with regard to the thread about tipping, i saw this article that sums up what was said. to make a long story short, servers get paid about $2.25 (my diner pays $2.00) an hour. if their tips are THOUGHT (by whom?) to still bring their salaries below minimum wage the owner is required to pay the server $5.25, still well below the minimum wage which is $7.25.
since it's totally up to the owner to guesstimate how much the server gets in tips, guess who benefits by the guess.

http://gothamist.com/2011/08/30/brea...correct_ab.php

this is for NYC, but the dollars are the same all across the country. and please believe me, a dollar doesn't go as far in the metropolitan area as it does in some rural areas. so essentially, they are working for less buying power in every big city.

ideally, owners should be required to raise the salaries of workers, but then people would stop eating out even in pizza places. that's why you see tip jars. so it's left up to patrons to augment the salaries of wait-persons in order to help them to make an almost living wage. factory workers make the minimum wage here in the usa. families couldn't stay alive on that money and needed raises. that's why the jobs went overseas. many wait-people are single mothers supporting themselves during the time that their kids are in school. and now, men are waiting tables because they've lost their regular jobs and need to bring in salaries. should wait-people work for less?

waiters, waitresses, barbers, nail people, gas station attendants, etc. are mostly not the owners. they work for little money and need those tips. 10% has not been the normal tip in more than 10 years. during that time 15% was normal. during the last 2-3 years, if you can afford it, 20% was the accepted tip because of inflation, but even if you can't afford to tip 20%, any tip is better than no tip.

If I remember correctly waiters, waitresses, barbers, nail people, gas station attendants, etc. get taxed on an assumed tip. If they don't receive a tip they lose money.

I have never heard of tipping a gas station attendant. I use a debit card and the pump doesn't need a tip.

I was the one who does it by taxs rounded up x2 BUT I will hand it to my waiter! in person. 8-)

i understand all of that but the question i ask is why do the customers be paying a portion of the waiters salary (by tips) instead of the owner of the business be paying minimum wage to all of the employees. Could you imagine if we had to pay grocery cashiers, the lady at the dry cleaners, how about tipping the drive thru at Mc Donalds , or the produce guy at the market. I just do not understand why some job classifications are not awarded min wage.

I agree, it's sad that people don't receive at least min. wage. I mean, min. wage is still not a living wage but if they got tips on top of that...but the other person is right too, if prices are raised to pay everyone properly, many people will stop eating out as much.

It's sort of a no win situation. I don't like that tipping is expected to be part of their basic pay, I liked it when it was a reward for excellent service. It's not the servers fault that they aren't paid properly...I do tip 15-20% when ever we eat out.

I got this word in one of those "Customs and Traditions" classes we took in the Navy. It's not a Navy tradition, specifically, but the facilitator brought it up while we were talking about "P's and Q's" and provided the following.

Back in the day, and I mean waaaaaaay back, like in the dark ages and medieval period, hospitality and service jobs were not generally paid positions(unlike in Greece and Rome, where slaves handled these unpleasant tasks). Poor people would hang around an inn, a pub, a trader's shop, a livery, etc, and offer to do certain chores hoping for a monetary appreciation. For instance, children would hang around the doors of the inn waiting for customers and would offer to carry in their luggage in hopes of a small monetary appreciation (the "tip.") ) Poor people would offer to load the trade goods onto a purchaser's wagon, or stall their horses at the livery. Women would deliver the drinks to the customers at the tables in a pub. The owners of these establishments let them hang about because it saved them the trouble of carrying, loading, stalling, and serving, etc, but didn't pay them a wage to do it.

As time passed and the classes became further separated, the riche became accustomed to having these tasks performed for them, so, around the time of the Renaissance, these industries began paying a small token salary to keep the better workers around, but still relied on the custom to provide the "tip."

More time passed, and it is now ingrained in society to provide a tip for the hospitality and service industries, and the laws have compensated by allowing employers to pay them less.

I have no idea as to the source of the facilitator's information, so don't quote me as gospel. But it's an interesting and viable theory.

I always tip 20%, sometimes higher if they were really good. But, I will never put it on my cr.card or debit card, can't be sure they are really getting it. I always hand them cash, never leave it on the table as I have seen people go by and slide it into their own pockets.

You don't tip at McD's, they get minimum wage, and people still eat out there. So I don't believe that argument.

EVERYONE should get a dependable, decent wage.

I think people who eat out are generally smart enough to figure out that low prices + tipping = high prices + no tipping. Works out about the same either way. Who knows, maybe more people would eat out if they DIDN'T have to tip.

Unfortunately, most wait persons (in restaurants, not fast food places) are paid minimum wage because they are still viewed as "servers/servants" by their employers and through tax law. Their employers are allowed to pay them less than minimum wage, because the I.R.S. assumes that they will more than make up the difference in tips, and tax them accordingly. In fact, restaurants with "good" business practices actually withhold at the wage + assumed tip. Paying them their tip in cash may or may not help them. My son, who is a chef now, waited tables while attending culinary school. There were weeks, when his paycheck was a negative amount because of the amount they had withheld for taxes based on what they assumed he received. Until the legislature includes all job classifications in the minimum wage laws, tips will be considered to supplement the wage to bring them to minimum.

Fast food restaurants are required to pay minimum wage to their employees which changes the dynamic about tips. Other service industries, ie., nail salons, etc., have different regulations.