As a foreigner in the US, I've made the faux-pas of assuming waiters and waitresses were being paid a full salary by their employer.

I even suspect that I received sub-par service from some of them, who may have identified me as a "no-tip risk" from the first moment.

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raegis 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> As a foreigner in the US, I've made the faux-pas of assuming waiters and waitresses were being paid a full salary by their employer.

This depends on the state. For example, in California, servers get state minimum wage, at least ($16.90/hour). On the other hand, most "red" states use the federal minimums: $2.13/hour for servers (!) and $7.25/hour for non-tipped employees.

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snayan 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm not saying they're right to do so, but it sounds like their intuition was honed well if they pegged you correctly during your faux-pas era? Fascinating, wonder what the tell was.

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NoboruWataya 14 hours ago | parent [-]

If you are a foreigner I imagine your accent can give you away pretty quickly. Europeans would be far less likely to tip (or tip generously).

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donohoe 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It’s not about accents, it’s about whether you look/feel like a tourist. Even so, you can never really tell how people will go.

Source: I waited tables in NYC in a past life.

	▲	yuye 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I have got family living in the US. All non-US. Before they got state drivers licenses, they could only show their non-US ID/passport whenever they got carded for alcohol. A few times, the venue would just tack on a 20% service fee. One time, they asked the table next to them if they also got a service fee: They didn't. They complained, got the service fee waived, then told them to forget about getting a tip at all. You might guess a person might be a non-tipper, but giving shitty service or forcing a discriminatory service fee will make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Aerolfos 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Europeans would be far less likely to tip (or tip generously).

Southern europeans tip, there wouldn't be much difference there

Northern ones it depends, they don't tip at home but they usually do on vacations to southern europe (where tipping culture very much exists). Though some of that also has to do with currency conversions, at least historically, even if the tradition has stuck past the euro being introduced. So maybe that's why they don't tip when it comes to dollars?

	▲	i_no_can_eat 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Southern europeans tip No we don't. In Portugal, Spain, and Italy it's not common nor expected.

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chung8123 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

To be honest they are paid a full salary. Tipped wage does not preclude the minimum wage. In addition there are many states like CA that do not have a tipped wage.

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JohnFen 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Tipped wage does not preclude the minimum wage.

Likely depends on the state, but in many states, traditionally tipped positions have a different, lower, minimum wage than non-traditionally tipped positions.

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ButlerianJihad 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Actually not. In my state and others, when a business is designated as accepting tips, the workers can be paid less than minimum wage, while expecting that the tips they collect will make up for it.

So it’s really a way to extort good tips from customers, because it’s understood that our gratuities are the only way they can make minimum wage!

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ericpauley 14 hours ago | parent [-]

In every state I am aware of employers are required to gross up to minimum wage if tips fall short. Yours is likely the same.

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sethammons 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

A friend in Southern California worked for a restaurant in Disneyland. Her employer calculated what they felt each waitstaff should have earned and had all of them pay up for sub-tips go cooks and busboys. Refusal to do so was grounds for termination. She had several days where the end of the shift had her net pay her employer due to non or low tipping that day.

That was grossing up for her. Illegal? Likely. "But they have laws against that" - low wage employees are easily taken advantage of. They often _need_ that job.

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bjourne 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How long will a business employ a waiter that is tipped so badly?

	▲	account42 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		We are talking about whether you as a customer should feel bad about not tipping. If customers don't tip that is not going to result in one waiter suddenly receiving much less in tips than others.

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SwiftyBug 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've completely forgot to tip many times while visiting the US. It's just not something that I ever do in my country. And then you learn it's not only restaurants, but bars and, for some reason, the person behind the cashier at a Wallgreen's is sometimes also tipped?

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jacobgorm 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You were lucky to get out alive.

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delta_p_delta_x 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Threatening assault on a paying customer for not knowing tipping norms is just one of the many reasons why American society is in the state it is. I've seen similar things like 'be glad I didn't spit in your food', 'next time they are getting trouser food'. This is despicable.

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i_no_can_eat 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What a lovely country.

	▲	ponector 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		God bless America! Land of the free! Free to tip everyone you exchange money with.

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dboreham 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Level of service doesn't depend on the tip in the USA. Tip size may depend a little bit on level of service, but not the other way around. Basically the tip is how the customer pays the server and table clearers etc, because the restaurant owner does not. It's just a convention on how to split up the total charge that American culture has determined in the way to do it. And like every single weird thing in American culture, it's that way because of slavery.

	▲	ButlerianJihad 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah but that's for restaurants. In restaurants, the tip is usually post-paid. Tipping in other industries may have a different dynamic. For example, with Doordash and Uber Eats, tips are prepaid. The driver may also be made aware of their prospective tip during the bidding process. Therefore, tipping is gamified into enticing a driver into accepting the bid over other jobs. I will not reduce a post-paid tip if I perceive that I got bad service. I usually won't increase it, either, without extenuating circumstances, for example, if the server overcame adversity somehow (especially if I was the adverse one). However, if a prepaid tip turns out to be unwarranted by horrendous service, I will go after that and require it to be reduced to $0. That is basically the only punishment that a customer can exact on a service worker. I don't like to do it, but if it was a prepaid thing, I consider that tip to be made under duress, and revocable.