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Visiting the US soon - do I really have to tip? (feddit.de)

submitted 1 year ago by kilgore@feddit.de to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Hey Folks!

I've been living abroad for over half my life in a country where tipping is not the norm. At most you would round up. 19€ bill? Here's a 20, keep this change.

Going to the US soon to visit family and the whole idea of tipping makes me nervous. It seems there's a lot of discussion about getting rid of tipping, but I don't know how much has changed in this regard.

The system seems ridiculously unfair, and that extra expense in a country where everything is already so expensive really makes a difference.

So will AITA if I don't tip? Is it really my personal responsibility to make sure my server is paid enough?

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[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 24 points 1 year ago

I'd say yes. The situation is complex.

It's clear that tipping culture is out of control. There are many places asking for 20% tips even when ordering from a counter where the interaction takes about 10 seconds.

Unfortunately there has also been a systematic underpayment of wages which has occurred largely on the back of tips. In some states it is even legal to pay less than minimum wage and supplement that with tips. For that reason, it's not really an option to simply not tip without being the bad guy.

Certainly the system needs to change, but as of this moment in the US, just assume everything actually costs 20% more and tip.

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

In most states it's legal to pay less than minimum wage (literally around $2 per hour) for workers who get tips.

One issue is that workers generally make more money off tips than if they just got minimum wage. So it's not just employers that are unwilling to change.

[-] mintyfrog@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

It's only legal if their tips exceed the minimum wage. Whether or not the employee would ask for the difference over fear of retaliation is another story

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this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023

259 points (97.1% liked)

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