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Tipping - Why does this appear to be a "requirement"?

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4wd:
Some info to figure out.

This is US government, so it's a CF.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/minimumwage.htm
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm
-cmpm (September 16, 2010, 07:54 AM)
--- End quote ---

So basically:

if minwage > (wage + tips) then
  wage = (minwage - tips)
else
  inc tax
end if


Where: wage = what the employer pays employee
           tips = what the customer pays employee
           minwage = what the employer is too cheap to pay employee
           tax = universal constant

Renegade:
I should mention bribery of school teachers also being commonplace and an expected part of their income. It depends where you are.

steeladept:
Wraith - You stated it exactly.  I waited my way through College.  It sucks - no way around it.  But if you are good (and I was based on others at the restaurant I worked at) you can make a LOT more than the "wages".  Indeed, the wages never even covered the taxes they were required to withhold.  Josh, you are adamently against tipping as a part of your salary believing you are paying for the service as part of the food costs.  However restaraunts don't see it that way.  They pay the minimum the government enforces on them to keep an employee and views the server as (priarily) a contract worker who makes as much as they can on their own work independent of the company.  They are not so much contract workers as much as commission workers.  Would you rather the restaurants (industry-wide) increase their costs about 300% to cover the costs, then pay the commission behind the scenes?  That is essentially what it would cost to cover the average server (for me, it would have been about a 600% increase unless I took a dramatic cut in pay).  Perhaps you are suggesting they cut the server's pay instead to be more in line with a fast food joint?  Then that is what you would end up getting.  Oh, and was already stated, don't forget the pay of those who the server must pay out of their tips - the bartender, the busboy, occasionally the cooks, etc....  Their pays get cut too.  Actually, looking at it from that perspective, the costs may have to go up more than 300% to cover - again, this only applies to US costs.

As for Europe, if someone takes a general idea of experiences from others and shows a specific example that showcases it, that doesn't mean it isn't common.  I can tell you from the years I spent around Europe, that the service, in general, is much more lax.  Perhaps some take their job seriously and do a good job for pride's sake, but that is very much the exception and not the norm.  From my experiences, France was the worst and Germany was the best, but that may be because most of the places I frequented in Germany were bars that the owner was also the server.  When it is your establishment, it tends to instill pride just to keep it open....Fine dining restaurants where the owners were not literally on top of the service staff just left you wondering if you would get your food at all and in what condition, not when.

cmpm:
No one caught this?
or just not saying...

Lobby congress for a change...lol...
--- End quote ---

think of it next time you fill up your gas tank

Shades:
Now tipping is comparable to bribing public officials and law enforcement? Oh man, even Mr. Pink didn't go there.

This thread gets better with each post! I almost expect Godwin's Law to come into play soon!   :D

Jim
-J-Mac (September 16, 2010, 08:56 PM)
--- End quote ---

I wasn't kidding. In some parts of the world, it's like that. Quite literally. Those are the attitudes. Obviously not in the US or many other places, but there are places where bribing the police is fully expected just like tips. It is a part of their expected income.
-Renegade (September 17, 2010, 09:14 AM)
--- End quote ---

Over here in Paraguay it is not deemed wise by and for gringos to leave in a car in the days before a (inter)national happening, like for instance mothers day. The chance that you get picked and have to pay the fine that they make up on the spot is very high.

Here in the capital it is not so bad, but going to neighbouring cities... 

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