1y ago

Got tipping rage? This barista reveals what it's like to be behind the tip screen

www.npr.org /2023/07/17/1187275511/tipping-minimum-wage-tips-tip-screen

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.

News @lemmy.world

Got tipping rage? This barista reveals what it's like to be behind the tip screen

www.npr.org /2023/07/17/1187275511/tipping-minimum-wage-tips-tip-screen

12 16

109 comments

It's crazy how some workers actually defend the tipping system and blame the consumer. They're doing the work of their oppressors and can't even realize it. The business isn't subsidizing lower prices, they're lining the pockets of their investors and telling the workers to get mad at the consumers.
- I find the ones that defend it are... Attractive. I've heard how some can make more in a weekend than I can in a 2 week period. None of em uggos.
  
  Or highly highly personable. But also usually both.
  I was a workhorse and could solo Saturday rush for a restaurant with an hour wait, but I’d have made way more if I could flirt and bs with people when it’s slow.
  
  Find me a job where I can make more than a full day of construction or contractor labor in 4-5hrs
  Spoiler alert - that job is tipped.
- Yeah my part time job is tipped and I hate it. It's a a scam for both the consumer and the worker. I just want a higher wage and not be at the whelm of ppl

I feel for this guy having to make a living with the meager pay of a barista, but setting the minimum wage to a livable level and pegging it to inflation is a much better solution. Hell, throw in some single-payer, universal healthcare, and take that item off everyone's personal budget while we're at it.
- > throw in some single-payer, universal healthcare
  When you do that, don't forget to include coverage for the stuff around your head: dental care, eyeglasses and mental health. Many countries forgot to include coverage for these things and it is a shitshow.

Unfucking believable. Not a single mention of the actual problem in that article. Not a single mention of who is to blame.
- Humans are dumb as fuck. Reddit was full of people mad at moderators for protesting Reddit's api changes just a few weeks ago.
  
  Dollars to donuts most of those were probably bots
- What is the actual problem that's not mentioned?
  
  Billion dollar companies can pay their employees $2 an hour...

I’ve worked minimum wage customer service jobs for a decade. I haven’t worked in jobs that rely on tips (though I have worked in a bar where tipping exists, but is way more normalized) but there’s no way in hell the customer is the answer to paying employees a livable wage—that’s just insane. The burden here shouldn’t be on the customer to subsidize the employer, this “economist” has it ass backwards. This is a situation that has to get worse before it gets better, I am not going to tip more to help the greedy owner undercut their employees

Tipping a barista while paying would almost always mean tipping BEFORE the service is rendered. This is not a tip, it is just an added fee.
- True but other than sit down restaurants where do you tip after the service is rendered? I agree that it is just an added fee and we are just subsidizing capitalists.
  I don't know how to fix it though. Not tipping does nothing but hurt the workers.
  
  At some point the responsibility falls on the workers to unionize. I'm aware that is painful. It is also the only true answer because if we wait on the corporate overlords to benevolently raise wages to an acceptable living standard and disband tipping, we'll be waiting forever.
  
  Barbers, taxis and full service restaurants. Aka the only places you tipped 10 years ago.
  
  Honestly - I can't see any way but this.
  If those jobs no longer pay enough to survive, nobody will take them on, and the capitalist will have to adapt or die.
  This is something the government should be protecting workers against, but people are so scared to even unionise, it's tragic.
  
  Hair salons, nail salons, valet, dog grooming, any sort of contract work around your house like lawnmowing, bars....
  
  Not tipping does nothing but hurt the workers.
  A business which can't afford to pay their workers a livable wage doesn't deserve to exist. If people stopped paying tips then that work no longer provides a livable wage and it becomes difficult for employers to find employees.
  In the end they may even decide to pay their employees a livable wage. Some businesses have already done so.
- They're called tips because tips have certain legal protections, while fees are up to the discretion of the business to give to their employees. Trust me. That delivery fee that you pay Papa Johns goes toward liability insurance, software fees, and other incidentals. None of it goes to the driver. And always pre tip more than 5 dollars if you don't want to be the last delivery of 3.

I've dropped my average tip percentage back down to 15% (20% for good waiters / waitresses I see often). Complying with larger tip percentage is exactly what the business owners want us to do, and to think that it's going to stop at 25%? 30%? Their default tip range will just keep climbing.

I would feel less offended if on every bill they would just raise the price my 20% and give that to the workers.
- If they raised the prices 20%, most of that's not going to the workers. You know it and I know it.
  
  They effectively have, via tipping. And the employer pays less so ultimately the employee gets screwed no matter what.
  The fact they look to us as the problem and not their employers just tells me the scheme is working. Count the money, twirl the moustache and pet the evil lap cat, villains of the world. You've won as always, and the downtrodden are still too busy infighting over scraps to realize whose boot they're under.
- Try greater than 40%. A tip is for service provided directly to you. If the employer increases the servers wages by 20% then that's every hour they work and there may not be any customers for some of the servers shift.

Tipping is a way customers sponsoring greedy capitalist ability to pay below minimum wage.
In my country, people usually don't tip. They only tip in some special service, such as sex workers.
- Being tipped is a way to make vastly more than you would ordinarily make per hour.
  You can always tell the people who haven't worked for tips lol

Recognizing that the act of asking for an unsolicited tip as a requisite part of buying a coffee is making both customers and himself uncomfortable, acknowledging that his take home pay is so abysmally low that he depends on tips to make a living, and then after all of that, blaming the customer as the primary problem for not being willing to tip in the current economy/environment, is like making a 95 yard run and then tripping over your own shoelaces at the endzone.
- Sometimes you need to burn some clock before getting the TD. I understand what you’re getting at with your analogy, but felt like being slightly ornery for my own amusement. 😏

Stop making the customers pay your workers. They’re not our responsibility

Customer pays for the wages of the server when he pays the bill period.

And why whould I take the slack? You made a deal on how much you will get paied... Is it too little? Negociate.... Dont ask for charity

I like the way Europe handles tipping. A lot of the restaurants generally add a fixed service charge (most often it’s about €3 per person), and that’s kinda it. It’s common to leave a couple of euros extra, but nothing too drastic. Huge tips are not expected, and like half of the machines don’t even support the tipping function (more common in France/Italy, for example, while countries like Greece are more likely to have tipping enabled).
There might be a bit more pressure to tip in more touristy city center places, but you’re better off avoiding those in general anyway. Smaller local restaurants are way better.
Furthermore, tipping isn’t expected outside of restaurants/deliveries at all. The amount of jobs that seem to require tipping in the US is insane. Like guys, just put it in the bill and tell me the price.

I only get about $60 at a time. When my aunt takes me out to eat, I may have spent some of the money and also have some to spend after. I can’t really afford to tip.

selfawarewolves

With inflation happening across the economy, businesses have been dealing with rising costs for years. At the same time, there's a lot of pressure to keep prices low for increasingly price-conscious customers.
Yup, pretty much.
A business is there to make money. Obviously, businesses that pay employees better have lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction. But what do you do if the price of keeping the lights on goes up? You can either increase prices, which will see fewer customers, but keep in mind that customers will just go to a coffee shop that's cheaper. So the better option is to keep the prices the same and lower employee wages.
Business are feeling the pressure of our failing economy. Are some being jerks about it? You bet. I even worked for some. But I believe in a truly wealth-equal economy people are so well off jerk employers are just ignored.
But most people currently don't have that choice. Quit an employer and you have a 50/50 chance of getting a job within a few weeks or ending up on the streets.
But I believe we can get to a more sustainable economy. It might take a lot of effort, but I believe we can get there!

People in the comments seem to think the barista likes supports tipping culture and resents customers who don't tip, but that's not the impression I get. He sympathizes with the awkwardness of the position and the tighter budgets people have, but nonetheless relies on tips for the meager amount they provide.
I hate tips as much as the next guy, but you should not protest by refusing to tip/undertipping in situations where there is a reasonable expectation of a tip. The only one who suffers in such a case is a low-wage worker. Rather, take your business somewhere without tips.
- A better way to protect would be to not use those services. It sucks for the employee but the only way to hurry the business is too not use it. Other is advocating for the minimum wage to go up but with our current Congress that's important.
- I think some of the issues people are having is that it's not clear where there is a reasonable expectation to tip. Sit down restaurant, yes. Hair dresser, yes. Dunkin donuts? They just turned around and gave me something that was already made. Do I need to tip on that? A pickup order? It seems like yes, but when I get Uber eats, I'm only tipping the driver, and that's still a pickup order. The convenience store where I bring everything I want up to the counter? Because the tipping prompt comes up there. I'm not sure where there is a reasonable expectation anymore and it's making me feel less financially able to be generous overall.

What is going on with the comments here? Tipping is great for the worker. It allows me to sell my labor directly to consumers without the ownership class taking a cut as middleman.
Frankly, I have to reemphasize what the author said: Not tipping changes nothing for the owner; it only exploits the laborer.
- Tips shouldn’t be the main source of income. It should be a bonus for good work. Tipping culture in the us is getting crazy compared to Europe. The base salary should be enough to be able to live on.
  
  Sounds like you're operating off how you think tipping should work, and not the organic system that's actually in place.
  Being paid by the consumer rather than the restaurant means my loyalty is to the consumer, not the restaurant. And that's a good thing.
- I'll reemphasize the point, I feel, other posts are making, but you might be to close to see it.
  The burden of paying the laborer is 100% on the owner. The idea of making customers tip and saying "That's how it is now and if you don't tip you hurt the laborer" is a false statement. The burden is still on the owner. Period. When you keep stressing the system with underpaid workers and expect customers (who are also underpaid workers) to pay for that then it hurts EVERYONE.
  You are explaining that it hurts the workers. I got it. It hurts EVERYONE because the owners are trying to move their burden to us.
  I guess what I'm trying to say is, direct your blame at the correct groups. Having the customers and the staff mad at each other and blaming each other distracts from the actual cause of these frustrations.
  
  I'm only mad at those who are trying to disrupt the system that lets me support a family of five on one income. There is ONE industry that's figured out a way to make a living wage work for everybody and I think that's worth defending.
  Getting rid of tipping would mean higher prices for the consumer, worse service, lower pay for workers, and for what? Because the owners "should" be paying? Worse outcomes for the sake of an ideological nitpic.
- It lets the owner continue to pay employees ahit wages because they don't leave to get higher paying jobs elsewhere. It is an end run around their obligation to pay a fair wage by tugging at the heartstrings of people who buy into tipping as a solution to underpayment workers.
  Servers deserve tips as long as they have the shitty exemption to minimum wage, but someone working the register at a convenience store or even a batista at a coffee shop doesn't.
  Do you tip underpaid janitors, cooks, delivery drivers, child care workers, cashiers at grocery stores, or fast food workers?
  
  Yes, I tip baristi, delivery drivers, and fast food workers. And daycare teaxhers, and my garbage-pickers too.
- It makes it optional whether or not to pay you for your labor, which works out to a "not an asshole tax" where nice customers subsidize both the business and people who don't tip. It also creates artificial class divisions between service workers. Why is a barista getting a 15% bonus while a 7-11 clerk isn't? (Hint: look at the demographics of each)
- Nah fam. Your wage is between you and the employer. The cost of coffee, in this case, is between me and the owner. People should be paid a liveable wage off top and not need to ask the customer to cover your wage twice, once with paying for coffee and the second with the tip.
- The entire history of tipping has roots in slavery. It’s also not as common most other places in the world. People in some countries would take great offense to being offered a tip, as it would suggest they’re needing extra help.
  Tipping is not guaranteed income; yet “income,” is the entire purpose of having a job. If you go to work to earn $X as to be able to pay your bills and just have any standard of living at all, you need to have a certain minimum in order to continue meeting that standard.
  We’ve passed too many business owner friendly laws in this country. The fact that “tipped employees” have a lower minimum wage is why business owners have been implementing payment systems that offer an option to tip. It’s the business owner NOT paying fair wages. They try to pass the responsibility off to customers.
  Business owners that are doing this are taking advantage of everyone in the cycle. The only way to break the cycle is to break the system. Don’t tip unless you’re getting service where someone actually brings you something. Walking something up to the counter you’re standing at should not justify tipped wages.
- At a glance, this makes sense. As a worker, I get compensated for my work directly by the total of customers I serve.
  In practice, however, tipping being optional means that there will always be people who tip less than is appropriate, or not at all. I would guess that it's more likely for those undertippers to be people who are disconnected with the reality of being a service worker who depends on tips, e.g., people who are already wealthy. Which means that the livelihood of tipped workers depends more on less wealthy people (those who have an understanding of the position the service worker is in).
  The effect here is that less wealthy customers pay more for their services, and more wealthy customers pay less. Yet another shifting of wealth from the poor to the rich.
  Elimination of tipping brings this into a fairer (though still not completely fair) balance.
- Since you are not able to set your own rate prior to settling the bill, you are not selling your labor to consumers at all. You are depending on the arbitrary mood of the consumer to possibly offset the insufficient wage your employer is paying you.
  
  Except the rate IS set. Almost everyone knows what the going tip percentage is. I can manage my income just fine on this expectation, and consumers can manage their costs. The lack of a fee schedule and enforcement mechanism don't change the mechanics of the interaction.
- Ah the age old misconception...
  Minimum wage is the minimum for everyone, by federal law. The employer can only pay less if wage + tips < minimum wage. And that shit is pretty heavily enforced.... when reported.
  Problem is, it's in neither the employer nor the employee's interests for you to know this; they both prefer blaming the customer.
  There are other minimum wage jobs that are not tipped. Servers and stuff whose wage is the minimum should accept that minimum wage, ask for better pay, or fight for the minimum wage to be increased (for everyone), instead of trying to guilt trip the customers into paying them more.
  
  Servers don't typically blame the guests or have an adversarial attitude towards them. The ones that do don't last. The bulk of any adversarial attitude, at every place I've worked in the two decades I've been waiting tables, is directed at management. Tables sometimes stiff us, but mgmt are the ones out here setting shitty schedules and commiting wage theft.
- I’ve never worked a tip-driven job, but when talking with people who do, I’ve never met anyone working a tip-driven job who wanted tips to be gone or blamed the employer for it. It’s starting to feel to me like the people who are against tipping culture tend to be people who have never experienced it from the inside.
  I don’t disagree that it’s an awkward setup, I don’t love the idea of it either. But I’ll take my cues from the people I’ve met who know better about it than I do. And it seems they seem to tend to agree with you.
  
  I relied upon tips for ten years, and this is as clear as day to me: Tipping makes the customer a scapegoat.
  This is a clear cut case of the (intentionally) adversarial relationship created between customer and employee being used to shield the root cause - the low paying employer.
  If work were compensated appropriately, tipping would not be necessary. In order to get to that, we need the workers to assess blame appropriately.
  Unfortunately, unless the workers are able to do that, they will continue to incorrectly blame customers for their inability to earn a living wage.
  If you want to see this adversarial relationship in action - visit the forums where DoorDash drivers and customers discuss the issue.
  The only way a customer can help to force the employers hand is to stop tipping - which will negatively impact those who rely upon tips before they turn on their low-paying employers. Only then will things change without a federal law mandating a thriving wage.

109 comments