[gnosis]

"What incentive does a cook have to give you a good meal if she's making a standard wage and no tips? What incentive does a dishwasher have to do a proper job washing your dishes if she's making a standard wage and no tips? What incentive does a fast food employee have to good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips? What incentive does a barista have to good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?"

From what I've heard, in the US it's standard practice to split the tip among the staff in a restaurant. The cook, host/hostess, even the other waiters get their share of a single waiter's tip.

I'm not sure about the dishwasher. But it's pretty obvious what incentive the dishwasher has in keeping the dishes clean: if they're not, he/she will get fired.

[aestra]

I have a data point of 2. I knew two waitresses. They both took home their tips at the end of the night, without sharing with anyone. One of them was required to only report 15% of her sales to the IRS for taxing, but always took home way way more than that, so she made tons of tax free income. Also the United States is a large place, there is different customs different places.

It's pretty obvious what incentive the waitstaff has to provide good service, if they don't, they get fired. Tipping is arbitrary. I tip the person who pours my drink at the bar, but not the person who pour my drink at McDonald's.

Oh, by the way, when I was younger and in high school/college I worked three public facing customer service jobs where I didn't earn any tips. I worked my ass off at each job for standard wages. I always provided the best customer service I could. My incentive was I wanted to do my job effectively and not get fired or reprimanded. It is incredibly naive to think that if waitstaff earned a fair wage without tips they would all suddenly stop doing their job. Especially since they already know they are going to get a tip anyways, it is pretty much required to give a tip, no matter how bad the service was!

[RogerL]

The article addresses this (splitting). It still doesn't end up equitable, even assuming the server hands over all the cash (ha!).