[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I've been on the waitstaff side. Right here in Florida, years ago, and back north where I spent most of my life, in two different states. Restaurant owners of common variety restaurants (not 5-star, just normal places like Darrell's) will pay ONLY the minimum they're required to pay, as long as they know their employees are making up the difference between that and minimum wage in tips.

The more you tip your waiter, the lower that waiter's actual non-tipped wage will be. If the boss sees that you're earning $15-25 per hour in tips in a state with an $8.65/hour minimum wage, why should HE pay you at all? You're making more than the average office worker, you don't need his money. But he's required to give you something, so he'll give you the minimum he's required to give you by law. That minimum, in the state of Florida, is LESS than $8.65/hour.

In the USA, a tip is intended to be an addition, a bonus, on top of the actual pay rate. If you want your waiter to actually and TRULY get paid more, you'll tip according to standard, because that's what his boss is basing the waiter's actual hourly wage on.

But doesn't the wait staff at most restaurants pool their tips, which would mitigate that theory????