chapotraphouse

Yes, the workers are wrong.

This is a better way to do it. Unfortunately, many waiters really do come out ahead with tipping, especially those working at higher end restaurants, conventionally attractive by euro standards, or just really good people skills, so they argue tipping is good actually. It benefits some individually, but collectively a lot do not end up with more money this way. So yes, alot of waiters start off making less money. The current system while deeply flawed allows people to have careers in waiting where they can start making pretty low wages to making above middle income money. If they work into bar tending then they can make up to 80 an hour on a good day.

Such career tracks are things you see in logistics and trades. If you want to make a career here you can, the difference being that it offers income mobility without getting a degree making it a far more egalitarian field than most since the "meritocratic" career paths since college overwhelmingly fails poor people, people of color and first generation college students. If it doesn't fail them then they'll likely end up underemployed, unemployed out of their field or in so much debt that they might as well be in fast food.

It’s part of the whole pull yourself up by your bootstraps ideology - yes you theoretically could do better with tipping, but how many do, compared with the many who don’t? But of course restaurantbusinessonline would prefer business owners still be paying less than minimum wage, so they find those workers whose interests for whatever reason line up with theirs.

the real solution then isn't abolishing tipping, its abolishing the tipped wage and retaining tipping