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In other parts of the world, there is no tipping. This is because it's expected for the employer to provide the employee a living wage, not statistics and an underground economy.
It's a terrible practice and ultimately hurts workers. It should be banned simply because it promotes worker tax evasion, which is not what I really care about here, but it's a good reason to make it illegal. Making it illegal is only way to stop it in the US. It's absolutely rampant. You pick up donuts At the dunkin store and they ask for a tip now.
Its more complicated than that.
For your average waitress or diner worker, tips are their living wage. But for people at nicer restaurants or who "hustle", tips can be REALLY good income. This is why there is always so much push back any time some politician says "this is real messed up". I think it was a somewhat recent story where the restaurant the South Park guys bought got rid of tipping and the wait staff were angry?
But, of course, the wait staff who don't know how to work a table and the bus boys and the rest of the staff all get screwed over. Because yes, some places pool tips but skimming is 100% a thing and management is never going to stop it so long as they get their cut too.
The reality is that food needs to be more expensive at restaurants so that the profit margins cover living wages. The top salespeople will get screwed, but... they are already screwing over their co-workers so fuck 'em.
But now you have the people who benefit from being tipped getting angry AND the people who "could otherwise not afford to eat out" suddenly angry that the base price includes a living wage rather than the 2 dollar tip they leave on a 30 dollar order being the decider.
All that said: Outside of higher end catered meals in Europe, service at even a halfway decent restaurant in the US is miles ahead. Mostly because the staff knows that is how they get their bonuses. Still doesn't justify screwing over bussers and low totem pole cooks but...
I'm sorry but I have to take issue with "service is miles ahead".
American table service is weird. It's an uncomfortable experience for anyone who isn't used to it. You can call it a cultural difference but it genuinely gave us a feeling of revulsion - the fake friendliness, the platitudes, the hovering near the table, the constant refilling, the fucking survey mid-meal, the attentiveness barely concealing the determination to extract your money and shove you out and get another mark on the door.
Perhaps because most of these things seem to primarily seek to recreate the experience of a slave owner and their chattel.
I’m an American and this stuff has always bothered me. I do hate having my drink empty, but I don’t need a refill when I have half left either.
Service in Japan and South Korea is better than in American restaurants and you don't have to bribe the staff to be nice to you. The price on the menu is usually cheaper too.
Also, pooled tips are basically a slush fund for wages since the entire point of tipping is supposed to be to reward good service and if the tip isn't going directly to the person who provides the service, what's the point? Ditto for any tip on a service that hasn't even been performed yet, such as delivery services.
All that said: Outside of higher end catered meals in Europe, service at even a halfway decent restaurant in the US is miles ahead. Mostly because the staff knows that is how they get their bonuses.
If your idea of good service is having a waiter with faked cheer jump at you every five minutes loaded with a jug of ice cubes to check if "everything is great", then sure, the US style is miles ahead.
If you just want a professional to do his job as unobtrusively as possible, the European way is the one to pick.
Tipping culture does not create better service, have you ever been to Italy? People tip because its the social norm, not because they like the service.
It's sad how much work has been put into convincing worker to buy this shit. It is not to their benefit. If you would make however much money after tips, you should still expect to make that same amount in a wage if we remove tips. It's just a hurdle for everyone to jump through so restaurant owners aren't held accountable to pay their staff. It's also not uncommon for them to not make up the difference if the staff doesn't make minimum wage after tips, which they are legally required to do.
Tipping is a racket. If it were in the workers favor, why would their bosses be so in favor of it? If the person who you're working for is ever in favor of something financial, you should pay attention because you should probably be on the other side. If it makes them more money then it's likely costing you money
The reality is that, for the people who "make it work", tipping is a lot closer to being a sales person. You are talking them into buying the more expensive meal option or getting a bottle of champagne or whatever. And you are timing your check-ins just right so it feels like you are attentive rather than forced to interrupt someone the moment they take a bite to see if they like the food. And you know how to find the right tables to focus on because that group look like they have the right combination of money and awkwardness that they'll tip higher so as to not be "jerks".
Its pretty much the exact same bullshit that is used to discourage unionization in tech. When you are just starting out, collective bargaining is GOOD. As you get more experienced, you start to be able to negotiate much better terms for yourself... often at the expense of your co-workers. And thus, you become opposed to unionization efforts.
Because if you are a higher end waiter or waitress? You are potentially pulling in a LOT of bank. My ex was a waitress at the fancy French place in the rich people part of town and... she was pulling in low six figures. She ain't getting paid that after a labor reform. But her co-workers also weren't getting paid that and neither were the bus boys who cleaned up after "her" customers or the chefs who are implementing The Chef's visions.
But, because there is an actual clear "bootstraps" route that people semi-regularly follow? Fuck my rights and wage now because I am gonna be rich in a few years and then will regret getting a living wage!
I worked at Pizza Hut in the 90s, and waitresses were usually making $200+ in tips for a 6 hour shift. This was in a state where they were paid full minimum wage of $4.95.
I delivered pizzas and made $5.50 plus an average of $30 in tips for a 6 hour shift.
Why do I think you've only gone to tourist trap restaurants in Europe? You should look at a guide before planing vacations.
Although it is true that service can be better in the lower end restaurants in the US. After all, one can afford to hire more when they pay them pennies.
it promotes worker tax evasion
this is the only argument I'll hear in favor of tipping. People should cheat on their taxes until they pay as little as the wealthy.
I don't agree. Just tax the rich properly.
I mean, I get where you’re coming from. But modern US does not spend our tax money justly or wisely. Infrastructure crumbling, social services abysmal, arts funding abysmal…we are constantly taking our great revenue and mishandling it while people across the country suffer. Our system works for the rich, while running on money from the poor. The entire system is broken, taxing the rich will not solve the problem.
The thing is, America is culturally really influenctial. Here in Germany we have a wide variety of jobs that typically pay minimum wage. Some are service related, others aren't. It's roughly 20% of the workforce.
But we listen to american podcasts, watch your movies, your series and so on.
So waiters tend to get minimum wage + tax free tips, while cashiers just get minimum wage. Granted, tips are more like 10% here. I hate tips being an expectation.
Wouldn’t the whole system make more sense as a commission based wage scale that is tied to the price of the items ordered? A base wage that meets legal requirements added to an incentive tied to a percent of each item sold?
The variable percentage would be tied to how much the waiter sold and what items, which would scale with both the amount of work (on large tables) and the skill of the waiter to help the business move product and give the customer a good experience.
The balance point being selling as much as possible while providing the customer an experience they want to return to.
Any hard selling and under serving keeps people from wanting to come back and hurts the business. Any lack of care in service prevents additional sales that can boost wage earnings and prevents the business from not selling stock before it goes bad.
Discretionary tipping is dumb, even if you are a capitalist. There is a balance that doesn’t stagnate the business or create exploitative labor practices. We just don’t do it because we are a social democracy that has a systemic misunderstanding of when capitalism is good and when it is bad.