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comment by ixnar
ixnar  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Black Folk Don't: Tip

I've been running into a lot of these US-only stereotypes recently that I was never aware of. They kind of make me sad.

I don't really get the point of tipping. In my country servers are unionized and paid decently, meaning they don't have to rely on untaxed income. It's a nice gesture, but by no means expected.





cgod  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Some of our tip income is taxed, we hide as much as we can.

ixnar  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·  

How much do servers make in the US? In Sweden they make around 2700-3400 USD/month. The median seems to be roughly 2900 USD.

geneusutwerk  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It varies massively across the country and in most places servers are excluded from minimum wage laws. The federal minimum wage for servers is $2.13 an hour, with the expectation being that tips will get them up above $7.25 per hour (and that the employer should make up the difference if they don't). Some states have higher standards than this.

$7.25 an hour with a 40 hour work week comes out to about $15,000 a year and of course a lot of these jobs don't offer any sort of healthcare benefits.

Edit: I was curious to see what the actual average is opposed to the minimum. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the average annaul wage at around $20,000 or $10 an hour.

This data does include reported tips at least.

ixnar  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Wow, the $2.13/h minimum is a damn insult. It makes me understand the need for tips though.

b_b  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Where is 'here'?

ixnar  ·  4050 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Sweden. I edited the post accordingly.

marston  ·  4045 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's funny you should mention that since the most common stereotype I heard while working in food and bev (in the US) was "Europeans don't tip." I never noticed any trends with any so-called groups, but I also never focused on it.

cgod is right about tip income being taxed as I knew several waiters who were audited by the IRS. This was in the 90s so hopefully they have moved on to bigger fish.