Tipping is ingrained into our basic economic culture. Restaurant staff (waiters and waitresses in particular) make 80%+ of their money through tips. Federal minimum wage is about $7.25 USD, and almost no states have a minimum wage that low (some places it’s easily double that), but it’s completely legal to pay wait staff $2.25 an hour and expect them to make up the difference to $15-20 per hour in tips almost anywhere. A standard “good” tip at a restaurant is 20%. Even going to a grocery store you’ll often see a tip jar on the counter that people toss their spare change into. Outside of restaurants, no other job is completely dependent on tips to live, but in many service industries it’s still customary to tip as a way to show appreciation for a service rendered (especially if they go above and beyond).
You do have to earn at least minimum wage as a waiter if your tips don’t add up with your wage to at least $7.25 hourly, though (higher if your state/locality has a better minimum wage). That said, $7.25 is a poverty wage and wage theft exists. Ideally this would be solved with an appropriate minimum wage and decent pay for waitstaff/kitchen staff.
Tipping is ingrained into our basic economic culture. Restaurant staff (waiters and waitresses in particular) make 80%+ of their money through tips. Federal minimum wage is about $7.25 USD, and almost no states have a minimum wage that low (some places it’s easily double that), but it’s completely legal to pay wait staff $2.25 an hour and expect them to make up the difference to $15-20 per hour in tips almost anywhere. A standard “good” tip at a restaurant is 20%. Even going to a grocery store you’ll often see a tip jar on the counter that people toss their spare change into. Outside of restaurants, no other job is completely dependent on tips to live, but in many service industries it’s still customary to tip as a way to show appreciation for a service rendered (especially if they go above and beyond).
You do have to earn at least minimum wage as a waiter if your tips don’t add up with your wage to at least $7.25 hourly, though (higher if your state/locality has a better minimum wage). That said, $7.25 is a poverty wage and wage theft exists. Ideally this would be solved with an appropriate minimum wage and decent pay for waitstaff/kitchen staff.