tipping

Having worked in the service industry way back in the sixties for US$13.50 per day, tips really helped. I can afford leaving 20%, so that's what I do.

Minimum wages for service jobs in many parts of the US ought to be embarrassment in a civil society. Employers profiteer from the exploitation of low-paid workers. I expect that many of us have see a copy of the notice one restaurateur posted imploring customers to tip generously because the service staff couldn’t live on their wages.

Imagine, “Please pay my employees. I don’t want to.”

The other side of that coin is that when I worked as a waiter on Sanibel Island I made much more in tips each night than any restaurant could afford to pay, usually over $100 a night back in the late 70's, which was damn good money back then. So I could work 3 or 4 nights a week and go to college during the day and still make enough money to live on Sanibel Island. Could've made more as a bartender, but then I'd've had to put up with too many drunks instead of just hungry tourists.