[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by Cuervo

Let's do a little math $13 X 8Hrs. = $104.
Assuming the person works 5 days a week that comes out to $520.
Let's all assume since in today's world $520 a week is not a living wage, the person deiced not to take a vacation.
So, a person working for $13 an hour working 52 weeks a year will earn $27,040.
That is not a living wage that is why I always leave a tip.

Is every job supposed to have a living wage?

Including part time and starting jobs?

Or are some jobs not meant to be careers?

[donfey]

Originally Posted by stratmax

Have you noticed the food prices in restaurants have gone up dramatically. I'm not sure everybody knows this but last fall, 2024. Florida enacted a law mandating restaurants pay a base wage of $9.98 to their wait staff and a guarantee of $13/hour when combined with the tips.The law gave restaurants time to change their menu prices so they could pay the base wage.
So, why are we continuing to pay 20% tip when there is already a built in tip in the menu prices?
NOTE: the base wage is also going to go up to $10.98 this fall

I find it strange that none of the responses I've read comment on the fact that a 2020 dollar is now worth eighty cents.

[Cliff Fr]

Originally Posted by stratmax

Have you noticed the food prices in restaurants have gone up dramatically. I'm not sure everybody knows this but last fall, 2024. Florida enacted a law mandating restaurants pay a base wage of $9.98 to their wait staff and a guarantee of $13/hour when combined with the tips.The law gave restaurants time to change their menu prices so they could pay the base wage.
So, why are we continuing to pay 20% tip when there is already a built in tip in the menu prices?
NOTE: the base wage is also going to go up to $10.98 this fall

Would you wait on multitudes of people, some of them aholes, for several hours for $14.00 an hour?

[FastAndCurious]

I always tip.....usually 20 percent, but I get the uneasy feeling that I am being exploited. I agree with the OP that restaurant prices have gone up a lot. Traditionally, the tip percentage was 15 percent. At that percentage, with considerably higher prices, the tip amount has already been increased.

During Covid, we all dug deeper to help those who were struggling.
Now 20 percent (or higher) is seen as an entitlement, no matter what level of service is given, and you are being guilt tripped into paying it, often with computer screens.
I have recently noticed at many restaurants that the "suggested tip" on your receipt begins at 20 percent and goes up to 25 percent. (no more 18 percent)
Further, I have also noticed that at many restaurants, the suggested tip is based on the total bill, INCLUDING TAX!
Why would you tip 20 percent on the tax?

Last, did you know that the proposed "no income tax on tips" is ONLY for CASH tips?
And why should it be exempt? It's income!
Have a nice day.

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Tips aren't supposed to be part of a server's paycheck from their employer. They're supposed to be in ADDITION to it. As a "thank you" from the customer directly, for doing a good (or better) job. There are people with extreme views in either direction:

People who think it's good to give at least 20%, and up to 40% of their tab, usually because they want to show off how generous they are. Those are the people who think they can buy their way into heaven.

People who think that they shouldn't tip at all, because the boss is paying the employee, and the employee is owed nothing by the customer. Those are the people who don't think they have to earn their place in heaven.

And then the people in the middle like me: old-fashioned. Traditional. If service is adequate, no complaints but nothing spectacular, I tip 15%. If service is good, but not great, they get 18%. If service is outstanding, they get 20%, plus one penny, plus a compliment to the manager to let them know their employee was responsible for maintaining high standards for their restaurant. If service was BAD, they get no tip, and a complaint to the manager.

I tip curb-side folks if they have to come out in the rain. I toss the change into the tip jar when I buy something at a take-out joint that has one - sometimes. Those are people who are already earning minimum wage or better, they are not "tipped employees."

IF a waitress averaged $13 an hour for forty hours a week, that would be about $25,000 (before taxes) a year, which is less than I earn in Social Security payments, and my Social Security is much less than half of my yearly income. I earned $25,000 a year my first year as a tenure-track professor with a Ph.D., back in 1986. My family and I were renting an old apartment for $460 a month. Try to find an apartment for that price today!

Waitresses may not be well-educated, but they can work full-time and still be at the poverty level. It’s hard to be hopeful about life with an income like that.

I usually dine alone, yet I take up a table that could provide a tip from four people. Accordingly, since moving to The Villages, I’ve made $10 my BASE tip. If 20% of the check is greater than $10, I pay the greater amount. Otherwise, I tip $10, even if the meal is $13, and even if I’m at a self-service buffet where the waitress is simply refilling my water glass. If I’m having a dinner with other people and we have separate checks, I also tip $10. I’m not sharing this to brag but to show a way for those who have plenty to reward hard-working people who are living on the edge. It’s not a way to earn one’s way into heaven. I’ve been blessed, and I want to bless others. I want to say thank you.

[Topgun 1776]

Originally Posted by stratmax

Have you noticed the food prices in restaurants have gone up dramatically. I'm not sure everybody knows this but last fall, 2024. Florida enacted a law mandating restaurants pay a base wage of $9.98 to their wait staff and a guarantee of $13/hour when combined with the tips.The law gave restaurants time to change their menu prices so they could pay the base wage.
So, why are we continuing to pay 20% tip when there is already a built in tip in the menu prices?
NOTE: the base wage is also going to go up to $10.98 this fall

Thanks for sharing!
Oh boy!!! I can see the "You must tip us MORE no matter what level of service you get" wait staff people lining up to reply!
I don't tip to help compensate...never have...never will. I tip for good service. I tip more for great service. Of course, that's my choice. What anyone else does is theirs.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

IF a waitress averaged $13 an hour for forty hours a week, that would be about $25,000 (before taxes) a year, which is less than I earn in Social Security payments, and my Social Security is much less than half of my yearly income. I earned $25,000 a year my first year as a tenure-track professor with a Ph.D., back in 1986. My family and I were renting an old apartment for $460 a month. Try to find an apartment for that price today!

Waitresses may not be well-educated, but they can work full-time and still be at the poverty level. It’s hard to be hopeful about life with an income like that.

I usually dine alone, yet I take up a table that could provide a tip from four people. Accordingly, since moving to The Villages, I’ve made $10 my BASE tip. If 20% of the check is greater than $10, I pay the greater amount. Otherwise, I tip $10, even if the meal is $13, and even if I’m at a self-service buffet where the waitress is simply refilling my water glass. If I’m having a dinner with other people and we have separate checks, I also tip $10. I’m not sharing this to brag but to show a way for those who have plenty to reward hard-working people who are living on the edge. It’s not a way to earn one’s way into heaven. I’ve been blessed, and I want to bless others. I want to say thank you.

Note that the Federal poverty level for one person is $15,650 per year.

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by Cuervo

Let's do a little math $13 X 8Hrs. = $104.
Assuming the person works 5 days a week that comes out to $520.
Let's all assume since in today's world $520 a week is not a living wage, the person deiced not to take a vacation.
So, a person working for $13 an hour working 52 weeks a year will earn $27,040.
That is not a living wage that is why I always leave a tip.

Well said, 100% agree. Tipping is the only way for them to make decent money. Without people tipping it will be even more difficult than it already is to find good restaurant help.

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

IF a waitress averaged $13 an hour for forty hours a week, that would be about $25,000 (before taxes) a year, which is less than I earn in Social Security payments, and my Social Security is much less than half of my yearly income. I earned $25,000 a year my first year as a tenure-track professor with a Ph.D., back in 1986. My family and I were renting an old apartment for $460 a month. Try to find an apartment for that price today!

Waitresses may not be well-educated, but they can work full-time and still be at the poverty level. It’s hard to be hopeful about life with an income like that.

I usually dine alone, yet I take up a table that could provide a tip from four people. Accordingly, since moving to The Villages, I’ve made $10 my BASE tip. If 20% of the check is greater than $10, I pay the greater amount. Otherwise, I tip $10, even if the meal is $13, and even if I’m at a self-service buffet where the waitress is simply refilling my water glass. If I’m having a dinner with other people and we have separate checks, I also tip $10. I’m not sharing this to brag but to show a way for those who have plenty to reward hard-working people who are living on the edge. It’s not a way to earn one’s way into heaven. I’ve been blessed, and I want to bless others. I want to say thank you.

That's awesome!! We tip very well too. We're not rich by any means but we like helping others do better. Especially if the server is excellent and hard working. Good servers deserve a good tip. 20% is the minimum. 15% went away years ago.

[Laker]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Do you leave the same tip at McDonald's or Wendy's where the employees make the same amount?

At McDonalds you go to the counter and pick up your food, it is not delivered to a table by someone who is catering to you, and cleaning up your mess.

People who don't tip look for any excuse not to, bottom line is they are just cheapskates.

[retiredguy123]

Question - If the minimum wage in Florida is $13 per hour, why should servers at a sit down restaurant get a 20 percent tip, when fast food restaurant servers usually get no tip?

[dougjb]

The entire business plan of most restaurants is faulty!

What other business requires the patrons of that business to pay money to supplement the pay check of the business's employees? Can you imagine "tipping" a car dealership for the good service provided by the dealership's employees? Can you imagine the dealership suggest that they could no longer afford to pay a liveable wage to their employees if the patrons were unable or unwilling to "tip" their employees? How totally ridiculous!

So, what is the answer? In Europe, I have had it happen that when I go to "tip" the server, many are genuinely insulted that I would do such a thing. Their employer pays them for doing a good job!

I am appalled at certain restaurants that I have frequented that add a special charge to my bill to address the fact that they have to pay their workers a liveable wage (this has occurred primarily in states which have upped the hourly pay of servers). When the restaurant does this, they should realize that my patronage ends with my payment of that one bill.

In my opinion, a restaurant should charge what it needs to charge to cover all of their expenses of operating the business including their employee's wages. Obviously, the menu prices will have to increase. A patron pays a business for the entirety of the costs the business incurs plus a suitable charge to patron for profit!

So, maybe the solution is to not tip. The immediate impact will be on the servers. They will soon look for other employment. But, ultimately, the restaurant owner will either have to increase prices to cover the employee's wages to a living wage or go out of business. I have no problem with less restaurants if it means the cessation of paying slave wages and then relying upon the largess of the restaurant's patrons.

By the way, please consider what the minimum wages permitted by statute really amount too. A wage of $10 per hour means a gross annual pay of about $20,000 before taxes. A wage of $13 per hour equates to an annual wage of $26,000. Could you survive on either amount? Why should we expect serves to live on these amounts? It is time to increase the minimum wage for all employees to an amount sufficient to provide a liveable wage. And yes, all of us patrons, across the board, would have to pay what it actually costs for a business to stay in business!

[rwfisher1969]

After living in TV for four years on thing is very evident, people here are cheap. They will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a house blindly. When it comes to paying for paying for dinner and tipping its like they are living on a welfare budget.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by FastAndCurious

I always tip.....usually 20 percent, but I get the uneasy feeling that I am being exploited. I agree with the OP that restaurant prices have gone up a lot. Traditionally, the tip percentage was 15 percent. At that percentage, with considerably higher prices, the tip amount has already been increased.

I agree, since tips are usually calculated on a percentage of the bill, as prices increase so do tips. I haven't increased my tip percentage due to life being more expensive for the worker, I keep my tip percentage the same since I know the worker will receive more due to the increase in the price I am charged.

Basically, at 20% tipping, the server must serve five customers in order to take in enough to buy one meal. That stays the same even if the price of the meal doubles: at 20% tipping they would still make enough to pay for one meal by serving five customers.

Further, I have also noticed that at many restaurants, the suggested tip is based on the total bill, INCLUDING TAX!
Why would you tip 20 percent on the tax?

I would tip 20% on the bottom line including tax because: 1. it is an easy number to find and doesn't require additional math in my head; 2. I tend to tip enough to make the final charge an even dollar amount; and , 3. the amount of additional tip that comes from tipping on tax is negligible to me.

Last, did you know that the proposed "no income tax on tips" is ONLY for CASH tips?
And why should it be exempt? It's income!
Have a nice day.

This will come down to the IRS definition of "cash tip" which is very likely to include credit card tips. Otherwise, the law would have had to specify "tips in the form of cash, credit card payments, debit card payments, or check." Better to use the term "cash tip" since the IRS already understands that term to mean what we all think of as any "tip."

[Sgt Ed]

Originally Posted by stratmax

Have you noticed the food prices in restaurants have gone up dramatically. I'm not sure everybody knows this but last fall, 2024. Florida enacted a law mandating restaurants pay a base wage of $9.98 to their wait staff and a guarantee of $13/hour when combined with the tips.The law gave restaurants time to change their menu prices so they could pay the base wage.
So, why are we continuing to pay 20% tip when there is already a built in tip in the menu prices?
NOTE: the base wage is also going to go up to $10.98 this fall

Question, are YOU willing to do that or any other job for $10.00 a hour? Can anyone live on $10.00 an hour or $14.00 . I say get real.