Think Tipping Is Out of Control? Watch This. | Robert Reich

Tipping is nothing more than a legal loophole to pay workers less.

Minimum wage of $7.25 hasn't moved since 2009 (15 years), but $2.13 has been around since 1992 (32 years). Absolutely shameful!

Tipping should be treated like any other bonus compensation package. Sub minimum wage should be illegal.

Business owners are getting rich and passing their labor costs over to the consumer as a guilt tax

As FDR said: "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country"

In many civilized countries, tipping is purely optional for exceptional service. Employers pay living wages, and tips are strictly a reward for great service.

What's worse is the company I work for charges $5.29 delivery charge and let their customers think that it goes to the driver's. They're skimming our tips. They pay minimum wage while on deliveries. They rip their customers and employees off at the same time.

Currently, Massachusetts minimum wage is $15/hr, with a campaign to eventually push it to $20/hr. The sub-minimum wage is $6.75/hr with people pushing for a ballot to eliminate sub-wages.

business owners should be paying a living wage...period...its NOT the customers duty to pay your employees...fire your legislatures...they make way mote than the average worker

I bused tables in 1998 for $2.13/hr. The place I worked was an elite, members-only supper club where billionaires like JR Simplot dined. No cash was ever handled at the restaurant; diners were billed monthly by mail. Gratuity was added to the check automatically. I was an independent adult (not a teen with parents supporting me) and made *$75/week*, and ate only because the restaurant saved a meal for each staffer, sometimes staff would forget and I was the last out of the building so I could take all the meals.

I've tended bar and waited on people and I know many people who've done the same. I've never heard of employers compensating for a lack of tips, even though it's required. There've been far too many people who praised me for my service, yet only paid me with compliments---and you can't make rent on a complement. The minimum wage hasn't been raised in more than a decade. We should raise it to a living wage AND eliminate "tipped wages."

In 1978, "All in the Family" used Edith making a paltry $2.65 from her part-time job and unable to get a bank loan as a laugh line. So how is $2.13 acceptable almost 50 years later? People today are making less than Edith Bunker. It doesn't pass the laugh test.

This is a subject near to my heart. I waitressed for years and years and felt so bad inside that not only was I NOT worthy of federal minimum wage, but also that I was "judged" by every single thing I did. The customer could get away with so many unacceptable behaviors and comments and I felt I had to take it or go home with nothing. I was a good person and a good server, a good wife, a good mom, and I had a family to support. I didn't let anyone see how it hurt and I got up every day to do it for my family. That job finally wore me down. I'm now 65 and the social security check I receive because of that job is pitiful. Before you "judge" your server, stop and think about the hurt you may be causing.

I think the United States need to get rid of tipping like a lot of other countries and just pay people a living wage and not make anyone tip anymore. No making people to pay a tip no matter how the service is.... Pay people a living wage...

Why are sweat shops shut down but restaurants like Denny’s, Perkin’s and others who require tip reporting are allowed to file as individuals in reporting their income? These ARE sweatshops, they just make food instead of Walmart or North Face goods.

The restaurant industry is horrible. That tipped worker is at the mercy of others for that tip. The back of the house and others have more control of their tips than the server does. The best server can't control the back of the house and food quality

Sub min wage is a sin. Tips are not guaranteed.

I always tip. The unfair part is when they make them put the money in a jar and they're supposed to share? That's crazy. In some restaurants the employer's take some or all of that money. That's a crime.

Thank you Robert. It’s obscene

Workers should be paid well enough that no tips are needed.