[hedora]

The US faced a dilemma: Post civil war, many people didn't want to pay freed slaves for their labor.

A combination of tipping and converting jobs that were typically held by blacks to unpaid positions provided a solution. It became popular despite attempts to ban the practice.

Today, tipped workers in the US are paid, but have a lower minimum wage than normal workers.

Source: https://time.com/5404475/history-tipping-american-restaurant...

FWIW: Because I abhor the practice, I always tip 20%. If service is sufficiently bad, I tip 20% and never come back.

[makeitdouble]

A sociologist was joking on twitter that “every time I dig a rule that has been on the book for a long time but doesn’t seem to make any sense, it ends up to come from slavery” (paraphrasing)

I didn’t expect tipping to follow the same rule.

[BugsJustFindMe]

> Today, tipped workers in the US are paid, but have a lower minimum wage than normal workers.

Not in all states.

[Teknoman117]

Relevant link: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped.

[valdiorn]

If there's anything we could actually call "institutionalised racism", I think tipping culture fits the bill.

It's a system literally implemented because a large portion of society didn't want to pay black people wages.

[barfingclouds]

All states that border the Pacific Ocean have full minimum wage (as in at least $14/hour) no matter what your job. Source: have lived there, have worked in restaurant

[lotsofpulp]

> Today, tipped workers in the US are paid, but have a lower minimum wage than normal workers.

No, they have the same minimum wage as all workers. The employer is liable to pay the employee if tips + earnings from tipped min wage are less than earnings from non tipped minimum wage.

[schwartzworld]

That's true on paper, but I worked as a server for like 12 years and never heard of it happening once. In contrast, I've had like 4 bosses who practiced wage theft.

[SantalBlush]

That's not "the same minimum wage as all workers", that's an entirely different payment system--one that the person above was trying to describe.

[Ensorceled]

> No, ... The employer is liable to pay

This is incredibly naive, the employer is unlikely to pay the difference despite being liable.

[ssss11]

Thanks for the explanation! I didn’t know the history