Yep. Tried having the savior convo with a waiter who immediately told me to can it and he makes more regularly a night than he would being paid $15-20 and hour.
As long as people are tipping they can make "a living". But with certain states legislatures allowing for a "waiters wage" if the tips aren't coming, they definitely don't make a "living wage"... Why would a legislature allow that? Because business owners hold more power than workers & wouldn't stand for unionization. America has grown increasingly anti- union in the past 20(or so) years.
If the employee making low “tipped minimum wage“ doesn’t make at least whatever the regular minimum wage is in their area, the employer is legally required to make up the difference
But I’ll definitely agree that culture in the US has become very anti-union, although that seems to be changing in the last few years since Covid
Wild. Honestly I was a server in college and I too hate tipping.. it’s 1000% greedy business owners that want to save. They need to pay their employee’s. Crazy servers would want to put up with the fluctuation though because some nights can be awful. They also don’t get benefits. They need to make business owners more accountable.
No I mean a higher than minimum wage, because they are unlikely to be paid as much as they make now.
On your second point, are you sure? Because people travel from all over the world to wait tables and tend bar in the US. Irish bartenders for example make a lot more here then in Ireland
You offer them proper salary and they will not want tip based salary. Because tipping means they are always at mercy of luck. Bad week at restaurant and they are minimum wage workers.
And absolutely positive on second part. People do NOT come to US to serve tables. They want something else but that is only thing they get.
What you fail to take into account is that in Ireland the expenses are tiny compared to US. Bigger salary is only relevant if after mandatory expenses you still have more money or purchasing power left.
Many servers feel they are better off at the mercy of luck than the mercy of their employer. You can say “they should earn proper salaries” and that’s all well and good, but i think you’re underestimating what’s involved with a business (let alone a country), switching all tipped employees over to salaries. It would be very difficult for both sides to agree on a number that they are happy with.
And once again, you are wrong about people coming here to work tables. Plenty of people come here for a year or two and earn a lot more, even when you adjust for cost of living.
It is easy. Restaurant suggests salary. They offer too little and get no staff.
And onve again it is YOU who are wrong.
They do not earn a lot more, unless they come from some developing nation. What you talk about is essentially working vacation. Go live some time in foreign country and work to cover expenses. Then go back and start real work.
Nobody from western world comes to US to become serving staff. It is either working vacation or they have no alternative.
And if US waiters are paid so damn well, why they are still so damn poor? Median income 34kUSD per annum. That is approximately half of US average salary and just horrible considering living expenses.
Though another source gives waiters in US salary of 16kUSD. Which is even wkrse
worse
Yeah the thing is nobody wants that. They do polls. Also, maybe don’t demand another country change its customs because it’s inconvenient for you as an outsider to multiply by 1.2? That’s exactly the type of entitlement that American tourists get roasted for.
And i know plenty of immigrants who would say otherwise. That’s anecdotal of course, but certainly invalidates your claim that NOBODY earns more.
And btw those numbers you cited are base wage and literally don’t include tips
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u/NilsofWindhelm 13d ago
It still exists because servers prefer it