this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2026
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[–] RustyNova@lemmy.world 290 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Yes, but waiter are underpaid and should have a salary too.

... Apparently. This is too american for me to understand

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 112 points 1 month ago (4 children)

As wish many things American, it goes back to slavery. Tipped workers were a way for employers to avoid paying (mostly black) workers, effectively providing slavery-lite even after slavery had ended (Happy Juneteenth).

In any case, current U.S. labor law has specific carve-outs for certain tipped jobs that allow the minimal wage to be not the already unlivable $7.25/hr but the unsustainable $2.15/hr. Technically, employers are required to bring a tipped workers pay up to $7.25/hr if they do not report enough tips, but in practice employers encourage reporting incorrect tips and find reasons (if needed) to dismiss employees that do not report enough tips.

Fisherman, Sailor, Teamster, and Chef are not tipped positions. Waitstaff is a tipped position.

[–] bampop@lemmy.world 47 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Tipped workers were a way for employers to avoid paying (mostly black) workers, effectively providing slavery-lite even after slavery had ended

It's not just about being cheap though. It reinforces the idea that the worker is of a lower social status than the customer. The customer may, at their own discretion, choose whether or not to pay the worker a fair wage for the work they have done. That's a very clear power imbalance.

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

True but some states don't have this distinction and it means servers actually make pretty decent money.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 28 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Yes and "tipping" has gone insane. Not just amounts (tho even when I was a child, my parents consider 10% the bare minimum) but also you get prompted to leave a tip for transactions that don't involve a tipped position.

My experience is from one of the shittier states for workers (Arkansas), right-to-work effectively eliminates all union activity, the state would remove the minimum wage if it could, and there's even people that want to make it easier for 14-18 year olds to work.

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[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 64 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Waiter is the only one who gets their wage subsidized by their bosses customers.

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 month ago (29 children)

Everyone gets their wage subsidized by the customers of the business (both B2B and B2C) they work for.

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[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

No, you hit the nail on the head. A lot of Americans are fooled by this sort of anti-worker division propaganda. This is a conservative / right wing comic.

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[–] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 150 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Everyone in this panel is underpaid. No change happens blaming one worker against the other. We're all under the boot

[–] rodneylives@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes, but in the US servers get paid much less than minimum wage with the presumption that tips will make up the difference.

Businesses are supposed to make up any difference between what servers fail to earn as tips up to minimum wage, but:

  • It gives businesses an opportunity to fail to do this,
  • It means that minimum wage is what some servers effectively get, and
  • It effectively means the amount of tips servers get per hour is lessened by the difference between their hourly pay and the minimum wage rate; it's a way for businesses to reach into server tips and get some of it for themselves.
[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Remember to tip your landlord

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[–] nanometer1625@thelemmy.club 94 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I dislike this cartoon because of the way that the server is pointing angrily at the tip box. In reality, the servers are also victims of tipping culture. They deserve consistent and fair wages.

[–] guitarfosec@infosec.pub 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It also depicts servers as doing some decadent super easy job when those people work their asses off. I dislike tipping culture, but I factor it into the cost of a night out and make sure someone gets paid fairly from my side if they’re doing a great job and making sure I have everything I need while I sit and enjoy my meal and conversation.

The whole system needs an overhaul, but until that happens, I’m on the side of the working people that make my night out easy and pleasant.

I used to be a line cook. I’ll take staying in the kitchen being grumpy over having to serve and fake smile at asshole customers all day

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[–] krisevol@lemmus.org 21 points 1 month ago (24 children)

That will only happen when we stop tipping

[–] Glytch@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago (6 children)

No. It will happen when you stop going to restaurants that underpay their workers. Patronizing those establishments and not tipping is just punishing the worker while rewarding the business. Business owners will not change unless you hit them in the wallet.

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[–] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 83 points 1 month ago (14 children)

It's because everyone except the wait staff gets paid a living wage. The waiter probably gets paid $2.75/hour because the shady restaurant owner wants YOU to pay the rest of their employees wage for them.

The problem is not overly entitled wait staff, it's tipping culture in general. Any other job would pay at least normal minimum hourly wages.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 51 points 1 month ago

Correct, except for saying everyone else is getting a living wage. I bet most of them are not. Still higher than the server.

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 month ago

Every step of that chain is nickel and dimed. Only the public facing employees get to ask for tips.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 month ago (9 children)

You ask wait staff if they prefer a stable wage or receiving tips. The overwhelming majority of them will want to keep tips.

It would be better if we eliminated tips overall and paid fair wages. But the people who directly benefit will still fight you on it.

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Having worked in food service, and having many friends who do, I don't know a single person who would rather keep tips. The majority have openly talked shit about tipping. Everyone I know hates tipping except the management that benefits from it.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

I live in a very HCOL area and that probably has more to do with attitudes on tipping anything. Wait staff in this area can easily earn wages that are much, much higher than minimum wage with tips.

For example, the state in the US I live in does not have a lower base pay for wait staff. They're making at minimum $17.13 an hour before tips.

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[–] bss03@infosec.pub 11 points 1 month ago

While the waitstaff has particular challenges in U.S. labor law (lower effective federal minimum wage), it is not safe to assume any of the other workers in the chain are still paid a living wage either.

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[–] craftrabbit@lemmy.zip 46 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Yeah but the waiters don't have a living wage in the us without tips while the fishermen get paid –

Sorry I just got word that the fishermen are actually just permanently trapped on the ships and do forced labour out somewhere in the Pacific

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

there is slavery in the food industry.

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[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

See this way capitalists get to underpay workers

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[–] lordziv@lemmy.nz 39 points 1 month ago

Every time Americans call them servers I think of a computer lol

[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Everyone in this are a worker, the guy we don’t see in this comic (edge fund, financiers and owner) are the real problem and this comic artist seems hell bent to hide this

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[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yes, but the author of this comic turns out to be a real moron. Third comic in the row that is just stupid.

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[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A "yes, but" like this, but instead all the countries where servers get a (relatively) decent wage vs America where tipping is mandatory.

[–] NotEasyBeingGreen@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago (4 children)

American tipping culture is so arbitrary though. You tip your taxi driver but not your bus driver. You tip at a coffee shop but not at a fast food shop. Your hairdresser gets a tip but not the people looking after your children.

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[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Everyone else in that supply chain gets a living wage, except maybe the chef who shares tips with the waiter. It fucking pisses me off when people bitch about the fact that they're asked to tip an underpaid employee instead of getting angry about the fact that the employee doesn't make as much money as anyone else in the first place.

Where the fuck is the restaurant owner who isn't paying their worker a fair wage? Where the fuck are the politicians who put a loophole in labor law the allow this situation to happen?

The waiter is even being villainized in the last frame, jesus h christ. Fuck this comic and fuck you OP for posting it uncritically. I fucking hate this anti-worker propaganda so fucking much.

[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago (19 children)

Nobody gets a fair wage but at least food service workers in my area get paid the same as everyone else (Seattle $21/h minimum). Tipping is rooted in racist class division and we really should be pushing to end wage exemptions rather than perpetuate a ridiculous sales-commission structure.

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[–] MML@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

IDK how common it is but in the sushi restaurant I worked at the server and the chef split the tip but you also had more than one chef, not that it changes the point of the comic much.

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[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Am I exempt from tipping and the no tipping shame if I walk over to the chef to order and pick up the food myself? Because if the customers are the ones who must pay the servers a living wage via tipping, which is optional, that must mean the service itself is optional and I can do it myself.
Tipping presents a philosophical problem for me, and I just can not do it. Luckily, I live in a nation where its not done and service is not optional and I can not go to the chef to order my own food so the restaurant provides the service of a server (and pays them a wage).

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[–] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 month ago (8 children)

People like this artist are why if I were ever elected President I would mandate 2 years of retail service for the entire population. They simply do not understand the stress of dealing with people in a customer-facing role in a service industry.

There was a study on job stress done a number of years ago now (I wanna say in the 2018-2020 range) by psychologists on determining the most stressful jobs, and much of the top of the list is what you would expect: firefighters, EMTs, non-active duty military, EOD technician, active duty military, etc. But the top 3 on the list, above everything else including jobs that have life or death situations, were all customer service related - baristas, customer support techs, wait staff, that sort of thing.

And the reason for this ranking was simple: jobs like bomb defusal, active duty soldiers, and firefighters are incredibly high stress but with long periods of little to no stress in between. A soldier is only on duty a few months out of the year, and in active combat for a small portion of that time. They have tons of low stress time to allow them to destress and heal from the time they spend fighting for their lives. Meanwhile, your average wait staff is in a medium to high stress environment of having to handle the abusive general public every day of the week, day in and day out. They have very little time to recover from a consistently stressful environment that only mounts higher and higher as the years go on.

As somebody who worked a job for 10 years that could basically be described as all 3 of the jobs in this comic rolled into 1 (I worked at a fish market), if there's one group of people that I will bend over backwards to help have an easy time, it's the kid at the grocery store, the cashier at Walmart, and the waitress at the restaurant. They don't get paid anywhere near enough to deal with the shit that they do.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To me the issue seems to be that they are blaming the server for asking tips and not the restaurant for not providing a liveable wage to their employees.

2 year mandated retail service so people respect the job more isn’t the fix, though it might indirectly cause change, provide a real wage if lawmakers and their kids where subjected to it.

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