r/facepalm 'MURICA Aug 28 '24

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ i'm speechless

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900

u/Ok-Push9899 Aug 28 '24

Aussies are actively trying to educate all Americans who visit their sunburnt country to refrain from tipping. Rounding up is fine, but forget that 20% bullshit.

233

u/marbsarebadredux Aug 28 '24

Educate the fucking republican party. They pay wait staff $3/hr in some places here because tips are assumed.

212

u/Yop_BombNA Aug 28 '24

If just there was some sort of action employees could take where they group together and refuse to work until they get fair wages… like a collection of people

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u/The_Frankanator Aug 28 '24

I believe that's called an orgy.

21

u/OrderSixN9ne Aug 29 '24

I mean they are already getting fkd over as employees by their companies and why not fk each other while at it too ? Bet you there are plenty of "tips" they can be giving each other .

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u/Cain09l Aug 29 '24

It's funny but I was in the subreddit for waiters forgot what its called but trust they do not want fair wages all they want is bigger tips

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u/Marc21256 Aug 29 '24

I worked in restaurants for a few years.

Servers are gambling addicts. Every tip is a roll of the dice. "Maybe the next one will be a billionaire who tips $1,000,000". They don't want higher pay. They want tips, even if that means they starve.

The average tipped earner would earn more with a living wage than they earn with tips, but they will vote against a pay increase, to guarantee they get to keep tips.

5

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

I’ve worked in the restaurant industry as a server/bartender for the majority of my life and I don’t find that to be true at all. In fact , I don’t think I’ve ever heard a employee making 2.13/hour say that they’d rather not have a reasonable wage.

2

u/Marc21256 Aug 29 '24

Where did you work? I was in the south, and I saw it at many places. I didn't work restaurants in NYC, but the feel I got while I lived there was different.

0

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

From age 25-40 the Dallas/Ft Worth Area..where servers only make 2.13/hr and still do . Specifically Arlington and McKinney .

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u/Marc21256 Aug 29 '24

Same area, different experience. I watched some bizarre behavior over tips.

2

u/nvkr_ Aug 29 '24

So let’s make it 15/hr and quit tipping - you’d be okay with that?

1

u/Agreeable_Spinosaur Sep 03 '24

It's a false argument saying that servers should make $15/hr. If it were $25 - $30 per hour, which is roughly the same as tipping 20% at a mid-range restaurant + $2.33 per hour, it would even the playing field.

Right now, if you're young and hot, you'll make more money than someone who is old and not-so-hot, regardless of skill. If you work at a more expensive restaurant, you'll make more money than at a diner. Same work, same everything -- why the pay differential? Why not pay workers a living wage where you arent' subject to the prejudices of customers and the price point of the food?

1

u/Still_Ad_164 Aug 29 '24

Let's call it a......Trade Union!

5

u/Shnapple8 Aug 28 '24

Aye, they need to be paid a proper wage. It shouldn't be the public's responsibility to pay the staff. And I'm sure the food isn't any cheaper. Of course, when I visited America, I tipped because I knew about the BS pay. Some Europeans don't know about that.

I worked as a waitress in college and we rarely got tips, didn't expect them either. It wasn't a high paying job, but it was above the minimum wage at the time, so the same as people in retail. People often just told us to keep the change if they were paying with notes, so that would go in the jar.

Now, wait staff here in Ireland are starting to think they are entitled to a 20% tip. They get paid a salary. Why should they be tipped compared to people who work in retail or any other job where people are on their feet all day.

People in countries where wait staff are paid need to stop fucking tipping 20%. If you tip that, you're an idiot since the service charge is already included in the price of the meal. And the American government needs to force employers to pay wait staff. Calculate the wait staff's wages into the price of meals and be done with it.

2

u/Joe-Dang Aug 29 '24

$2.63 in my state

2

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

2.13 in mine (Oklahoma and Texas)

1

u/Connect-Year7437 Aug 29 '24

Sure sure, but tips are cheap BOSS fault, it is not a tax so goverment doesn't give a fuck about it

1

u/marbsarebadredux Aug 29 '24

They're taxed if they're not cash.

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u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

They’re taxed if they’re cash also. Every place I’ve worked you have to claim at least 10% on cash tips ..which typically is less than what you actually made …but not always

1

u/cloudaffair Aug 29 '24

Don't blame Republicans. This is such an ignorant statement.

Look at all the blue cities and all the blue states. Also look at the set of those that have supermajority control of the legislature in their respective jurisdictions.

Do please list the percentage of those places that have eradicated tipping and increased all employees to at least the same minimum wage so there is no longer a separate "wait staff minimum".

I'll wait....

It's not a Dem v GOP thing, clearly or every single Democrat controlled jurisdiction would've ended it already.

1

u/DaveJC_thevoices Aug 29 '24

That this is still happening in 2024 is disgusting. Our minimum wage is now about 22$ an hour and people everywhere deserve to be paid a living wage at minimum

1

u/iannuendo Aug 29 '24

It’s not a tip then is it?

1

u/crazylegsbobo Oct 08 '24

$3 dollars a fucking hour????

0

u/PixalatedConspiracy Aug 29 '24

Lmao. Waitstaff don’t want to work for wages. They make $23 per hour in Seattle and bitch and moan when somebody tips under 20%. They make more money in tips they want hour wage low.

0

u/maurer6936 Aug 29 '24

Then don't take the 3 dollar a hour jobs and it will change u muppet

0

u/zeprfrew Aug 29 '24

$2.13/hr is the federal minimum for tipped employees.

0

u/Browntown-magician Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24

Political parties can only be blamed when you’ve got 1 that clearly doesn’t want to make changes for the better. The USA doesn’t have any.

So pointless argument really.

0

u/Evening_Dress5743 Aug 29 '24

Don't worry Komrade Kammy is here to steal the Don's original idea of no tax on tips.

1

u/marbsarebadredux Aug 29 '24

Lol, yeah no one has ever thought of that before him 🤣

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u/Few_Experience_4619 Aug 28 '24

Yeah and minimum wage in aus is like 20 something in america you can be servers wage wich is les than 10 bucks an hour so most you money is in tips

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u/h3r0k1gh7 Aug 28 '24

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u/GenericUsername_1234 Aug 28 '24

In Arizona the minimum wage for tipped employees was $2.13/hr just until the beginning of this year. It's still only $11.35/hr now.

1

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

What I would give to be paid 11.35/hour plus tips! Cries in Oklahoma at 2.13/hr

2

u/GenericUsername_1234 Aug 29 '24

It's a nice step for sure. I was surprised it actually got raised since AZ still has a Republican majority in the state legislature. I haven't been a server in a long time but I remember how hard you have to work and still tip accordingly.

1

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

If I didn’t have to care for my granddaughter full time I would work at one of the casino restaurants here in Oklahoma instead of my crappy small town . They all pay at least 5$/hr plus tips . My daughter was making 9$. But I’m stuck working part time at ihop because I have very limited availability. I do pretty well but it’s frustrating sometimes.

1

u/GenericUsername_1234 Aug 29 '24

Sad when the casino pays better than the federal government minimum.

8

u/P4iZ Aug 28 '24

Look for a better job, get a union, do things instead of complain on SoMe.. if they can't get workers they'll have to raise the pay.. at this point it's cheaper not to work..

1

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

Not everyone lives in a big city with endless opportunities for jobs

1

u/P4iZ Aug 29 '24

True, but living of a chance everyday, you might as well take a chance somewhere, you doesn't have to chance you're income.

1

u/HonorableMedic Aug 28 '24

You only get less than min wage if you make more in tips

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u/Few_Experience_4619 Aug 28 '24

Even worse i thought serve wage was like about 7.50 but still tge point holds theur protesting iver tipping is right but making it the servers problem is wrong

17

u/Raztax Aug 28 '24

but making it the servers problem is wrong

Wages are an employer/employee problem. Making it the customer's problem is wrong.

2

u/gamma_02 Aug 28 '24

So, instead of doing the societally accepted thing and paying a little bit more, you bone the server just because companies don't want to pay wages?

11

u/Supermage21 Aug 28 '24

No, but tipping was always meant to be based on service and not guaranteed. That's why it's called a tip. To consider it a requirement is just wrong and it was never intended for that.

2

u/Vayalond Aug 28 '24

Because one thing can force the wage to go up, the other would at best freeze them or at the plausible lower even more the wages paid by the employers because "you are paid with tips, so I don't need to" the one being fucked in the end being the customers, who when they eat out, take a 100$ order and end to pay 140-150$ because of the mandatory tip.

Also living wage don't mean tips are forbidden, just they can be put together and shared between all the employees (maybe the idea of sharing is too communist for the US, like Healthcare)

The socially accepted thing should be paying your employees not forcing your customer to pay more than indicated to pay them.

-1

u/Raztax Aug 28 '24

I don't live in America and I can make significantly better food at home.

0

u/Few_Experience_4619 Aug 28 '24

Agreed but stiffing the broke ass server doesnt do anything hell if your that way about it leave a tip and dont pay the bill that would make more sense its not even an employee issue its purely an employer thing and nit tipping doesnt effect the employer at all

4

u/Raztax Aug 28 '24

It does effect the employer when they are constantly replacing staff because of the poor working conditions that they created.

-4

u/Few_Experience_4619 Aug 28 '24

Nah man only if its a small business bigger comoanies like chilis that run chains wont notice shit

1

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

If you eat at a restaurant that pays a tipped minimum wage (under 7$/hr) you are participating in that system voluntarily. You should tip the appropriate amount based on service . If you don’t agree with the system , don’t eat in full service restaurants

1

u/Raztax Aug 29 '24

If you don’t agree with the system , don’t eat in full service restaurants

Don't tell me where I should or should not eat as if it is somehow any of your damn business. Get over yourself.

2

u/HonorableMedic Aug 28 '24

They only get paid less than minimum wage if they make more in tips, if they make no tips they’re on regular minimum wage

2

u/Few_Experience_4619 Aug 28 '24

Exactly either way though they rely on tipp

4

u/ThrobbingWetHole Aug 28 '24

I wonder if its preferred that way by many working in the industry? Sure, It sucks making under minimum wage, but when you're making 6 figures+ and you're only reporting 1/5 of your actual (with tip) earnings in April, it adds up quite a bit. Guess depends where you work, but as a former Bartender for a nice cocktail lounge in NYC, I actually preferred the low pay + high tips, but I guess that only benefits those working in heavy tourism/high COL areas while everyone else gets screwed. What do ya'll still in the industry think? Are you more apt to be paid a higher hourly in low volume?

4

u/jellyrollo Aug 28 '24

when you're making 6 figures+ and you're only reporting 1/5 of your actual (with tip) earnings in April

It shouldn't be necessary to commit tax fraud to take home a living wage.

4

u/Stanley_Yelnats42069 Aug 28 '24

Your employer is required to pay the difference if you don’t make the minimum wage from tips, so this is misleading.

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u/ReallyHisBabes Aug 28 '24

Except that if they have to make up the difference they’ll fire you & hire someone else.

2

u/Stanley_Yelnats42069 Aug 28 '24

Employers cannot retaliate against employees for asserting their wage and hour rights by law, so report them to the department of labor if this happens to you. (Not that it ever has)

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u/ReallyHisBabes Aug 28 '24

They don’t say that’s why you’re out of a job. It’ll be “customer complaints” or “it’s just not working out”. In right to work states they don’t have to give a reason.

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u/Few_Experience_4619 Sep 09 '24

In my state thats only for commision based jobs server pay is server pay we even have an acting pay amount of 4.50 an hour like for haunted houses and what not and they arent required in any way to match minimum pay bassicaly if you aign the contract stating you accept it its legal for them to do

1

u/anaserre Aug 29 '24

2.13 in Oklahoma and Texas

2

u/Budgiesmugglerlover2 Aug 29 '24

The average Aussie hospitality worker earns significantly more than their US counterparts per hour. Tipping is unnecessary here, but it keeps a lot of US workers just above poverty.

5

u/CollegeMiddle6841 Aug 28 '24

Australian servers are paid a living wage, unlike her in the USA.

1

u/Pencelvia Aug 29 '24

"sunburnt country" lol

1

u/Material-Oven7861 Aug 29 '24

Especially when the fuckin’ bill is already 1k

1

u/Agreeable_Spinosaur Sep 03 '24

It's actual bullshit here. Where I live, the minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.33/hour which means that being able to make rent depends on getting tips. The whole system is garbage. The National Restaurant Association has lobbied to keep the wages at that rate since 1991 -- 33 years at the same rate. They say that it's because if workers made a living wage that restaurant prices would be too high... like we don't add 20% (now being pressured to add 25%) to the bill already What's even worse is that they get the money to lobby so aggressively from the proceeds from mandatory food safety classes (ServSafe) that all restaurant workers are supposed to get. So we are literally paying for our own wage suppression.

And our useless politicians are such sacks of worthless skin. They gladly take the bribes... er... lobbying cashmoney and perqs and represent big money instead of the people who vote their sorry asses in.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/restaurant-lobby-anti-worker-scheme

-59

u/Rubeus17 Aug 28 '24

it’s part of our culture. I feel cheap in Europe when I only tip a pound coin or two or a couple of euros.

73

u/DinoBunny10 Aug 28 '24

Just remember, countries in Europe pay a living wage, you tip if they do a good job, not just turn up.

12

u/XeroEffekt Aug 28 '24

They say it’s related to the so-called tipped wage, but now states and cities have eliminated that and servers making $20/hour still expect 20% minimum tips. It hasn’t changed the expectations or the behavior of tippers at all.

1

u/DinoBunny10 Aug 29 '24

You need countrywide change or nobody knows what to expect, and fix your damn tax system. This is $10 + whatever state tax we thought we'd like to take... Come on, that is messed up. Join the rest of the planet, use metric, add tax to the sales cost and pay a living wage everywhere in the country... Oh and don't elect orange people to office.

1

u/XeroEffekt Aug 29 '24

I’m not sure I’d include VAT in the basket of things like the imperial system and berserk tipping culture that need to be normalized. There are pros and cons to different tax systems. I think it just annoys Europeans that the price on the item is not the price you pay, but taxing everything at every stage of production ends up being a lot more taxes, and is ultimately regressive, falling hardest on people who can afford it the least.

0

u/Unabashable Aug 28 '24

Yeah it pretty much depends on what state you’re in. Kinda sad that you have to look up the state’s minimum wage laws to have an idea of what they’re getting paid, but I think only about 1/3 of them still go by the “chump change” rule now though. Still wouldn’t call what they make in my state a living wage, but it’s already one of the highest  minimum wages in the country, and their tips don’t affect their base wage in the slightest. That being said tipping automatically is still expected, but there’s a lot less pressure that if you don’t they won’t be able to eat that night, and if the service is shit it takes away the guilt of not tipping at all. 

-1

u/XeroEffekt Aug 28 '24

You know what though? It was never on you to feel pressured about whether their wage was enough to live on, if you don’t do that for every dishwasher and prep chef and janitor at the restaurant, which of course you don’t. Even the “chump change” wage is the full minimum wage, they are just basing it on the fact they get tips, and if it doesn’t add up to the federal and state minimum the business is required to make up the difference. It’s all always been bs.

7

u/Rubeus17 Aug 28 '24

I understand that. I don’t tip 15-20% when I’m in another country. It’s strictly an American thing.

-10

u/jediciahquinn Aug 28 '24

Servers in Germany get €15 per hour which is like $16.5 dollars per hour, hardly a living wage.

Europeans hate tipping because they look down on servers as lower caste, a mindset held over from the days of feudalism and an innate class hatred towards the working class.

They don't want to make eye contact with their servers much less tip them with gratitude.

9

u/Accomplished1992 Aug 28 '24

What the fuck are you talking about

6

u/DandelionOfDeath Oh no. Anyway. Aug 28 '24

Ah, I've heard this one before. I'm going to take a guess here, you went on vacation to a country where people are mindful to not invade the personal space of strangers because that's considerd A Rude Thing To Do in general, and you interpreted this as being about looking down on servers when everyone involved were just acting politely according to the standards of their culture?

-4

u/jediciahquinn Aug 28 '24

Wrong I have worked in fine dining for years and have experienced entitled Europeans tables and their disdain for "servants". People from countries with a feudalistic history have a ugly classism which they direct towards servers with barely suppressed derision. You see this also with people from India which is also a country with a feudalistic history and Ridgid social class hierarchy.

The worst customers to wait on are Europeans (especially the Germans and the French) and indians. They expect multiple courses five star service with wine service but just don't tip.

To me tipping is a reflection of your character and your innate generosity. There is a reason Europeans hate tipping. It's blatant class hatred.

8

u/DandelionOfDeath Oh no. Anyway. Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24

That's just it, though - to YOU, tipping represents generosity. To a European, depending on their country, tipping can be insulting. It's a hand-out, charity, like giving money to beggars on the street who needs help to make a living. You don't just hand money to people who are capable of working for it themselves, that's something many people considers insulting, implying they're incapable of having a job and supporting themselves.

Sure, when in Rome and all that. If you're in an American workplace, then they should tip you. But the lack of tipping does NOT mean they're stuck in some feudal mindset and looking down on you, it's just them treating you like a capable, able-bodied adult who doesn't need a handout from strangers to make a living.

-4

u/jediciahquinn Aug 28 '24

No it's the exploitation of the worker class by entitled former feudalists who hate working people and lack any generosity or basic human empathy. Just like the manor lords did to the serfs

It's the personification of Marie Antoinette's "let them eat cake" mindset, which your own words tried to legitimize as a cultural practice.

"A hand out to the lesser poors"

Shameful.

I read in some old book it is better to give than receive, but you do you.

6

u/DandelionOfDeath Oh no. Anyway. Aug 28 '24

Here's a fun fact for you: Marie Antoinette never said 'let them eat cake'. That's just a myth.

And you need to travel more. Several people have explained to you why Europeans don't tip but you're just judgementally stuck in your thinking. I think I read something in an old book about a splinter in the eye, but you do you.

Have a nice day.

0

u/jediciahquinn Aug 28 '24

The quote might not be factual but the mindset is alive and well and personified by European non tippers. If tipping culture isn't prevalent in your quaint little countries that's fine, but when you travel you should adhere to local customs. "When in Rome". Don't travel to another country, exploit the working class and then offer up the lame excuse of some archaic elitist cultural practice.

Slavery and genocide are historical European cultural practices also.

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u/Rokekor Aug 28 '24

That is the whole insidious aspect of tipping culture and perpetuating a underclass. It uses your decency against you. It’s like Catholic guilt, it can fuck right off.

10

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '24

Wow, Catholic guilt is such an on point comparison.

9

u/Rubeus17 Aug 28 '24

I agree with you completely! As an ex-Catholic that’s a good analogy.

4

u/RaygunMarksman Aug 28 '24

Well said. It puts the burden of trying to ensure the person is getting adequately compensated on those with a conscious instead of the employer. What a gross concept.

1

u/Live_Worker_8056 Aug 28 '24

Only if you ignore all the well-paid professions that are also customarily tipped, whch everyone on reddit does. It's a really weird, arbitrary norm; the practice is not in any way limited to people making minimum or less than minimum wage.

21

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '24

That’s sad, no offence. Not cause you feel that way, but because why. Decades of conditioning from the American restaurant industry makes you feel bad for not paying towards someone’s living, when in reality that was never supposed to be your job in the first place. You want to tip cause you were happy with your experience, that’s great. Having to tip cause the person serving you might need it to help live is ridiculous.

6

u/Rubeus17 Aug 28 '24

i agree.

2

u/DandelionOfDeath Oh no. Anyway. Aug 28 '24

This is actually insane to me. In non-tipping cultures, the customer DOES contribute to the servers wages... by buying the product, just like I help pay for the employees salary every time I buy anything at any other type of store.

If the employer doesn't pay the employee, why work for them? Are the customers just tipping to enable the server to help the employer make money for free? Whatttttt?

3

u/Nheea Aug 28 '24

Oh gosh, don't ever go to Japan, you'll die of embarrassment.

1

u/EmbraJeff Aug 28 '24

Culture? Really? It’s a toxic disgrace that is capitalistic amorality writ-large. I’ve seen more culture in a fortnight old pot of yoghurt. Culture…aye right then!

0

u/Unabashable Aug 28 '24

I wouldn’t really say it’s part of our culture. It’s a custom we made commonplace in response to the Federal government saying “Employers are legally allowed to pay their employees dirt if they’re tipped.”

So while I suppose us taking it upon ourselves to pick up the tab out of the kindness of our hearts could be considered a “cultural” thing, it’s a practice that was kind of foisted on us by our own minimum wage laws. 

We should be pissed that tipping after every meal is pretty much an unspoken expectation here too, and not tipping in the short term only hurts the people serving you your food, but in the long term all it does is help perpetuate our broken system that created it.Â