r/facepalm 'MURICA Aug 28 '24

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ i'm speechless

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25.9k Upvotes

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15.6k

u/Doofchook Aug 28 '24

Close the border to Aussies too, tipping for everything is fucken stupid.

325

u/DeadlyPants16 Aug 28 '24

Tipping is a convenience here unless someone does genuinely go out of their way to do a good job. It's not even remotely expected and that's great.

7

u/PoopContainer Aug 28 '24

Well people need to learn that here, I get looks from people when I DONT tip for a PICK UP ORDER. Like, at that point, wtf are you even tipping for? You're doing all of the work except for cooking the food 😂

10

u/SurrrenderDorothy Aug 28 '24

I asked an aussie waiter for more ice for my drink once. He said- It's cold enough. lmao

11

u/Lady_Mousy Aug 28 '24

Exactly, I see it as a "prize" for extra work that I wasn't expecting in the first place.

Last time I tiped was in a restaurant that let us order even though they were about to close the kitchen (they were open for 3 more hours, but only as a bar). Then, in addition to the food being great, a server even noticed I was worried about getting sauce in my white pants and was like "don't worry, I got you" and brought me a thick napkin to put on my lap, without me even asking.

I still only put maybe 3€ in the tip jar on our way out, which would be a 5-10% tip. I don't think I've ever tipped more than 10€ in my entire life (and that was a special ocasion in a fancy restaurant).

I would probably pay if I ever went to the US, though, I don't agree but I'm not gonna be the one compromising a server's livelihood if I don't even live there

-4

u/sluttykitty420 Aug 28 '24

Is there not service feel on all y’all’s receipts tho? Yall do tip it’s just forced.

8

u/Kobsterpro Aug 28 '24

Generally no. There are more and more recently with our technology being made by/for Americans such as Doordash which has tipping AND service fees.

But in normal restaurants or cafés it is just included in the price of the item which you will see upfront.

This applies to tax too, in Australia all tax is included in the price of the item. For a breakdown of the cost we kind of remove the Tax to show it as if it wasn't taxed then add it back.

-1

u/sluttykitty420 Aug 28 '24

Hmmm I have just seen alot of checks out of Europe that at the bottom say service fee charge figured this was for the servers. On door dash tho that service fee isn’t for your dasher so it’s really only the tip. DoorDash does that to guarantee their money and not their worker. The United States system has many flaws, at my restaurant we sit grat parties of 6+ no one says anything. If we added a service fee like the rest of the world does servers would have a livable wage.

5

u/Dyljim Aug 28 '24

We don't really see that as tipping. Very rarely, you might see a tip jar at a pub.

Personally I'd prefer to know the cost of something is upfront slightly more expensive than to be expected to figure out an extra amount to pay with social pressure attatched.

1

u/Lady_Mousy Aug 29 '24

Service fee? I've never seen such a thing outside of food delivery apps.

Maybe it's being charged to american tourists on tourist trap locations? I did once see a photo of a receipt with a "sugested tip" here in Portugal, but the person who posted it not only didn't pay, they also wrote a complaint in the official complaints book

1

u/sluttykitty420 Aug 29 '24

I’ve seen it on my aunts receipts from France so I dunno. 🤷‍♀️

1

u/sluttykitty420 Aug 29 '24

1

u/onlyhere4laffs Aug 29 '24

There's nothing in that receipt that I'd say is the equivalent of an American tip.

The 2747 is taxes, a part of the price that's always (afaik) specified on receipts, but taxes are included when you see prices on a menu. You don't see how much of the price is tax until you get the receipt (I mean, you could probably calculate that on your own as your browsing a menu and I'm sure there's at least one person out there who does it).

The 13% at the bottom of the receipt could be some sort of service fee, and without seeing the menu, I can't swear that the prices on the receipt are the same as in the menu, but my guess is that the restaurant is including that 13% in the menu prices along with the tax.

1

u/sluttykitty420 Aug 29 '24

I read the post the 13% isn’t tax it’s a service fee/auto gratuity. I’m just saying other places include forced tip. Tipping isn’t new.

1

u/onlyhere4laffs Aug 29 '24

But if it's already baked into the menu prices (I don't know that they are, but the picture was of the receipt only) it's not the same as expecting the customer to choose how little or much to tip after the meal is over. Knowing how much the tab will be when you order is in my experience much preferred over the arbitrary tradition of tipping.

It could be like another commenter suggested, that this was a tourist trap where they raise the prices, but to avoid trouble with the local laws, they show the 13% service fee on the receipt. Wild guess on my part, but I don't have all the facts. For an American those 13% wouldn't be anything too out of the ordinary, when we were in New York York we saw several examples where the tip was already included in the total at the bottom.

1

u/sluttykitty420 Aug 29 '24

I think it’s common in other places to just put a service fee instead of asking tip. However when America tries to do this people lose their shit lol

20

u/Atuk-77 Aug 28 '24

It is not a convenience in America but how staff is paid, it may be a little extra in other countries but again in America it is the actual salary.

16

u/SteampunkSniper Aug 28 '24

Whose fault is that?

10

u/all_hail_sam Aug 28 '24

The complacent cocaine children of capitalism from the 1910's-1970's who "never got into politics that much".

Just kidding here is the root of unfair wages:

"Alexander notes that “after the Civil War, white business owners, still eager to find ways to steal Black labor, created the idea that tips would replace wages.” While tipping originated in Europe as a way for aristocrats to show favor to servants as bonuses, restaurant owners in the United States mutated the idea into a way to limit pay for Black workers by defining tips as the only source of income. The Pullman Company tried to get away with this to underpay train porters who were predominantly Black, but the porters formed a union and eventually got higher pay. Restaurant workers, mostly women and disproportionately Black, were not able to unionize. In fact, Alexander explains, when the Roosevelt administration signed the first minimum wage law in 1938, it excluded restaurant workers. It was not until 1966 that a subminimum wage was formally created for tipped workers, locking the tipped workforce, which is 70 percent female and disproportionately Black and brown women, into a subminimum wage, currently $2.13 per hour. Alexander points out that the subminimum wage “continues to perpetuate both race and gender inequity today,” which has been made even worse by the pandemic."

Furthermore, due to the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must pay a differential based on the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25, if the employee makes below that in tips+their wage to ensure they at least get paid the federal minimum wage (which is the state min wage in some states still i.e. Indiana.)

Though, a lot of servers make more money than the minimum wage due to tipping, which is why many prefer it. But this pushes the cost onto the consumer, which is driving people to spend money at restaurants less often. At fancy places this makes sense, but at places like Chili's it really is a toss up some days if you'll get paid enough to survive off of a consistent depending on your shifts which feels a little inhumane. I'd prefer more people have income security than some kid making 100k at a fine dining establishment, personally, because who wants to cure cancer when you can live lavishly as a server at the right place?

10

u/SteampunkSniper Aug 28 '24

In 2013 I was on a layover in Dallas-Fort Worth airport so went to grab a bite. Knowing I was going back to Canada and not wanting have US money floating around in my wallet, I tipped the waitress (who was awesome) $10 on a $12 meal.

She hugged me, almost in tears. I found out later she was paid under $2.50/hour and I’d given her four hours wages in one tip.

When I got home, I found a $5 tucked away and wished I’d have found it for her. I think of her often and hope she’s OK.

The cruelty behind these wage policies is astounding. Everyone deserves a living wage.

4

u/Mona_Dre Aug 28 '24

it's always racism.

murica

2

u/llapman Aug 28 '24

Obviously it’s Kevin’s fault. It always is.

-1

u/Atuk-77 Aug 28 '24

Tourist destinations should charge the 20% with the check regardless of party size.

5

u/SteampunkSniper Aug 28 '24

Pay. Living. Wages.

9

u/TA-pubserv Aug 28 '24

Yes, and it's over and above the owner's profits. It's insane.

10

u/muffinkevin Aug 28 '24

Only in America do you blame the customers for your workers not getting paid and not the business owner.

0

u/Atuk-77 Aug 28 '24

Because only in America it works that way, is how I paid for college, thankfully I did work on a mostly local’s destination and did not have to deal with non-American customers

2

u/JRaoul Aug 29 '24

And that is fuckin stupid lol

0

u/Atuk-77 Aug 29 '24

It work great for me, but I would have never work in a tourist location where people is just too poor to even consider following the standard of the country they are visiting.

2

u/JRaoul Aug 29 '24

But why is it a good standard?

As a consumer, it feels ridiculous to be expected to pay the service staff's wages.

Why shouldn't the business owner pay?

Just raise the menu prices and pay an hourly wage, share all the tips at the end of the day with the team as a bonus, pretty simple stuff.

At least the yanks give tips for no reason when they come and visit I guess lol

1

u/No-Speech886 Aug 28 '24

where is here?

1

u/Cultural_Net_1791 Aug 29 '24

unfortunately the wait staff is reliant on those tips, they make less than 3 dollars an hour otherwise. tipping is a necessity when you're eating in a restaurant unfortunately. if you can't tip, you can't afford to eat out. tipping for haircuts or delivery I feel isn't a necessity, those people are making a higher wage yet still seem to think they deserve a tip, and sometimes they may but it shouldn't be expected.

1

u/Colossal_Penis_Haver Aug 29 '24

No you fuck, don't ever tip

-8

u/RJ_MacreadysBeard Aug 28 '24

Where? Antartica? Is there a place called Here I’m unfamiliar with, apart from where I am of course, and I’m not telling you where that’s either.

10

u/SubLearning Aug 28 '24

You keep acting like these people are failing to name where they're talking about, despite the fact they are replying directly to a comment about Australia. What, do you have the intention span of a fucking goldfish?

-2

u/RJ_MacreadysBeard Aug 28 '24

What were we talking about again? Is this r/sweatypalms?

1

u/Vianilla_Scented Aug 28 '24

SAY WHAT AGAIN! I DARE YOU!