period. Facts matter.
I love how they show everyone they pay their employee $2.13 an hour before telling everyone not to be cheap. As an American who worked in food service for 7 years, I'll never understand our tipping culture.
To echo their own rhetoric, "If you can't afford to pay your employees a fair wage you can't afford to be in business."
It's because of the tipping culture. It's all stupid IMO, since people will nearly always get less tips when it's not as busy. From a worker perspective, it's nice to have instant cash rather than waiting for a check. (I worked at a hotel for a while.)
Places that put these signs up really bother me though, even though i tip well. There is zero obligation to tip, though they can run their business how they choose. Times being artificially expensive as they are, i wonder if these signs are an attempt to encourage more tipping so they don't lose staff.
And yet servers in Europe are miserable and earn WAY less than any american server. That's why servers are okay with that and they don't want a minimum wage, they make tons of money from tips. In Europe you make 15€/h but 0€ from tips.
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u/green_is_minty 4d ago
2 $ per hour compared to 15 € per hour in europe.. is america third world ? lol