• cobra89@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Went to a concert the other day and they were asking for tip on their $6 hot dogs. The options were 20% 25% and 30% and no option for custom lol.

    I’m not tipping at a concert concession stand when stuff is already outrageously overpriced. GTFOH.

  • TheTrueLinuxDev@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, I actually stop going out for any restaurant or outing ever since the tip inflation went out of control. I just rather spend the money on a cooking class and cook things myself. I really encourage everyone else to do the same, you save a lot of money, and you can add whatever creativity you want to the meal.

    • RotaryKeyboard@lemmy.ninjaOP
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      1 year ago

      Same here. For me it was the realization that what I thought was appropriate tipping – 15% – was actually an insult to servers. Thanks to the internet, I saw how servers retaliate against what they think is a bad tipper. I realized that proper tipping is subjective, and there was no way to be sure I wouldn’t be punished for something I did wrong unknowingly. So rather than risk it, I just decided to learn how to live without eating out.

    • Speff@melly.0x-ia.moe
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      1 year ago

      It’s bonkers how much money you can save making food yourself by just planning meals based on what’s on sale this week. People don’t believe me, but chicken thighs/legs go on sale here every 3/4 weeks for 99 cents a pound. Week’s worth of meat for the equivalent price of a McD’s meal.

      • lamentforicarus@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        I don’t really eat meat. The thing that gets me are the vegetables. If I want anything fresh, it costs so much more than canned or frozen. Frozen/canned veggies are fine for some meals, but for others they can really taste a bit off. We just moved and I’m hoping there are some good farmer’s markets around where I live now with decent prices (the place I moved from were worse than the grocery store).

  • Drusas@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    If you can’t afford to pay your employees a decent wage, you should raise your prices or you shouldn’t be in business.

    There are a few places here in Seattle which have eliminated tipping, raised prices, and raised wages. I greatly prefer this, personally speaking. Add no, I’m not going to start tipping every random cashier just because they start prompting me to.

    • jinno@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The problem is - restaurants in most parts of the states cannot reliably do that. They’re going to see a higher price and they’re probably walking out soon after. Or worse - they stay and leave a shit review because they set their expectations at a higher bar of food quality than was provided.

      If we could unilaterally remove exemptions for tipped wages, I’d see the possibility of it becoming much more common.

      • HQC@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Most restaurants in America as they exist now should not exist. We’re essentially all subsidizing low quality, frozen food.

      • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        So these people are willing to tip for naff food but not pay more to begin with?

  • Spitfire@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    Tipping is absolutely everywhere and it feels like a lot of these screens default to 20% or more. And the employees usually give you a look if you change it to below that or no tip at all.

    A sit-down restaurant I understand for your server, but I still disagree with it and feel that they should just be paid a normal wage, not dependent on the tips. But I’m not going to tip for takeout 9/10 times.

    Also how do we even know, as customers, if the tip is actually going to the employees?

    • CleoTheWizard@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      No no, don’t feel bad about hitting that 0% button. I feel like this is a PSA but in the USA if you tip a minimum wage (untipped) employee, THEY WILL NOT GET YOUR TIP. Severs get paid on tips and a minimum wage (tipped) of about $2.50. Tipping a normal employee (on screens, not cash) will just mean that the employer has to pay them less wages. Seriously? Yes seriously. You can tip at subway, the only person getting that money is subway.

      • CarnivorousCouch@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Strictly speaking, this isn’t true throughout the entire US. Wait staff in Washington, for example, get paid the full state minimum wage, and the minimum wage act explicitly requires that tips be paid to employees rather than retained by the restaurant. Of course, actual practice or compliance can differ, but there are a few states with better laws than the norm.

        • CleoTheWizard@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          I appreciate the added details. As far as I’m aware, they aren’t keeping the tips. But it is legal to pay a tipped employee down to about $2/hr in every state. So most places like Sonic will reduce your pay when you get tips and you claim the tips (which you’re required to do wink wink). So rather than Sonic just paying their employees $10/hr at minimum wage, they’ll pay them $5/hr assuming $5 in tips. Saves the company money and the servers don’t make much more than normal minimum wage while the customer fronts their wages.

          Isn’t that lovely?

          • salarua@sopuli.xyz
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            1 year ago

            not in every state. in Washington, my home state, there’s no such thing as a tipped wage and employers must pay all tips to employees. does this always happen? no, but it is illegal unlike what you’re claiming

          • ricecake@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            I feel like how you’re describing it makes it sound more complicated than it is.

            All employees are required to make minimum wage.
            If your tips don’t take you over minimum wage, your employer has to pay the difference.

            So tips given before you get to minimum wage just reduce how much your boss needs to spend to make up the difference. Once you get there, your boss has to pay you at least some very small quantity and the tips increase your take-home

            It’s a stupid system and exploitative, but it’s not as “wink wink nudge nudge” as you made it sound.

    • Swallowtail@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I never tip with takeout. The only way to stop the cancer of tipping from spreading is to refuse to buy in to it. Pay your damn employees a living wage and then they don’t need tips!

  • ed2417@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I was ordering a pizza online for pickup. When it prompted for a tip at checkout I canceled the order. This is the worst case scenario in my book.

    • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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      1 year ago

      I just hit 0.

      When someone said something to me, I stopped picking up pizza from there….

      I’ll tip and quite well (usually 25-30%) for full service stuff. But for buffet style/sandwich lines and takeout. No thanks

      • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Same here… If I’m being served I will tip well. However if I call in my order, go pick up my order, and the “server” who took my order doesn’t even collect my money, then what my tips are really going towards is making up for the fact that the restaurant isn’t actually paying their staff a livable wage. During the COVID shutdowns, sure I was willing to help keep their doors open. Everyone is back to full business now, so what exactly are you asking me to pay for?

        • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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          1 year ago

          Yeah same mindset.

          Also those other schemes like round up or add $2 to “donate to help first responders” or “save the puppies” I opt out of too. Because when I looked into it I found a company only needed to actually donate like 10% of that total donation to remain in the clear from a tax standpoint and the rest can be used to “administer the program”.

          So no, never do those either.

          • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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            1 year ago

            Wow, a whole 10% you say? How can these companies afford to operate on only a 90% commission? /s

  • BurningnnTree@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    I made an online order for a restaurant a while ago, and there was a tip option with a message that said “100% of tips go toward supporting the restaurant.” First of all that’s a super vague statement, and secondly, that’s not what tips are for. Tips are for supporting the specific people who serve me, not for supporting the restaurant as a whole. Why would I want to leave a tip when I don’t even know where the money is going.

  • themadcodger@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I hate the tipping culture, and wish it would go away. But I’ll still do it for sit down service as that’s part of the deal. The ones that really get me are for pickup as well as the fastish food services where you go to the counter to order, prepay, you pick it up from the counter and bus your own tables. What exactly am I tipping for?

    And why do taxis need tips? Or hairdressers?

    • 1019throw@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Over covid we would tip fairly frequently for takeout. We still on occasion tip to local places, but most of the time we don’t. I’m literally picking up the food, no service is being provided.

  • wholemilk@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I ordered food from a place with zero human interaction. I ordered from a tablet and picked up my food from the counter after receiving a text. I was still asked to tip. At that point, I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be tipping for.

    • Harold@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I used to not tip for takeout (since I had thought there was not really “service”), but I’ve since learned that the packaging for take away can be rather involved. So, I do tip now for the labor of readying the meals to go

      • monkeysuncle@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        The problem I have with that is you have to tip before you even eat the food. They could have screwed up your order, burnt your food, etc., but you won’t know until after you’ve already tipped them.

  • ABluManOnLemmy@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    I’m glad to have moved from a country where taxes and (high) expected tips are on top of the price, to a country where tax is included in the price and tips are usually not expected. It makes a surprising difference in affordability when you can actually buy a €5 item with €5.

    As soon as companies started asking for tips at self check-out, it became obvious that it’s just a way of trying to underpay their staff and shift that responsibility on the customer.

  • TimTheEnchanter@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Related, but has anyone else noticed the “default” tip amounts (on registers and such) are higher now, too? In the past I would see 15-18-20% as kind of the standard options, and now I don’t seem to see anything lower than 20% on those preset options. I saw one the other day that had 35% as a default option.

    • Swallowtail@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I forget if there’s a term for it but I think it’s intentional because it raises the expectations for what people think the minimum acceptable tip is.

      • doctortofu@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        You might be thinking of anchoring. Some restaurants have a couple of outrageously expensive wines on top of the menu for that reason - everything else looks cheaper in comparison, since the first thing you saw is “anchored” in your mind and used as a point of reference.

    • Killer_Tree@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but that’s why other -> 0% is always a valid option. I’ll tip if I’m paying after eating a meal or if someone delivered some food to me, otherwise miss me with that shit.

  • nevernevermore@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    How do Americans budget when you don’t actually know how much things are going to cost you? I’d be lost without my spreadsheets

    • Klinkertinlegs@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of Americans don’t budget at all. I don’t. I should, but I’d probably walk into traffic if I had to look at the numbers.

  • spen@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago
    1. Pay employees a decent wage.
    2. Long past time to get rid of the lower tip minimum wage
    3. I will choose to go to no-tip places
  • yuun@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Yeah I have no idea who the tip even goes to sometimes.

    And really in those cases, I assume straight to the business/owner. And then it’s like why am I volunteering to buy this at an additional markup?

    • ProfessorZhu@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Tips go to employees and it’s even illegal for managers to get tips. You know exactly who it’s going to, you’re just playing games rather than accepting you don’t like to tip

      • yuun@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        No? 1) I’m perfectly happy to say I don’t like tipping in general, too. I do it because that’s how we’ve apparently agreed service workers make any money at all. 2) I didn’t explicitly say I’m in the US, altho I did imagine our tipping culture to be a bit unique, so to be clear - I also don’t have much faith in labor laws getting consistently enforced here. 3) Who is getting tipped from self-service machine screens?

        You can also take the smug armchair psych somewhere else, guy.

    • Snapz@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      A solicitation for tip BEFORE any service is rendered is essentially blackmail.

      “Hey, not for nothing, but sometimes pancakes can fall on the floor before they get into your to-go bag… I’m just saying… Anyways, here’s this tip screen, no pressure [holds eye contact]”

  • Dankenstein@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Tipped wages are disgusting.

    Every business should pay their employees stable wages.

    I have no problem with putting some extra cash down for the waiter that looks no older than me and is working at the roadhouse down the village back road for minimum wage.

    If a fuckin Pret a Manger opened up in center Philly and defaults to 30% tips, wtf man, wtf.

      • themadcodger@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        With so many things in this country, the origins are racism. While tipping originated in Europe, it became popular in the States post-slavery as a way to not have to actually pay black people. Haven’t shaken it yet.

        And annoyingly, the ones who often push the hardest to keep tipping culture are the servers themselves as they can take home a lot of money on a busy weekend evening. Hopefully, we’re getting closer to getting rid of it though.

        • Osayidan@social.vmdk.ca
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          1 year ago

          For the longest time tipping was very stable and nobody said much but with the covid-inspired tipping greed hopefully you’re right. If enough people get pissed off maybe something will happen for tipping to be eliminated. I personally haven’t sat down in a restaurant since the end of 2019, haven’t done a food delivery since 2021, and that won’t change until tipping is gone.