How cheap employers use unwarranted tipping to their advantage
I got a bone to pick with cheap employers, of which there are several in my resident state of Utah. Here’s what they do.
- They don’t pay competitive hourly wages for jobs that don’t require significant waiting on the customer, like a server does in a restaurant.
- They then put up signs saying “please tips our workers,” because they’re too cheap to pay a decent hourly wage.
- They seemingly lure in prospective employees with the promise of tips.
- Everyone ends up confused, from the unsure consumer to the under-paid worker.
My car wash does this. My car gets run through a machine, then an hourly worker rubs it down with a towel in less than three minutes. When done, they look at you while standing next to a ginormous sign asking for tips. Fast food restaurants have begun doing this too.
I have no problem tipping upwards of 20 percent for good service where standard (i.e. restaurants, cabs, bag boys). But when hourly workers start doing it, it feels lame on principle alone. Or maybe I’m just a cheap skate (what’s an extra few bucks to me).
7 Comments
I feel so bad for the servers that only make like $1.50 an hour and have to live off tips. And they wonder why the restaurant industry has such a high turn over rate. In Santa Monica the minimum wage was $10 an hour (in 2003) and the waiters still got their tips. People have careers waiting tables out there.
Reminds me of an article I saw in the WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120425051754601833.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Ya. I remember a family member of Matt’s got fired from Baskin Robbins for leaving a cup with the top torn off and writing in a sharpie, “tips…please.” I guess people are getting so desperate because yeah, they don’t get paid jack here in Utah.
I’m no fan of tipping, myself…
Amen Blake. I have no problem tipping where there is something more than handing you your meal. I have noticed about every fast food place now puts a tip line on a credit card bill.
The simple solution is for job seekers to not take jobs that pay below market on the hope of tips unless it is a job in which tips typically form the bulk of the wages. I used to have an employee who would make $150+ a night in tips in college. Not too bad for 3-4 hours work.
I am tempted to avoid fast food places that ask for tips. The challenge is knowing whether it is the employer underpaying or some creative employees hoping to take home an extra bonus.
On the other side of tipping… I am waitress. I make 2.63 an hour and I work at Corkys Bbq in Arkansas. I am looking to find out if tipping out your employer is illegal. at the end of the day 2% of our sales goes in to the restaurant. And on Frid. Sat. and Sunday 2% goes to food runner (Which I Have NO problem with) But 2% goes to restaurant too. So a total of 4% is coming out of what we make on the weekends and 2% on weekdays. On top of the fact I claim the tips that are tipped out and am paying taxes on them. Any Input would help???
My memory is fuzzy, but I believe this type of issue was something a professor at BYU-I discovered was causing problems at McDonald’s. The “would you like fries with that” or “tips please” issue was placing the employees in a the uncomfortable position of selling fries rather than a position of serving customers.