What would yall say if I offered a livable wage that actually provides enough for a comfortable existence but no tips?
From what I understand, some servers prefer tips because they make more money that way, and since it’s cash they don’t report it to the IRS so it’s untaxed income. I don’t know how much of the server population prefers it this way.
So find the level of wage after taxes that provides for what a waiter would make with their current wage + average tip per hour over the course of an entire year… Then pay them that.
I don’t think we should keep things the same way just because a population can evade taxes. Why should some jobs not report income? why is that ok?
Whatabout all the people who stiff their waiter/waitress because they don’t believe in tipping? Anyone who has ever had the job knows this happens and the same people have no qualms showing up again and again and doing the same thing.
What about all the businesses that steal tips from the employees and keep them? It’s illegal but they do it anyway. No tips? no employer tip theft.
Countless reasons against tipping. There’s really only a couple for it: Businesses can avoid paying their staff and the staff leech off of everyone else via untaxed income and government support programs (food stamps, medicaid) because their w2 is below poverty wages.
The problem is at some places (probably not Waffle House) servers can make $40/hr. I’m not against that being the untipped wage, but I am saying that will kill the restaurant industry overnight. I am fully in support of eliminating the very concept of a “tipped minimum wage”.
Poor Europe. No restaurants to be found anywhere.
This comment shows a complete lack of knowledge as to how tipping works in 2024.
It’s not 1985 anymore. Unless you work in the sketchiest of shit-hole dive bars in an incredibly small town, people aren’t dodging taxes on their tips and using food stamps/medicaid.
Im always reminded of how little people know about industries outside of their own until someone starts talking about something im familiar with.
It’s quite funny how wrong people can be.
The industry absolutely dodges taxes on tips. It’s well known that you need to report 8% of your sales to avoid an audit, so that’s what you report. As a server I’d make 15 - 18%. So I’m paying taxes on only half my tips, which make up the majority of my income.
Tips are a weird issue here. You can see why employees in this industry want to keep them, but also why it’s problematic when talking about liveable wages.
I worked for tips for years. Bartending and serving from my first job at 16, all through my 20s. Let me give an example of when this became an issue.
I’m waiting tables at a restaurant. Make minimum wage in CA which is like $10 I think? Doesn’t matter most of my income is tips. I’m realisticly making closer to $30 - 40 with tips. We share some with bussers / dishwashers because they support us. Kitchen staff is making like 25 an hour. More than twice our wage but still less than us accounting for tips. Kitchen wants a raise, restaurant makes us share tips with kitchen too to make it “fair”. We’re upset.
New CA minimum wage passes. $15 minimum wage, includes tip protection stating you cannot oblige servers to share tips. Servers got a raise twice, our hourly wage went up from 10 to 15 and we stopped sharing tips with the kitchen. Huge boon. Kitchen staff now making less, just the $25 no shared tips. Kitchen staff decries bullshit, demands a raise, restaurant says no way I can give you a raise now that I have to pay all the servers, bussers, and bartenders more.
Then you realize the serving staff / kitchen staff, at least in CA, is almost perfectly split racially. Mexicans, Latinx, and Black folks in the kitchen, white folks serving and bartending. It’s already an issue of fairness, just adding the additional racial observation which makes it downright problematic.
cats sleeping with dogs, anarchy i tell ya
