What do you think of restaurant tipping.

1) What's awkward about it? And that's not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely curious.

2) It's money. Whether that money comes from a tip or an hourly wage, I'm pretty sure that money is a proper form of compensation here.

3) And if someone still tips even when they have bad service, then that's their problem. Some people also won't send a bad meal back. Yes, it's true that some customers are too chickenshit to stand up for themselves, but it has never been easier than with tips. You don't even have to complain to anyone, all you have to do is not give them the money. Yes, it's true that some customers won't stand up for themselves, but I have little sympathy for them especially when there are practically no hurdles involved.

Having said that, if you feel that the service was so shitty that it doesn't deserve a tip, then you SHOULD complain to management. Leaving a shitty tip doesn't exactly tell anyone that you did a shitty job when so many people leave shitty tips just because they're cheap. If someone provided service that was THAT bad, then you SHOULD make it known that the service sucked. That means complaining to management. Personally I'm of the opinion that if the service wasn't bad enough to warrant making a complaint, then the service wasn't bad enough to justify not tipping.

It doesn't work like that. Servers are GUARANTEED to earn the federal minimum wage even if no one tips them a single penny. Yes, the minimum wage for servers and other tipped employees is well below the federal minimum wage of 7 dollars and whatever cents per hour. However, the only reason that the minimum wage for tipped employees is lower is because they make up the difference in tips. Provided that the server DOESN'T make up the difference in tips during the pay period, the restaurant is required to provide the difference.

Now, whether minimum wage is a decent wage is gonna depend on that establishment and whether or not the servers will provide the same level of service on nothing but minimum wage (and by that, I mean "$7.25 an hour and NO tips). But the servers ARE guaranteed to earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.xx an hour. So it's not "helping the employer to underpay his staff", at least not UP TO the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.xx an hour. Servers HAVE to make that much regardless of tips, or else the employer is breaking the law. Point being: UP TO MINIMUM WAGE, the labor costs have to be enough to ensure minimum wage for the employees regardless of whether or not the get tipped. So, UP TO MINIMUM WAGE, the servers aren't really getting underpaid since they're guaranteed to get paid that much regardless of whether or not there are tips. And since the federal minimum wage (or state minimum wage if that's higher than the federal minimum wage) is required, this is a non-issue up to the minimum wage. Take the example of a server who makes $7.25 an hour with his/her server wage and tips combined. That's not allowing the employer to underpay the employee. Since that employee is only making minimum wage WITH TIPS, taking away tips would just mean raising prices just enough to allow the server to earn by wage what he otherwise earned through tips.

Now, you could make a case that tips allow for underpayment once we go ABOVE minimum wage. But that'd be a little bit sketchy. A lot of the reason that people take these jobs in the first place is that it can pay pretty well. Therefore, paying a set wage with no tips still requires the employer to pay accordingly, or else they risk losing the kinds of employees that they want doing the job.

Thats what I said...

The employer is underpaying them as they are only paying them $2.13. Tips are their to benefit the employer, which is absolutely stupid.

Except that it doesn't really provide any benefit to the employer (or at least not the benefit that you're thinking of) since the servers are required by law to make at least $7.25 an hour anyway. Even if you did away with tips, then the amount that the server would have made in tips just goes to the employer, who then gives it right back to the server. There most definitely are benefits to employers, but "underpaying" isn't really one of them. Either way, the employee is getting at least the federal minimum wage of $7.xx an hour. And more importantly, regardless of whether or not tips are implemented, that money is coming from the exact same place (that is, from the money that customers pay when they dine there). It's not like wages are a separate source of money, they're coming from the exact same place as the tips.

Anyway talking about restaurants is making me hungry, now I'm tempted to go to one and have a tasty grilled cheese.