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Originally Posted by Lasereth
1. Waiters and waitresses make $2.50 an hour on average. Tips are their PAY. Tips aren't a privilege. They are how the person lives. Good tipping is a privilege, but helping the person REACH MINIMUM WAGE shouldn't be something that needs to be debated by a genuinely kind person.
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I still don't understand how this is my problem. Maybe I am an asshole for not buying the whole sympathy argument. If that's the case, I'm comfortable with it. It's unfortunate that they don't get a proper wage; on the other hand, I'm not the one who set their wage so low. I don't see how I'm responsible to make up the difference.
Food service is unskilled labour. There are very few people who can't wait tables. Expecting exorbitant amounts of money for a job almost anyone can do is unreasonable. That said, $2.50 an hour is a slave wage and it's unfortunate that these people get paid so little. If I could change the laws and see to it that they were fairly compensated for their labour, I'd do it in a heartbeat. On the other hand, expecting me to make up the difference out of my own pocket is a bit absurd.
I've done some busking before to make a bit of extra cash, and it's my opinion that
that is the job where you really see the best and worst of people. A busker's pay is directly related to the quality of his performance; passers-by don't feel the need to throw a dollar in the case just for the privelege of walking past. You may argue that it's a different situation, but I don't think it really is. Both are gratuities. The only difference is some arbitrary rule that the person who brings me my dinner is somehow automatically deserving of extra compensation.
I don't think of myself as any better than these people. Any job is better than no job, and I can get behind that. If waiting tables is all you're qualified for, then it's better that than unemployment. But if your employer isn't paying you enough to do it, I'd strongly suggest seeking employment elsewhere. 'Won't somebody think of the waiter's children?!' is not a sound argument.
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
My guess is that socialism has you used to shitty service that you think is free because you don't see pay the price directly and have no say in how much to spend.
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Wouldn't it go the other way? Wait staff here get a higher hourly wage. As they're not dependent on our tips to live, we can leave a tip that directly reflects the level of service received. Therefore, I would expect that the person serving me at a restaurant would work harder for a tip, since it isn't mandatory.