The Fake $10 Tip Has Gone Mainstream

[bekkah]

In Minnesota, waitstaff get paid min wage plus tips. It varies by state on whether or not restaurants can use tips to make up the difference for min wage. Personally, I would rather see it a universal thing that all people get paid min wage plus tips. I don't think thats ever going happen though.

And I would say FU to the fundie who would leave me a tract. I would be even more turned off by that then encouraged.

[LIzzieB]

This makes me really mad. In Australia, tipping is reserved for exemplary service. I think you should be paid a good base wage, and anything you receive from customers is a bonus. The expectation to tip just leaves the door open to these religious nuts who think that it's ok to deprive someone of their wages with a stupid tract. I used to waitress when I was at uni (12 years ago), and was receiving $15 an hour. Even as a 17 year old supermarket checkout chick, I earned $7.50. $2.50 an hour is ludicrous - how can anyone support themselves on that?

To me, a minimum wage should be calculated against the cost of living to ensure that people can achieve a minimum standard of living. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the USA, the minimum wage is tiny, so it's up to the customers to make up the shortfall, but there is no legal requirement for them to tip a certain amount? That just seems to be right for abuse...

As an aside, tipping scares the crap out of me when I travel to the US. There's so many rules... I'd rather just pay more for the food initially and have the server paid a decent wage.

[Cassandra]

If I ever get one of these at work I will go nuts on that person.

Never okay.

[LIzzieB]

This makes me really mad. In Australia, tipping is reserved for exemplary service. I think you should be paid a good base wage, and anything you receive from customers is a bonus. The expectation to tip just leaves the door open to these religious nuts who think that it's ok to deprive someone of their wages with a stupid tract. I used to waitress when I was at uni (12 years ago), and was receiving $15 an hour. Even as a 17 year old supermarket checkout chick, I earned $7.50. $2.50 an hour is ludicrous - how can anyone support themselves on that?

To me, a minimum wage should be calculated against the cost of living to ensure that people can achieve a minimum standard of living. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the USA, the minimum wage is tiny, so it's up to the customers to make up the shortfall, but there is no legal requirement for them to tip a certain amount? That just seems to be right for abuse...

As an aside, tipping scares the crap out of me when I travel to the US. There's so many rules... I'd rather just pay more for the food initially and have the server paid a decent wage.

[onlyorganic]

I seriously doubt Christ left a pile of dishes at any of the houses He visited and said something to Mary and Martha like "Dudettes, I'm gonna die on the cross for you, I left my wet towel on the floor and some pizza boxes... you can take care of it."

Leaving a tract instead of of a tip is just... words fail me.

[Boogalou]

So in the US, if you only make, say, $5/hr in tips, you're only getting $7.50 an hour? In Canada, for instance, I'm pretty sure people in food service don't have to be paid minimum wage, but if tips + wage are less than provincial minimum wage, the employer makes up the difference so they're still getting minimum wage. On the other hand, here in the UK wait staff are paid minimum wage and tips are, well, tips.

I was surprised when I moved here that 10% seems to be 'standard' for tips. In Canada it was 15%, and I've read from US sources on the internet that it should be 20%. I think this must be because of differences in wages.

Servers in Canada are paid a minimum wage but not the minimum wage. If you serve alcohol it's $8.90 an hour, for everyone else $10.25. I've never heard that the employer has to make up the difference but I could be wrong. It would make so much more sense if servers were paid more, they built that into the price of the food, and then I wouldn't have to tip. It's so complicated on how much to tip and if it's before or after tax and who needs a tip! Too confusing. You know what's not confusing? Knowing not to leave a tract.

ETA: this is for Ontario.

[BravaAmica]

Thankfully I am not waitressing anymore, if someone left me one of these I would probably chase them down and beat the crap out of them! HOW fucked up, "hey, lets leave this poor woman who is working really hard and making $2.50 an hour a FAKE $10 bill/tract"! Jerkoffs!

The idiots that left those would stamp them with their church info and service times. One co-worker of mine got so sick of receiving them he called the pastor and told him the parishoners were doing this. The pastor was quite upset, because he recognized how obnoxious it was.

[lilwriter85]

I worked as a server during college and I never got a tract, but I did have people who never left a tip or sometimes I got a quarter as a tip. Back in high school, I worked as a hostess at a restaurant one summer and a church group left behind their business cards instead of tips to the servers. If I had received a tract like that I would have been pissed. I feel for anyone who is left something like that instead of a tip.

[Esteleth]

Is there no such thing as minimum wage in the US?? My sister worked as a waitress 10 years ago, aged 17 (ie, still on youth rates), with no experiance and made $10 an hour!!

There is minimum wage, but waitstaff are kinda-sorta exempt from it. Basically, their employer is allowed to pay them less than minimum wage on the assumption that they will be taking home minimum wage or more due to tips. They are taxed based on the assumption that they're making minimum wage + x (depending on the restaurant).

It's a horrible system, especially since many people view tipping as optional or pull shit like these assholes.

[alba]

Servers in Canada are paid a minimum wage but not the minimum wage. If you serve alcohol it's $8.90 an hour, for everyone else $10.25. I've never heard that the employer has to make up the difference but I could be wrong. It would make so much more sense if servers were paid more, they built that into the price of the food, and then I wouldn't have to tip. It's so complicated on how much to tip and if it's before or after tax and who needs a tip! Too confusing. You know what's not confusing? Knowing not to leave a tract.

ETA: this is for Ontario.

I knew there was a lower minimum wage for servers, but I was sure that they still had to make standard minimum wage with tips or the employer had to make up the difference. I've never actually waited tables in Ontario, though, so I could be misremembering.

I'd rather pay a little more for my meal and have my server paid the same minimum wage as anyone else and then be able to tip what I see fit.

[devilsadvocate]

My dear departed mother's family owned a bar back before I was born. Mom raised me to tip well out of respect for how difficult working at a restaurant can be. Even when we pay with a credit card we leave a cash tip for the server. It's just the decent thing to do.

Tricking someone into thinking you've left them a nice tip only to have it turn out to be a tract is a very unkind thing to do, and if I saw someone do that, I would be very tempted to punch their teeth out.

[emmiedahl]

When I lived in CA, servers made the standard minimum wage plus their tips. It could come out to a really nice living! I think Washington is the same. One of my neighbors works at a bar and makes a bundle. Like, brand new luxury cars and such. It is one of the ways that a select few families in my building manage to live in subsidized housing while making a healthy amount of month.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

To me, a minimum wage should be calculated against the cost of living to ensure that people can achieve a minimum standard of living.

That's a "living wage." There are people who campaign for it, I've been involved in some movements locally that managed to at least get the public sector paying that much, but it's a very uphill battle. The idea is, if your employees are paid so little that they qualify for government assistance, then essentially you're asking the taxpayers to pay your employees' wages.

The minimum wage went a lot farther in 1973 - of course a lot of the "rising productivity without rising wages" trends started around then.

[BravaAmica]

When I lived in CA, servers made the standard minimum wage plus their tips. It could come out to a really nice living! I think Washington is the same. One of my neighbors works at a bar and makes a bundle. Like, brand new luxury cars and such. It is one of the ways that a select few families in my building manage to live in subsidized housing while making a healthy amount of month.

Yep, servers in WA make the state minimum wage. (I sure wish I had a serving job.) If those servers that live in your building are not claiming tips so they can-on paper- make the amount to qualify for the benefit, that's very dishonest.

The IRS does come after servers who don't claim tips. (Although I used to joke that if the IRS ever questioned the amount I claimed, I would be happy to wait on them.) I claimed what I made. I felt safer that way.

[lizzy]

This makes me really mad. In Australia, tipping is reserved for exemplary service. I think you should be paid a good base wage, and anything you receive from customers is a bonus. The expectation to tip just leaves the door open to these religious nuts who think that it's ok to deprive someone of their wages with a stupid tract. I used to waitress when I was at uni (12 years ago), and was receiving $15 an hour. Even as a 17 year old supermarket checkout chick, I earned $7.50. $2.50 an hour is ludicrous - how can anyone support themselves on that?

To me, a minimum wage should be calculated against the cost of living to ensure that people can achieve a minimum standard of living. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the USA, the minimum wage is tiny, so it's up to the customers to make up the shortfall, but there is no legal requirement for them to tip a certain amount? That just seems to be right for abuse...

As an aside, tipping scares the crap out of me when I travel to the US. There's so many rules... I'd rather just pay more for the food initially and have the server paid a decent wage.

I think the idea for working for tips comes from the similar idea about salesmen working for commission. However, I'd much rather pay more for my food than feel like I'm required to give the waitress who screwed up my drink order or ignored me for 20 min an additional 20%.

[Smooth Beans]

The idiots that left those would stamp them with their church info and service times. One co-worker of mine got so sick of receiving them he called the pastor and told him the parishoners were doing this. The pastor was quite upset, because he recognized how obnoxious it was.

+1 for the pastor at least. Those tracts are a serious dick move to be sure.

[Angri-la]

My tipping anecdote was from when I lived in Illinois. In Oregon, it is state minimum wage + tips, which is better, but I still overtip, especially @the breakfast, as it is less expensive and just as much work. Plus, people are crabby in the morning.

I don't agree with the non-living minimum wage. I employ people who make a few dollars an hour above it, but are still "the working poor". Sure, they have full time jobs, the cheapest insurance available, and are subsisting, living paycheck to paycheck, and these are educated, hard working people; the economy is still dying, but we have to make sure the very rich and corporations don't have to pay another thin dime, gods forbid!

[ElphabaGalinda]

I personally think servers should make the same minimum wage as everyone else. That way customers can tip as they find deserving, and servers wouldn't have to worry that some fundie will give them a fake 10$ bill. Do people even think that could possibly work? This is one of those stupid "lying for the lord" things. If anyone ever gave one of those to me i would think, You're a jerk, why would I want to even look into your religion, because you're a jerk. Fake money instead of a tip is very disrespectful to the hard work of the servers, and it's very un-Christlike behaviour. I'm pretty sure Jesus would've been an excellent tipper.

[Boogalou]

I knew there was a lower minimum wage for servers, but I was sure that they still had to make standard minimum wage with tips or the employer had to make up the difference. I've never actually waited tables in Ontario, though, so I could be misremembering.

I'd rather pay a little more for my meal and have my server paid the same minimum wage as anyone else and then be able to tip what I see fit.

Hmm, that would actually make sense when I think about it. Hopefully tips would put a person over minimum wage, but you never know. I'll ask my sister, she used to waitress.

[Stanley]

Once, when I went to dinner with a date and another couple. I went to give the waitress her tip and realized that the other couple had slipped one of these cards in with their money. I asked them about it, and they said that it's no big deal they always leave one of these cards for the waitress.

To me this seems like an extremely rude way to treat someone who's been waiting on you for the last hour -- kind of made my blood boil. But, I guess there is no room for courtesy when you're on a righteous godly mission.

[DistantStar]

I have had friends and family who've waited tables. It can be damn hard work. Way harder to do well than it looks, like so many jobs that get looked down on. I tip well unless the service is truly heinous.

My opinion on the fake-tip tract involves whatever my boss is saying in Afrikaans and German when she gets mad (not at us!) on a really bad day as well as a coworker's creative Australian swearing plus my own boring American swearage.

[noni alabaster]

$2.13 an hour in my state. I have worked as a waiter off-and-on for many years, and I flat out refuse to work on Sundays, partly because of the tract-tippers.

I have to pay taxes on my sales, so every time I get stiffed, (and that's what's happening here), the taxes come out of my pocket. These people are nothing but thieves. Pretentious, sanctimonius thieves.

[Lillybee]

I think that this is one of the worse things about tipping with tracts. Because of the tax thing, it is basically robbing the server.

I tend to think that this happens more often in lower end restaurants like Perkins and Denny's. I doubt that it is done much in higher end restaurants.

[JesusFightClub]

I've been a waitress but we did get minimum wage (we used to fight over tables with American tourists at them because they tipped the best!)

It only ever once happened to me I was paid below minimum after it was introduced. I was a salesperson and they got round the law by saying we would make more in commission. Needless to say you do not and you are always running to keep up.

If I ever go to America I will leave a big tip if I go to a restaurant. Along with details of how to join a union.

[godlytomatosoup]

With reference to the working on the sabbath thing: this is something Orthodox Jews handle better than other kinds of fundies. I had a friend who was Orthodox, and basically, if you're observant enough that you can't work on the sabbath, then you're observant enough that you can't spend money on the sabbath either. Or ask other people to do things for you that you're not allowed to do, or benefit from the sabbath-breaking of another Jew (even if they're not observant.)

The loophole: you are allowed to benefit from a gentile's actions... as long as it's not on your behalf. So, for instance, if you and a gentile were going in an elevator (i.e. use electricity, which counts as kindling a fire, which is forbidden) on a Saturday morning, and the gentile wanted to go to the 10th floor and you wanted to go to the 14th floor, you'd have to get off at the 10th floor and climb the stairs.

It's not something I'd want to follow myself, but I like that they're consistent about it. No having lunch at a restaurant and then shaming the workers there for preparing and serving the food that you ate.