Comment by elif
20 days ago
Fluoridation, imperial measurement, 20% tips, taxes added at the register, and circumcision are the weirdest things Americans think everyone does.
20 days ago
Fluoridation, imperial measurement, 20% tips, taxes added at the register, and circumcision are the weirdest things Americans think everyone does.
They're doing both tipping and untipping.
> 20% tips
Is this real?
Yep. My favorite thing is when I am not even at a restaurant and I'm being asked to tip a retail worker making well above minimum wage. As a former bartender who made $2.65US an hour and relied on tips for my "paycheck" each week, seeing this new "tipping everyone" trend is like a slap in the face.
Bottom line, if your business can't afford to pay its people a living wage, then it can't afford to operate.
Two of the most hilarious things I've seen are tips at self-serve kiosks, and tips where you carry the food to the person behind the counter. Tipping them for ringing up an item..
7 replies →
Yes, it's pretty common. It's also common for businesses where customers tip to underpay their employees on the expectation that they'll make it up with tips. It's legal to do this in many jurisdictions.
As an American, I wish we didn't do this, but it's a collective action problem that's very hard to solve.
What exactly is the definition of "underpay" here? Back when my wife was a server, it seemed like a cheat code to the service industry - she was making way more money waiting tables for $2.65/hr + tips than she had made at any other job she'd had (something like $18-20/hr 15 years ago)
6 replies →
One thing that annoys me is that some states, like California, don't have a tipped minimum wage. (Well, we do, it's just set to the same number as the non-tipped minimum.) And yet we're still expected to tip. I guess the real problem is that it's expensive to live in CA, and our minimum wage needs to be hiked up quite a bit.
One of the many reasons I left the USA. Too bad US-Americans are so used to tipping 20% they even do it when traveling... giving the rest of us a reputation as being suckers.
Tipping is why you left the US? Really?
7 replies →
Yes, for nearly any restaurant this is the unspoken recommendation, and sometimes enforced automatically if your group is larger than 6-8. Source: I am an American.
When i read it now it is ridiculous how high the tip rate is. Yes 18-25% a lot of them tip on the taxed total bill which is bananas
I kid you not, majority of Americans (myself included) feel some level of guilt pushing the 15% button.
depends on where it's at. Sit down? I will always tip. Pickup up at the restaurant? nope.
Yes, at least in NYC. And you get to tip in coffee places too, even when your coffee is to go. The card payment device (whatever they are called) gives you options such as 20%, 40%, 60% when you try to pay.
for some people it is. Maybe you'll become a believer when you realize that waiters wages are only around $2.35 an hour plus tips. Some states require that wait staff make -at least- federal minimum wage ($7.50? or so). Most do quite a bit better than that in all but the worst restaurant jobs. Not really a living wage tho. Some people do well on tips in upper crust restaurants, and often bartenders have enough turnover to do pretty well too.
In Canada, these days, even Subway expects a tip. It is insane.
Yeah the lowest option on some point of sale systems now is 20.