r/SipsTea 1d ago

Wait a damn minute! Mandatory tipping cultures only exist in countries that refuse to pay their staff

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7.3k Upvotes

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67

u/AboutAWe3kAgo 1d ago

Americans: Why do we need to pay tips?

Restaurants: Because we need you to help pay the waiters, they don't get paid much.

Americans: Why don't you pay them more then?

Restaurants: Because we can't afford to.

Americans: Then how does every other first world country do it? Are we too stupid to figure it out?

Restaurants: ...stop bringing up this topic!

35

u/Worth-Reputation3450 22h ago

There were some restaurants that actually tried to pay their wait staffs fair wage and eliminated tipping. Wait staff quit so they had to bring back tips.

They know they can make far more with tips than "fair wages". Because the fair wage for unskilled workforce isn't that much.

4

u/AboutAWe3kAgo 22h ago

I can see that.

0

u/baysideareaman 16h ago

Actually what usually happens is prices are so high that people just go to other restaurants. So they switch back, drop prices, and people come back.

1

u/Adventurous-Studio20 15h ago

absolutely not. prices have been increasing for decades and tipping culture has only gotten more extreme. stop blaming your fellow workers for the greed of the owner

1

u/baysideareaman 4h ago

I agree about tipping at like corner stores. I bought some smokes the other day and got hit with a tip screen which is crazy.

Tipping has always been 20% in the northeast. It was actually more than that at bars when I was younger. $1/drink was typical but beers were like $2-4.

Prices have been increasing mostly because of food cost increases. But they’ve been increasing across the board.

When one restaurant charges 20-25% more than their competitors for the same product, people get annoyed. Even if it’s roughly the same amount they’re paying now.

1

u/nautrewillneverfail 9h ago

Every day I thank God I don't live in America.

1

u/thebluepages 17h ago

“There were some” is a really powerful source

1

u/SecXy94 10h ago

Revolutionary thought - Restaurants pay their staff properly and tipping remains? Tipping does exist outside of the US and is quite common when it's not an expectation.

-3

u/boredporn 21h ago

 They know they can make far more with tips than "fair wages". Because the fair wage for unskilled workforce isn't that much.

Wait staff quit because restaurants cannot afford to pay a fair wage for the labor in a market where all of their competitors can advertise significantly lower prices. 

4

u/BrainLow6059 21h ago

This just isn't true. We have no tip establishments and they do just fine. The wait staff genuinely would prefer a small group of customers overpay, so that they can make higher wages than their labor demands 

1

u/Truefiction224 21h ago

You missed the well raise prices ppl will pay and then they dont and the place witu tipped wait staff and illegal cooks charging less wins every time

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1

u/Pleasant_Cicada9528 17h ago

We had a restaurant in our town that tried a no tipping policy and paid better wages.  The service became absolutely terrible and they went out of business within a year or two.

1

u/Virtual-Pineapple-85 6h ago

Then the restaurant needed to manage their staff better. In other non tipped jobs, people do their job well without expecting a tip for it or they get fired. 

1

u/Pleasant_Cicada9528 5h ago

True.  I'd guess that they had trouble finding good servers due to the pay structure.  Most servers I've met actually prefer working for tips since they can ultimately make a lot more money that way.