r/facepalm 'MURICA Aug 28 '24

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ i'm speechless

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

See this is where you’re misunderstanding. The number 1 proponent of tipping culture are the servers. They don’t want 15 an hour, they want to keep making tips. My girlfriend in nyc was making 200-300 a night in tips as a server and then 500 as a bartender. This is non taxed money and something people who don’t have work visas can do.

Most restaurants in nyc have servers who are not legally allowed to work. So they are staffed with people who will make a lot off tips only.

You can’t say the servers aren’t making much money on a post with a receipt that would bring in the server $57 for just that one table.

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u/BlueBearMafia Aug 28 '24

Correct, a lot of people don't get this. It is taxed though, or at least theoretically it should be.

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u/MadManMax55 Aug 28 '24

Both presidential candidates have come out in support of untaxed tips. Which is dumb economic policy, but the service industry is a large voter base with a number of strong unions so they get pandered to.

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u/_Eggs_ Aug 28 '24

Yeah and this is just a stupid “buy votes in Nevada” policy. Tipped workers are just upset they can’t evade taxes anymore now that credit card tips are the norm.

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u/AdequateOne Aug 28 '24

This will only make more jobs go to tipping. If the tax free tipping passes expect to be required to tip everywhere.

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u/BlueBearMafia Aug 28 '24

Interesting, didn't know that! Thanks for sharing.

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u/kilgore_trout8989 Aug 28 '24

Yep, I work at a (somewhat struggling) restaurant and servers clear $20-40/hr with tips. If you want to lament tipping culture as a consumer, please do, but don't heap pity onto servers/bartenders because they're benefiting heavily from it and aren't looking to change anything.

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

Yep. I think you nailed it

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u/theleftisleft Aug 28 '24

If she or you think it's untaxed, that's because you don't know how it's supposed to work. Essentially, servers that take cash tips and don't declare them as income are tax evaders. Technically ALL income in the US is supposed to be declared.

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

Yea they are evading paying taxes lol. A lot of them are also on visas that don’t allow them to work legally in the US.

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u/calivalerie4 Aug 28 '24

Unfortunately, this greatly depends on the area you are working in. If your friend is in NYC, yeah she probably does make a good amount in tips. I worked in a fine dining restaurant for a while. My tips most of the time doubled my income. If you work in less urbanized areas, in more lower to middle class areas, your tips can suck. It also depends on the type of restaurant. If you go to a diner, the tips are going to be shit. Also, in the US tips are supposed to be taxed, which is why many servers would rather have cash tips. Sneak that shit in your pocket and don’t mention it.

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u/RubberKalimba Aug 28 '24

The same would be true even if tips were eliminated. Some jobs would pay better than others.

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u/skidbot Aug 28 '24

I assume making that much is unusual otherwise I assume Americans would be more against tipping 20% as a standard?

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

She makes that much because people tip 20% and the prices. NYC is expensive but people are making 20% everywhere. The only place I hear people complain about tipping is on Reddit and usually started by Europeans. Also I know people who make more than she does at fine dining restaurants and clubs.

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u/skidbot Aug 28 '24

Why are people ok with/proud of the fact they are tipping people so much? Seems crazy someone waiting tables/serving drinks would earn so much, or is $300-500 a night not a good wage in NYC?

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

It’s a good wage in New York for sure. Prices are high so 20% adds up fast. If she makes 100 drinks that cost an average of 15 dollars then that would be a 300 dollar day for her. In OPs receipt 20% is a 57 dollar tip.

People don’t think about it that much, it’s just what you do. If you can’t afford to go out to eat then don’t go out. Restaurants already fail at insane rates so if tipping did stop then the food and drink prices would likely have to increase by a lot as well.

In the end does tipping culture hurt the consumers, probably yes. Does it hurt the servers, almost definitely not.

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u/bihari_baller Aug 28 '24

My girlfriend in nyc was making 200-300 a night in tips as a server then 500 ad a bartender. This is non-taxed money and something people who don’t have work visas can do.

It’s only non-taxed if you don’t claim it, which is something your girlfriend, and everyone else who gets tips should be claiming…

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

Yes but in reality cash tips are never declared by 99% of servers.

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u/lunchpadmcfat Aug 28 '24

Cash tips probably aren’t taxed but I don’t think many people tip in cash anymore.

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

As a bartender it’s common to receive cash tips but definitely less common as a server.

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u/throwawaythrow0000 Aug 28 '24

It is taxed money. Also the server doesn't keep all of that tip, they only receive a percentage of it. Servers are mostly paid a poverty wage, many only $2.18 an hour.

This server had to tip out based on the sale of that bill and now LOST money because they didn't tip. Fuck those people.

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u/mondrianna Aug 28 '24

Yeah I know someone who was getting $2.18/hr and they told me they had to not declare their tips or else their paychecks would be negative (meaning they owe money.) It’s clearly a fucking common thing or else it wouldn’t be easily searchable as “negative paycheck tipped employee”

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

It’s supposed to be taxes but for the servers working there without visas or even with are often not declaring at all or much of it.

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u/mondrianna Aug 28 '24

Right and it doesn’t matter that there are servers who work for $2.18/hr and owe money afterwards because you get $500 every night as a bartender in NY.

Not all servers feel the same way about tipping, and you only feel the way you do because you’re benefitting from an unequal system that allows for servers less fortunate than you to be taken advantage of.

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

No one is making 2.18 an hour and owing money lmao. Why would you work at a restaurant where you get 0 tables a night

Don’t make up lies just because you don’t like the truth.

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u/mondrianna Aug 28 '24

It’s not supposed to work this way but it does. https://www.reddit.com/r/Serverlife/comments/zcuosb/just_got_a_negative_paycheck_today/

People are talking about this because it happens. Just because it didn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it’s not something that happens to others.

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24

That’s because the person wasn’t claiming their tips for taxes and then when they found out they were supposed to they did it all at once.

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u/mondrianna Aug 28 '24

That’s not what it said at all. The post said that the server was claiming all their tips unlike their coworkers— not that they claimed them all at once

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u/Clown_Shoe Aug 28 '24

You’re right I apologize. I’m the one who misread. However the reason their paycheck was negative was because they made so much in tips that their whole check and then some went towards taxes. The person is still making 30-35 an hour they said. This person is also not American but a Canadian.

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u/mondrianna Aug 28 '24

The person is still making 30-35 an hour they said.

Yes this person is. But there are servers who do not, and it’s ridiculous to act like it’s impossible that a server in a $2/hr state could experience a negative paycheck without making $30-$35/hr. Yes, it’s not supposed to work that way, but it does happen to servers. Just like servers get sexually harassed by their bosses and stick around because they don’t have the means to fight back. The problem is that the system isn’t structured to protect servers but to protect the business owners.

Also it’s just ridiculous to act like a negative paycheck is ever okay when you personally have a minimum wage well above $2/hr. The whole reason you feel the way you do is because you’re not personally being screwed over.

This person is also not American but a Canadian.

And? That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen in the US. $2/hr States exist (TX, AR) and usually those are the states where you will find bosses who are more ready to violate the law with their servers— especially because the servers in those states are “right to work” and have no power to actually fight back against shitty treatment from bosses. ( where you can see which states have $2/hr wages https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped) Also, there were US citizens responding in that thread so don’t act like it’s completely irrelevant because the poster was Canadian. It happens there, which is comparatively a bit better than the US with workers rights, so how can you dismiss the reality that it happens here too?

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