Hi all, this is my first post here, and I guess I wanted to bring attention to tipping culture, as a server myself, because I've seen a lot of comments on tipping culture here that, while I agree with, I feel is a bit misdirected.
I feel like a lot of folks here definitely understand, but a whole lot of folks here put ideals first, and as things stand, you're actually harming your fellows more than anything. I hate tipping culture. I agree that it was invented by businesses to keep paying workers the minimum, and in many states, less than the minimum.
But that's just how things are. Right now, there's nothing we can do about that. So the amount of attempted virtue signaling by lots of folks here by saying they never tip and if these servers want more money they should unionize, or organize, or find a different profession, or demand a better wage. You don't hear about unionized restaurants, or restaurants paying high above the minimum, because they don't happen.
I've been in the service industry for nearly 6 years now, have worked for both family owned and corporate restaurants, and a good day of tips is one of the best feelings, job-wise. But it also is our lifeline. And by not tipping on the grounds of the points in the previous paragraph, you're punishing us to enforce ideals that…really don't apply to us. Unless all of America tries to instigate a change on the federal level, which your lack of tipping is not helping us do and is, let's face it, unlikely on an extreme level, then our hands are tied. We need tips.
So in a subreddit filled with people compassionate for their fellow workers, I wanted to bring attention to that. I don't see a lot of servers speaking up about it, but anytime a server makes a post, I see quite a bit of everything stated above. And it's not like those points are wrong. Server wages DO need to be better, tip culture DOES need to be abolished. But until that happens, please don't neglect to tip just based on those ideals. Unless the server gave you poor service, all you're doing is making it harder for us to get by.