A tip is still an income, this rather seems like a very sloppy excuse by the industry to avoid further taxations on a very little additional income. It's working in many countries in Europe, can't see why this shouldn't also work in the US. Instead of blaming a customer, maybe the employees can try to fight more for their rights and a raise for the job they all do.

I never thought of the tax part. Good point.

Waiters ARE taxed on tips. But unlike their paychecks they take that money home the same day. But they have to report the tips as income to the IRS.

Tips are still taxed as income.

in some ways you'd think it better to be open about what costs what and where it goes, but then Mr Taxman always makes thinks complicated...

In most restaurants, the tips are taxed. Servers count and claim their taxes at the end of their shift and it gets taken out of tax returns.

@BusLady: We thought of that but if they were caught leaving their employ with it it would be theft.

Good for you. I would secretly slip some $ in the servers hand. ;-)

mbergen: TY for your answer. That's too bad.

Surely a fair tip depends on the service you receive, why should you give same tip for shoddy poor service from a moody waiter/ess as you do for great service from a pleasant friendly waiter/ess?

Joanna: I agree. The high end places will not tolerate bad behaviour in the wait staff. These are privileged positions that are hard to come by. The pay is much better, obviously, with guaranteed tips. They want to keep those jobs. They provide excellent service. A lot of other restaurant's are always short of servers and hire the first person who walks in the door. So you can have bad service because they are poorly trained, overworked or just plain don't care.

Restaurants are dumb to take tips away and only offer minimum wage. As a server I used to make over $20 an hour, sometimes more than $30 an hour. Restaurants can’t afford that so they’ll have a harder time finding good servers. It’ll always be people who aren’t trained well or aren’t able to do well or who just don’t care.

Which is wrong. They should be paid at the very least the minimum wage. Tipping was meant to be about giving extra because you felt you got extra out of the meal or experience. It is wrong for restaurant owners to include tips as part of the wage.

That's exactly the point! Customers don't hire waiters, restaurants do. they must provide the full payments to their employees, and customers should pay for the services they receive in the meal. Do american's not practice accoutning at all. all about costs and overheads, and cost centres and salaries, and margin and stuff. Add that shet to the prices and handle your own employees. Or else let customers walk in with their own servers from home

Well then that needs to be fixed, surely the point of a minimum wage is that the law states that no one should be paid lest than that amount?

This is why you must claim 100% of your tips. It comes back to you in your tax return. The government knows you don't make minimum wage. Also why servers don't always claim 100%, so they may receive a bigger paycheck...(but that is not exactly legal...)

or else add the tip as a requirement and call it something else. That way the planning custmer like in the above can properly plan.

If you don't make enough tips at the end of the year, it comes back to you in your tax return. You ARE paid. This is why you must claim 100% of your tips.

They managed to pay the 15℅ though and legally you dont have to tip. The waitress was complaining because she expected more, 15℅ is the average for tipping