Featured Image Credit: TikTok / mylasoasis_
Topics: Food and Drink, News, US News, Money
Kit Roberts
A server has caused a stir after sharing their strong feelings on tipping in restaurants.
The old debate on tipping has reared its ugly head again, but this time a server who goes by @mylasoasis_ on TikTok has some seriously strong - and somewhat controversial - words for diners on their tipping etiquette.
While many countries are very different, whether you like it or not, in the USA tipping is not an option, but a neccessity. In the UK, restaurant staff are paid a decent-ish wage, so tipping is not mandatory. However as @mylasoasis_ explains, she makes a measley - and somewhat shocking - '$3.63' (an hour we'd presume).
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This means servers are relying on tips to make a days living, so whether you agree with the frustrated TikToker or not, you can see why she has taken to air out her frustrations online.
She said: “You can b*tch and moan and tell me that my employer should be paying me a higher wage all you want, but this is America, and that’s not what is happening, OK?
“I get paid $3.63 from the restaurant that I work at. My earnings, my wage, comes from tips.”
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She added: “The food is cheaper because you’re expected to tip on it.
“You don’t deserve to eat out if you cannot afford to tip. Like, it’s the same thing with a nanny. If you can’t afford to pay somebody else an entire salary, you don’t deserve a nanny.
"If you can’t afford to tip, you literally don’t deserve to eat out. Order to-go, or go to f*cking McDonald’s.”
The law on tipping differs from state to state, with the federal minimum wage currently being $7.25 an hour.
However, for tipped employees such as waiters or bartenders, businesses in some states are allowed to pay as little as $2.13 per hour as long as they can show the employee makes the minimum wage when tips are included, a practice called the 'tip credit'.
Now you can see why so many of these videos are made on TikTok.
Some restaurants also include 'tip pools', where servers 'tip out' back of house staff in the kitchen. This only became legal in 2020 when the Department of Labor introduced a new rule allowing tips to be shared with the back of the house.
The catch is that restaurants can only do this if they pay all their staff the full federal minimum wage and don't use the tip credit.
Nonetheless, given that the federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 in July 2009 and hasn't changed since, it would be a massive stretch to even call it a living wage.
In short, if you're dining out in the US, tip your server, please.