Im having beers at bar ordered wings and tipped $2 everything the bartender brings me.
Beer = $6
tip for beer $2
wings = $20ish
Tip for wings from bartender = $2
Total tips = $4
==============================
Same order from waitress/er = $26
Tip = $5.20
Now I know this is micro example but extrapolate this over several drinks with food and the difference swings the other way. The question remains tho, am I tipping correctly?
Every aspect of America is insufferable
And getting worse, or enshittified
I’m so glad I don’t live in a country where you’re expected to pay companies employees directly so they don’t have to. Even if someone goes above and beyond and is the greatest at their job time ever seen, I still don’t have to top up their pay cheque from my own pocket.
Every business using certain POS’s have a tip screen come up now, but I’ve never seen or heard of anyone selecting anything other than 0% thankfully.
The latest atrocity I’ve seen in tipping is at the attended checkout at a grocery store. These companies are leeches.
Its insane, I hated visiting there because tipping is so weird and ingrained like something theyncant explain. People will tell you its simple just do x, other say yeah well I do y, and the next I will only do y if abc otherwise I omly give x.
I just overpaid for everything there and considered it expensive and weird
Minimum $1/drink from the get go… possibly $2 if it’s a cocktail. The quicker you catch the attention of the bartender the faster your drinks will flow.
IMO: it boils down to my happiness v. debating the whole tipping culture.
Start a tab, tip at the end
Ima dive bar kind of guy lol the place I was at had cash registers so old they didnt print receipts. 90% of places I frequent are cash only and they arent setting the beer down till they see cash on bar.
Dont tip. Covid killed tipping, after covid you dont need to tip
I recommend you stay home. While the american tipping model is very stupid, I would like to remember you why 5-20 percent tip should be normal for serving food and drinks:
You are all insufferable cunts when you’re drunk.
If the wage you’re offered is to low dont take it. Its really that simple. Dont take the job then expect the customers to make up the difference its greedy.
And just not work?
Oh I didnt realize server was the only job.
Its the trade i learned. Its the thing i am good at so…
Explain.
Tipping caught Covid and now it is dead?
Before covid there was a lot of inservice work that you tipped for. During covid it became a lot more digital and the tipping didnt go away so everyone realised its bullshit and stopped tipping. Once tipping culture starts infecting digital transactions you got to stop it before it infects everything.
True. I called a junk hauling agency and they showed up and did the work. There was a tipping option at the end.
You’re tipping too much.
In Michigan we passed a law requiring minimum wage for all tipped workers by 2030(?), and they FLIPPED THEIR SHIT. Said they would lose too much money in tips if they made minimum wage. The republicans rolled it back below minimum (still a small increase), and I’m not sure where it stands right now.
If tipped workers are going to fight against wage increases so much, then I’m okay reducing their tips.
there is already a federal law about it. Minimum is already minimum for everyone. Tipped positions simply let the employer save some of that money. If you didn’t tip, the employer must pay the full wage.
I used to work for a payroll company who had a bunch of restaurant clients. Some of those servers made bank. I’d fight it as well.
LOL, you’re Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs. :)
You also have a thing where the minimum wage is far below the actual market rate, the typical wage in the area, and actually making minimum wage is way less than any other job. Nobody wants 7.25 an hour unless you’re forced to.
I mean they are required to be paid minimum at the end of the day anyways
If they don’t make tips at all, they get paid minimum wage. If they do they can be pets less as long as tips make up the difference.
Unpopular opinion, but maybe servers (and most everyone) deserve more than minimum wage. And I’m not saying the consumer should be paying it, they should be paid their money’s worth by their employer.
Michigan non-tip min wage is what like $10? Who the hell can survive on that?
Minimum wage is the minimum they can be paid, not the maximum. If the job “deserves” more than minimum wage it will pay more than minimum wage.
“Servers” are a job that requires basically zero skills, and is often done by literal children. I’m sorry but if there was ever a job that was only deserving of minimum wage, it’s that one.
The minimum wage when it was instituted was designed to represent the minimum wage needed for a single worked to support a family.
Additionally all labor is skilled labor. You either need school or experience to perform a job. I can drop a highly educated neurosurgeon into a restaurant. Without instructions they will fail at the job.
Anyway, all labor deserves a living wage. If you work a full week you should be able to support yourself comfortably.
Additionally all labor is skilled labor.
No, it’s not. When people use the term “unskilled” for jobs it doesn’t mean “you literally have to have zero skills, not even the ability to user your hands, to do it” - it means you only need a limited skill set and is a job that has minimal economic value. Essentially it’s a job that anyone at any stage could walk into and be able to do with minimal training.
That has always been how the skilled/unskilled labor gap has been broken up. You might not like it, but that’s what it means. There is nothing about a server’s role that makes it a “skilled” job that requires highly specialized skills that someone would have to go and get qualifications and study for. It’s taking orders and carrying the orders out to people when someone else, often a skilled laborer like a chef for example, prepares them. Asking for drink orders and if everything is ok with the meal is not “skilled labor”.
Anyway, all labor deserves a living wage. If you work a full week you should be able to support yourself comfortably.
Agreed 100%. Unfortunately COVID (and everything since, like the “renewable energy” push) and most countries’ governments absolutely moronic handling of it has completely destroyed any hopes of this. Getting everyone from minimum wage workers upwards to be able to afford to “live comfortably” requires either a massive, massive recession with 50%+ deflation, or…well there’s really no other way. Maybe a UBI, and I wish more places would trial it, but apart from that there is no real solution that anyone has been able to suggest.
No, it’s not. When people use the term “unskilled” for jobs it doesn’t mean “you literally have to have zero skills, not even the ability to user your hands, to do it” - it means you only need a limited skill set and is a job that has minimal economic value. Essentially it’s a job that anyone at any stage could walk into and be able to do with minimal training.
That has always been how the skilled/unskilled labor gap has been broken up.
You’ve bought the lie they’ve been telling forever. Every person that goes to work is performing skilled labor. The only thing a person can do that doesn’t take any skill is being born rich.
Rich assholes that do nothing other than “invest” into a buisness. Every dime made from there is off the backs of working folks. Without our skills the wealthy would be poor.
You’ve bought the lie they’ve been telling forever.
I haven’t bought any lie, I’m telling you the definitions of skilled/unskilled labor that have been in use forever.
Every person that goes to work is performing skilled labor. The only thing a person can do that doesn’t take any skill is being born rich.
Ok so your idea of skill is simply…not dropping dead. Gotcha.
No matter what you want to think, serving tables is one of the easiest and least-skilled jobs in the world. It’s why literal kids do it, it’s why it’s paid less than minimum wage, and it’s why it’s a last resort for many of the people who do it. Literally anyone can know how to do it with maybe an hour of training from another server. It’s not a “skilled” job. It’s a “bare minimum of being able to function in a society” skill level job.
Let me ask you this -do you think that investing is a skill? Choosing what to invest in and when and how much?
I guarantee this person has never waited tables.
Correct they deserve more and they should negotiate it with their employer, not people who out eating food and smd drinking
I agree tipping should go away, but I’m wondering how those economics would work out? Most food places barely break even, I can’t see anyone being able to pay their servers more, so they would still pass that onto the customers.
Add to this that people aren’t really smart. I remember some time ago, some places testing out paying their waiters, plus showing how much food would be with tax included with no surprised. People preferred paying more with tipping, the big price sticker drove business away.
Each item on the menu should be priced all in, including the tax.
The market will sort out the rest. If place can’t get enough business while paying a living wage, they should go out of business so somebody else can come in who can make it work. Econ 101. Food and bars are 100% discretionary spend.
Whatever is happening now is no benefiting anyone besides owners and some some high earning waiters/bar tenders.
These clowns got brazen post COVID, so we are due for a push back.
Most food places barely break even,
A lot of them fail but the profitable ones are profitable. Owners just don’t want you know that because… you would ask why they don’t pay better.
If they “deserve” more they’d get more. I’m not sure why so many Americans think that wait staff should be paid more - it’s pretty much the most unqualified job in the world that pretty much anyone can do.
Pay is based on skill, qualifications/expertise, and return on investment. If anyone can do a job, it’s not going to pay well. If you start paying servers 2x minimum wage then all of a sudden there are hundreds/thousands of other jobs that need a 2x or more higher wage bump, and all of a sudden you’re paying base tech support $200k a year, and inflation is 30% a year, and people complaining that servers deserve more than $60/hour because $60 only buys you a small coffee thanks to the hyper inflation you caused by paying them 2x minimum wage.
You are a free market maxi and this aint a free market. Chamber of commercie spends good money to lobby to suppress wages among other parasite.
This take is ignores this fact. why?
I think it’s insane too. I understand that tipping goes (theoretically) to the waitstaff, but I have a hard time tipping $1 per $4.50 bottle of beer handed to me. If it’s more complex of a drink than x and coke, sure it took their time.
Tipping table service used to be good amount only not drinks and tax. Now it seems to be on top the final total with 20% being expected.
I thought bar food is tipped the same as restaurant food.
Tipping a dollar a drink is standard because
- It’s easy
… that’s really it. No thinking, no math, etc. which is important when you’re drinking.
Also, you too per drink so the bartender knows you tip right from the start.
You mention the key for tipping, IMO. Bartenders are pretty damn good at identifying who gives a little. I feel it definitely helps me get my drinks even at a very crowded bar.
I tip the first drink, but not every single time I get a beer. Not paying a dollar for them to crack a Miller Lite. Maybe every other or third drink I’ll throw a dollar on there, maybe more at the end of the night.
For anyone who mightn’t know, tipping culture is rooted in slavery and exploitation. It existed in Europe to an extent but really spread its wings - like many awful European things - in the USA.
I support workers rights, but I don’t tip. The way I see it, if the place requires tips for their staff to get by, then the staff are being financially abused and I would be propping up a system of exploitation. Prioritise places that pay their staff above the minimum wage.
The way I see it, if the place requires tips for their staff to get by, then the staff are being financially abused and I would be propping up a system of exploitation. Prioritise places that pay their staff above the minimum wage.
Second sentence is fine, feel free to boycott places that pay below minimum wage. But if you do go to an establishment that pays based on the assumption of tips, and you don’t tip, you’re just joining in the exploitation.
you’re just joining in the exploitation
Actually no, they’re doing the only real thing that can be done to get rid of tipping. If no one tips, the business is forced to pay a deserving wage, which is at least minimum wage.
if you do go to an establishment that pays based on the assumption of tips
In the USA, there are only 7 US States (and Guam) which mandate that the minimum wage be paid prior to consideration of tips. All other states permit some fraction of tips to be considered as part of minimum wage, with some states limiting the employer contribution to as low as $2.13/hr.
This is indeed an absurd situation outside of those seven states, but it also means that it’s nigh impossible to avoid establishments that rely on tips to supplement wages, in the other 43 states.
With this background, I can understand why the earlier commenter views tipping as exploitative, for both the consumer and the staff. The result of either choice – boycotting places that pay less than minimum wage, or not tipping at those places – doesn’t change the fact that the staff are being underpaid, which is the root exploitative practice.
The result of either choice – boycotting places that pay less than minimum wage, or not tipping at those places – doesn’t change the fact that the staff are being underpaid, which is the root exploitative practice.
Yes, but boycotting those places is justifiable. Going anyway and just not tipping is actively participating in the exploitation.
I think reasonable people can disagree on this point, on whether not tipping constitutes a secondary exploitation.
No, they cannot. Disagreement here is not reasoned, it is just another example of clever people using their cleverness to justify unreasonable prior beliefs.
You can boycott a business, and write them to express that your boycott is based on their tipping policy. That would be a reasonable strategy to support the workers.
By still giving the business owners money, knowing they pay their staff sub-minimum wages based on the convention of tipping, and then not tipping, you have not communicated any disapproval to management. You have in fact directly supported the business owner exploiting their workers, and joined that exploitation for personal benefit. That’s the opposite of supporting the worker.
I do 20% for table service by wait staff and 1 dollar per drink at a bar, unless I run a tab over a long session, then I often default back to 20%
Yalls are insane: $1/drink tip. For a sit-down restaurant, 20% minimum because that’s the expectation in 2025. There’s a special place in hell for people who decrease a server’s tip bc service wasn’t up to par. Either tip the full amount or eat at home, this ain’t 1952.
No
Sure buddy, call the police 🤡
Who the fuck do you think you are telling people how to spend their money?
This is why 15% is making a come back ;)
With tips I generally do 20% across the board so a bartender would get 20% just like a waitress. And it’s always better to have a happy bartender :)
That said I’m also in the northeast U.S. where everything is expensive so it sort of makes sense that the tips aren’t going to be cheap. Maybe I’d rethink the tipping if I was somewhere else less expensive.
The expensive part is big. Inflation on bar and restaurant drinks is real. Drinks where I am are a minimum of 15 usd with 20-25 not being outside the realm of possibility. I started tipping 2 dollars a drink a few years ago at bars. But I’m not getting a dozen drinks, or drinking every day at bars, even every weekend.
I can see these tips really adding up if you do this a lot, especially restaurants where two people + tip for a couple that gets two drinks each is 120-150 usd all day. Wages aren’t exactly catching up to any of that.
There was an article just the other day pointing out that a lot of places are actually charging you a higher percentage than what they say they are. Chances are you’re being screwed over.
No, you and I tip similarly.
Really depends.
Typically, $1 is for a standup bar etc with high volume.
If I’m sitting at the bar top, getting fed, I’ll tip like I would were I sitting at a table. If I’m just sucking down beers, probably a buck or two a drink and if I’ve been a while, a 5 on top at the end.
But, I’ve known a lot of people in the industry etc… Also I’ve found that being a good person who tips helps out in the long run, it’s nice getting the occasional free drink, having the server on your side when flirting with folks at the bar etc. Best one was the bartender gave me really high end ski gloves that had been left behind a couple nights prior, the cash equivalent would’ve been huge.
As they say, it’s nice to be nice.
