this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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You could make just as good a case that it’s the other way around.
A salaried employee makes the same amount of money whether they please people or not. Since pleasing people does not earn them extra income, they often won’t do it, and often their jobs even specifically require being an asshole (managers, supervisors, etc.) at least some of the time.
Someone who works for tips on the other hand can increase their pay quite a bit by pleasing people. And many professional assholes will actually tip quite well for good service, because being around other professional assholes all day can be quite tiring, and being generous for a change is a good way to unwind from that.
Okay, but good service means interrupting my family as little as possible and bringing food out in a decent time frame. People power tripping with their tip percentage, like oh this server didnt grovel enough so they get 10%. Its stupid and petty and causes stress and anxiety for both parties which is bullshit.
JUST TELL ME HOW MUCH TO PAY/TIP SO MY FUCKING SERVER CAN AFFORD A LIVING WAGE. STOP TREATING PEOPLES LIVELIHOODS AS A CARNIVAL GAME.
First of all, it's usually not in their control how fast the food comes out, that's up to the kitchen staff. Second, it's not your business whether they make a living wage. I've been friends with many people working in the industry, and I even dated one for a while, and I came to the conclusion that there's a certain type of personality who is cut out for the job, and they tend to do quite well for themselves (often raking in several hundreds of dollars in tips PER DAY).
As for those who aren't, it's better for them to fail fast so they can move on to something else that they're better at, instead of continuing to work a job they hate just because it pays the bills. It's the same with salespeople, who also usually make a meager salary (sometimes none at all) and only get paid on commission when they make a sale. Some people thrive on this sort of challenge, others don't. Sure, my girlfriend would still complain when she went above and beyond for a table and still ended up without a tip for reasons entirely out of her control, but it didn't happen all that often.
Of course, all the servers who are barely making enough to get by just aren't good enough at their jobs. Got it.
A lot of people wait tables just for temporary income while they're pursing other career paths (such as college, acting, writing, etc.), in which case, making just enough to get by isn't a huge issue, and it can even motivate you to work harder on your actual goal.
Most servers I've met who where doing it full-time actually seemed to genuinely enjoy their job and were very good at it, and rarely complained about not making enough. Sure, they'd get stiffed on tips every now and then just like everyone else, but they had a surprisingly high amount of positive stories about very generous tippers that more than made up for the difference.
But like I said, there's a certain type of personality they all had in common: they were generally above average in attractiveness, loved dressing up, and genuinely enjoyed pleasing people, making smalltalk, etc. People like that seem to do quite well for themselves, and they usually have no problem getting promoted, or finding a job at a more prestigious restaurant (where the tips are usually much better).
All of that can still be true without depending on tips. Those successful servers you mention would be successful in either system.
Not really, because in countries where servers are paid a "living wage" by default, people will generally tip much less (usually in the single digits if anything), and therefore there's no incentive for a anyone to go above and beyond to provide good service, because you get paid more or less the same either way.
Go to Europe sometime and see for yourself. Waiters there are often indifferent at best and sometimes even outright hostile. But there's not much restaurants can do about it because employees are difficult to fire, and the lack of earning potential from tips makes standing around and doing nothing just as profitable as working extra hard.