189
submitted 11 months ago by soyagi@yiffit.net to c/workreform@lemmy.world

Excerpt from the article:

Schenker says that after his years in the service industry, he has watched tipping evolve into a major part of his pay.

"If there is some means of tipping that's available to you, that should signal to you that workers there aren't being paid enough," says Schenker. "Tipping is sort of an acknowledgment of that fact."

To Schenker, customers who don't tip are not understanding that businesses treat tips as a baked-in part of workers' wages.

"They subsidize lower prices by paying employees less," he says. "If you aren't tipping, you are taking advantage of that labor."

He was so close... Especially for someone who says himself does not make much money.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] DrTautology@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Billion dollar companies can pay their employees $2 an hour...

[-] PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Why do you think they do this?

[-] DrTautology@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

Because they're greedy and it's legal...

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

No it's because customers are happier this way and the service staff makes more than they would otherwise, in a way that responds to inflationary pressures.

[-] DrTautology@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Not only is this untrue, but it is disingenuous. I suggest you do more research about tipping and service wages in general.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

It is absolutely true and I worked as a server for a decade, and still have friends working tipped jobs.

[-] CoderKat@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

I disagree that customers are happier. People constantly complain about tipping. Those people are clearly not happy. Much of the world doesn't do the tipping model, so it doesn't seem like it is worthwhile for quality of service.

I do agree that staff are happier because they on average would make more (at least more than the paltry minimum wage most states have). But it comes at the cost of taking advantage of customers (basically trying to guilt trip them into paying more). I don't support such business practices. Not to mention it's not actually fair pay. You're not actually being paid for quality of service. You're paid for how much they like you, which leads to racial and gender pay disparities.

And the real winner? The business that gets to pay pennies to wait staff. They could incorporate the average tip into their prices and maintain the same pay. But they don't want to. They want to advertise low prices so that they can get the full value from low tippers. They often even outright push mandatory tipping with auto gratuities, which is peak sleazeball behavior.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

People only complain about tipping online. In the real world, that doesn't happen.

this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
189 points (100.0% liked)

Work Reform

9419 readers
135 users here now

A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

Our Philosophies:

Our Goals

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS