Comment on What’s a reasonable tip for a barber? (America)

• ExtremeDullard@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  The hidden answer was: don’t tip. When nobody tips, workers will finally ask livable wages from their employers instead of relying on semi-compulsory handouts.

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  • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    This is absurd. What employee anywhere wouldn’t ask for more pay? What employer is holding out on raising their employee’s pay simply because they haven’t asked?

    Above you also commented that “they continually vote against their own best interests and don’t unionize” but what are you even talking about? Are you claiming most barbers are conservatives? Most barbers are independent contractors.

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  • magnetosphere@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I see your point, but a change like that would require major legal changes, which would take years. In the meantime, I don’t want to screw people who rely on tips to live.

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    • ExtremeDullard@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Yes I understand your dilemma. The problem is, everybody thinks the same way and the beat goes on: the employers don’t pay their employees the true price of their labor because they know the patrons will make up the difference.

      The system is allowed to continue by shaming customers into paying, and I’m not doing shame-based scams.

      Incidentally: you know who makes a killing out of the Americans’ stupid habits of tipping? The French. In France, the gratuity is included in the price. But most Americans don’t know that and tip them - meaning they get double the money.

      That’s why, whenever I go to France, I speak my native tongue in restaurants instead of speaking French - which I speak also: the waiter treats us real good all evening long because they think they’re gonna milk a good load of money out of us. But when I pull out my credit card from a European bank, they instantly stop being nice 🙂

      Fuck tipping, regardless of the country.

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      • AmidFuror@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        What I got out of your anecdote is that waiters in France provide better service if they think that will earn them a tip.

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      • magnetosphere@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Fuck tipping, regardless of the country.

        Agreed!

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  • tmyakal@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    workers will finally ask for livable wages from their employers

    Most states allow booth renting, which means that the barber or stylist is paying the salon/shop owner for the privilege of working there. They can be expected to help keep the place clean, only sell products the shop owner authorizes, be available for walk-ins a certain number of hours per week, and keep pricing in line with that shop’s policies, but otherwise they’re “their own boss.” Whatever that means at that point.

    So many barbers and stylists are not making wages. They’ve effectively got a landlord who sets their prices for them. The only power they have is to change shops and hope for a less abusive landlord, but that also risks alienating reliable and repeating customers.

    It’s an absolutely fucked and predatory system. It requires a legislative fix, but just like the other big tip-dependent sector of food service, the people in these jobs are overwhelmingly overworked women struggling to make ends meet. Many people find it difficult to engage in political advocacy when they’re struggling to survive.

    Basically, I hate this “ask for livable wages” rhetoric because at-risk people have the hardest time self-advocating. Don’t blame poor people for being poor. See that there’s a problem and advocate on for them.

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  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Don’t forget that when you do this, you’re deciding what issues that worker should be protesting.

    They didn’t agree to hunger strike for YOUR cause. Those are hard working people that rely on those tips because of the system that exists. Whether or not the system should work this way is debatable (for what it’s worth, I agree that it shouldn’t be this way) but for now, tipping IS part of the social contract, and not tipping a server doesn’t make you an activist, it makes you an asshole.

    This is specifically for servers, and gig workers (Uber drivers, delivery services) There are a lot of people I don’t tip, because they aren’t making half of minimum wage per hour. I don’t often tip anyone other profession unless they’ve really gone above and beyond.

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  • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    They can ask all they want, the laws allow them to do it, so you would need to change legislation first.

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    • mursejoy@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      The real fix is that nobody shows up to do the job that doesn’t get paid by the employer or tipped by the customer. Force the worker to do something else and suddenly wages increase due to worker scarcity.

      Garbage truck drivers don’t make good money out of the kindness of Waste Management’s heart. Nobody wants to do that job so the price for the employee goes up.

      Americans are just too stupid to realize that when a customer doesn’t tip, it’s not the customers fault the employee isn’t getting paid. I wish the country would wake up already.

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