By law, Seattle servers and restaurant staff must now be paid at least minimum wage (currently $20.76/hr). Other workers who typically earn the same include retail clerks, grocery store employees and janitors/cleaning staff, just to name a few.
For historical reasons — namely, that restaurant workers were NOT guaranteed minimum wage until recently — there’s still an expectation that we tip hospitality workers but not anyone else making roughly the same wage. Basically, we are providing a cultural subsidy to a particular group of workers.
At a time and in a place where all workers are guaranteed minimum wage, does that expectation still make sense?
To me, the whole thing feels like a scam. The food industry has guilt-tripped us into thinking we owe an extra 20% no matter what, even when service is mediocre. If a restaurant makes money because it provides good food and good service, then great: the owners can afford to pay their employees more if they so choose. But it should be up to the owners, not society’s collective guilt to subsidize them.
Pre-empting a few common points that will no doubt be raised in the comments:
-
Yes, living in Seattle is expensive and minimum wage isn’t great — but that doesn’t explain why only one group of minimum-wage workers gets a cultural subsidy and the others don’t.
-
“It’s tradition” is not an argument, it’s just a statement of fact. Many traditions outlive their purpose (plenty of examples out there). Maybe it’s time this one did too.
-
Also: I don’t care how much you tip and how much you don’t. I just want to hear logical arguments in either direction.
submitted by /u/allpossiblepaths
[link] [comments]