(June 7, 2017 at 6:57 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote:(June 7, 2017 at 7:00 am)Mr.Obvious Wrote: Culturaly obligatory tipping... It keeps being a strange concept to me.
It's not just cultural over here. Wait staff, in most states in America, can be payed WAY below minimum wage.
In Tennessee, where I live, wait staff minimum wage is $2.13 per hour. So, they are pretty much working for tips.
Put into perspective, annualized, at 40 hours * 52 weeks that guaranteed wage is approximately 1/3 of the Federal poverty level for individuals.
We tip because we don't want to see service staff dying of starvation between tables.