I think the point is that some positions (non-restaurant workers) don't come with the situation where it is considered socially expected to tip, yet they are paid less than minimum wage with the expectation that tips will make up the rest. One example is coffee shop / fast food workers, who rarely get equivalent of 20% in the tip jar (even adjusted for the many more customers they serve in an hour). Side note, TIL: CA's minimum wage is $9/hr, tipped or untipped, it seems a few of my friends employers were breaking the law...We tip people who are largely exempt from minimum wage requirements. Even the article acknowledges this:
My ass. If you don't put a dollar in the tip jar for buying a $3 cup of coffee in Los Angeles you get a dirty look. McDonald's? Sure. But then, they don't have tip jars. They also aren't minimum-wage exempt - McDonald's has no servers, nor does Chipotle, nor does Burger King. Pizza Hut? Back when they still had wait staff, they got tipped. The two most revered fast food franchises I know of are Dick's and In'n'Out. Both companies pay their employees very well. Neither allow tipping.One example is coffee shop / fast food workers, who rarely get equivalent of 20% in the tip jar (even adjusted for the many more customers they serve in an hour).
I can't speak for the culture of LA, but I knew people working at a <not-upscale-but-local-and-still-frequently-visited> coffee shop in downtown Berkeley. Split among all of the workers of a shift, it usually came out to a handful of dollars at the end of the day. (Also, hence the TIL comment, since after tips they got <$9/hr)