How did tipping become nearly mandatory in the US?

[valliant13]

I thought that living in Belgium, but it's not the case. Wages (especially minimum wage) are just far higher than in a lot of other countries, but from what I can recall, I have never seen "Serice included in price" on a receipt or from a restaurant and whatnot, I think it's merely because most times.
Eg, here in Belgium, a waitress will get paid 8-10 Euros an hour, but a similar one in USA would get about half of that. I personally tip, as i's the *done* thing more often than not where I come from (UK), but so many people look at me like I am insane when I do. However, most of the *service* (I use the term loosely) are so fucking awful here in Belgium, I very rarely feel the need to tip if at all. Heck, one waiter I had once had such godawful BO, we nearly gagged every time he came near us. Asked for a different waiter, but it's a general lack of "giving a damn" I notice more in the continent than I did in UK.

outside of SOME states that force the employer to pay them the state minimum wage, the national wage for tipped employees is $2.63. I think it's pathetic as well but this is america. And I honestly don't feel like getting started on that.

[Deleted]

The US usually always tips for extra service. In the rest of the world the extra service isn't so important, we expect a good minimum standard and the rest is meh.

Talk for yourself! I always tip aslong as the waiter did not screw up.

[Nitrax]

well, then that should be fixed with law, where they can't pay less then minimum wage, afterall that is "Minimum wage".

They do this in sweden too, through contract loopholes and whatever. Not so much for service staff, but for sales people selling things like mobile telephone plans etc. Its something like "You can either sign up on minimum wage (but then we going to fire you in a week because someone else wants the job for cheaper), and you wont ever get a bonus, or you can sign up on 1/2 wage and get bonuses for stuff you sell".

[Deleted]

I know the living standards are different, but how much does a waiter/tress makes in the US ?

And yes, if the waiter is polite and does his job properly, I would tip him.

[Deleted]

I know, in that case a tip is deserved.

I am not against extra work being rewarded.

I am against the restaurants cutting pays so that tips will have to make up for it.

It really is sad that they do that.

Capitalism :/

[Sillicis]

Here in the Netherlands it isn't mandatory at all.

I work in a restaurant, and i think it's rude if people don't tip.
It's like saying, that you didnt enjoy it at all.

People in the 'horeca' don't make much in the netherlands either, for the amount of work you do, we get paid very little.
Tips are one of the things that are split among each and everyone of us at the end of the month. And in my opinion it IS needed, even in the netherlands.

The unwritten rule is that you tip about 10% of the total bill, though everyone is free to give whatever they want. (even if none at all)

[yuca247]

Because the owners of the restaurant can get away with paying their adult workers 5$ an hour. No body can live on that, so they rely on tips. In most of europe tips are already in the food price.

I think its pathetic aswell that the workers get payed so little that they pretty much have to get charity from the guests.

So you would think they would try their best to do a good job but sometimes it seems like they don't care and other times they're even down right rude.

I'm not a very demanding person or very picky but sometimes waiters act like if you're bothering them when you ask them for anything.

[NewOrleansTrolley]

Others have mentioned it already. Waiters don't make a lot of money and they get their income from tips. However, repeating somebody else doesn't contribute to the thread.

So here's a youtube clip instead. It's from the Reservoir Dogs. Keep in mind these actors are supposed to be gangsters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJwYaeolXc

[Strykie]

Capitalism :/

Dont use words you dont understand.

[semaphore]

In my completely biased and uninformed opinion, maybe because everywhere else people in such jobs receive enough support from the state and wages are high enough, that employers effectively ends up paying their employees a living wage.

If everyone else knows that they need tips to survive, doesn't take long to end up paying tips.

[Evolixe]

The unwritten rule is that you tip about 10% of the total bill, though everyone is free to give whatever they want. (even if none at all)

Are you insane? Lol like anyone with a right sense of mind in this country would tip 10 euros on a 100 euro bill??

Anyways, apparently in the US people tip their packet delivery guy aswell. Something i've never seen here.

[valliant13]

Jesus, it's really that low? That is fucking appalling.
Sorry for the language, but seriously, I am utterly speechless. How do they expect people to even survive on that wage?

No clue, If it's a slow week at the restaurant they dont make shit. it's definitely appalling but that is how america is run. I know California they make the state minimum wage but they get taxed more than where I live but still...if they get the shit end of the stick and get all the slow shifts they will literally walk away with a whole wopping 100-200 bucks on three shifts....granted if they get the good shifts they could also walk away with 1000 dollars on three shifts...It's just too shaky of an income to me though. I couldn't ever do go one week making nothing then the next making a ton and doing that vicious cycle week in and week out.

[Caelia]

You already answered your question. The federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13. While technically the restaurant is supposed to 'reimburse' the server if their tips don't equate to the state's minimum wage, 1) They normally don't do that and 2) That wage can still be as low as $7.25.

Those wages just sound insane.
Minimum wage here in Sweden for Hotel & Restaurants is almost $17/h if you're above 20 years of age, at 17 or younger the minimum wage is still over $10/h.

[FloridaElement]

Its been said a bunch already, but Servers in the U.S make below minimum wage so they rely on tips to get by. So yes, it is mandatory... well mandatory if you arent a cheap bastard that is. I believe in Europe the wait staff gets paid more then ours over here. Just a different culture i suppose. To each his own. I don't mind tipping at all , and i always tip well unless the service was terrible. But i used to work in a kitchen so i know how it is for them .

[Oxyra]

A friend of mine who is Australian went to visit some family in the US, he went out one night and didnt tip, he got the death stare from his own family lol.

I honestly dont understand how tipping got to that stage, a tip is a nice gesture, but it shouldn't be necessary to be socially acceptable.

I guess our minimum wage is almost double yours, but at the same time our cost of living is almost double, think of games being $110 each for example.

False, cost of living in Australia is barely higher than the US.

Pricing of software =/= Cost of living.
That's just the software companies being tight fucks and trying to fleece us because we've always paid more ever since the Australian Dollar was like 55c compared to the US, whereas now it's 1.04 per US.

[Risale]

As a dutchman I always tip in the US as I know waiters live of the tips they receive but here in Holland I rarely tip as it is not customary to do so.
From what I know most restaurants and bars here have a tip jar and the money goes into that and gets divided at the end of the year.

[ShadowJester]

You are tipping for service, you went out and had other people wait on you, bring you food, deal with whatever annoying crap you wanted. No sir the beef tar tar doesnt come with fish, no Im sorry its that way, Im not the chef I cant change that, no I know you want it, but its impossible. etc etc. Are you really complaining about showing decency to someone who brings you food prepared specifically for you. If you don't want to tip, don't go out. and seeing as you have a problem with it and seem to be a cheapskate, think of it as your way of saying thanks to the waiter for not spitting in or doing worse to your food.

also not to mention like Kittyvicious said, minimum wage is 7.25 in the us and waiters get paid 2.13, which is much less than half of minimum wage. Tips arebeyond necesscary to scrape out a living as a waiter.

[Oxyra]

Its a vicious cycle because the people that end up in jobs that work off tips arent capable people, through education or sense.
You cant say that someone who has been through collage/uni/other ends up waiting tables or delivering pizzas.

Here in Australia the minimum wage is $16, which covers any and all jobs that dont require further education than year 10.
Ofcouse we have more expenses here too because of a higher quality of living, but overall the middle and lower class in Australia are incredibly more wealth than Americans.

Pretty sure minimum wage is about ~$18 an hour (EB Games is a prime candidate for shitty pay like this, I once asked how much they get paid when I was looking for a shitty Uni job), supermarkets pay slightly over $20 an hour for checkout workers etc. ie. non-trained labour. I work in a Casino and we get $26 an hour base rate, non-trained, you just have to pass an interview which is more or less, do you talk to other people or are you socially retarded, can you work out what 7x6 is, do you have retardedly arthritic hands and/or other kinds of injuries that would prevent you being able to deal etc.
Did the maths part of that interview, 50 questions of basic arithmetic, finished it in like 2 minutes which we had like 15 minutes to do, and sat around looking to see if anyone else had finished, no one else had (For reference, I study maths at Uni, but this is super basic shit), took a sneakypeek at someone else's and they had something like 7x6 as 20. Not even joking you. I wish I was. Suffice to say, I didn't see them in the training school. For reference, I'm like pretty anti-social usually, but I just found like a few guys in the group that were talking about cars and gaming etc. among other nerdy shit, and funnily enough, we all got through, you didn't even have to like introduce yourself to everyone, I mean I went out of my way to purposefully introduce myself to these guys and like a few randoms at the random table I got sat at (Group interview thing where they have a heap of people watching you and see how you work with people) but as I said, super anti-social, I hate people more or less, still got the job.

Australia has ridiculously good wages.

[Evolixe]

You are tipping for service, you went out and had other people wait on you, bring you food, deal with whatever annoying crap you wanted. No sir the beef tar tar doesnt come with fish, no Im sorry its that way, Im not the chef I cant change that, no I know you want it, but its impossible. etc etc. Are you really complaining about showing decency to someone who brings you food prepared specifically for you. If you don't want to tip, don't go out. and seeing as you have a problem with it and seem to be a cheapskate, think of it as your way of saying thanks to the waiter for not spitting in or doing worse to your food.

also not to mention like Kittyvicious said, minimum wage is 7.25 in the us and waiters get paid 2.13, which is much less than half of minimum wage. Tips arebeyond necesscary to scrape out a living as a waiter.

All of what you brought up is simply part of their work, that's how it works here. Tip is a gift and i'm glad it's not looking to change over here.

[semaphore]

Pretty sure minimum wage is about ~$18 an hour

It's actually AUD $15.96 per hour.