As a chef I think tip culture is a terrible system that is grossly abused and overused. It’s gotten ridiculous lately and people are coming out of the woodwork trying to get tipped

I never thought having a tip culture was a good idea. Its purpose was to give the customer the ability to ensure good quality service without the employer’s interference. Interesting enough most countries don’t have tipping. <br><br>I think tipping shouldn’t be seen as a substitute for good wages, employers abuse this thinking. Having a tip culture takes power away from employees, ensure they will never have a solid predictable wage and keeps so many low wage employees struggling. Minimum wage in the US would be like 8 dollars if it kept pace with the cost of living. Instead companies rely on people tipping to make up for their employees salaries. And then they claim to be a good employer by paying a base minimum wage with 0 benefits. <br><br>You also see this new trend of people asking to be tipped in all industries. I think it’s bullshit when students come up to you and give you a little presentation and then they have a tip jar at the end like they’re in a 3rd world country. Students and workers are fighting so hard to simply get fair wages but good luck. <br><br>When I was at Costco one of their employees were giving out samples. A lot of the people I saw were giving them 5 dollar bills. I don’t think it’s wrong to give people money, but I think it’s not right when employers abuse their employees to the point where the customers literally have to pay their employees. This is not a case by case basis, but a widespread problem.