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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
No wonder so many Canadians have permanently settled in Seattle….freedom
To @5's point, I did talk to a bartender in Victoria who said that Americans tip much better than Canadians.
I've never encountered this reciprocity anywhere but NYC and Long Island.
In Australia, where I live, I once saw a white man in his 50's try to tip a woman working at an a bakery / take away shop. In Australia, people rarely tip at bars, let alone take away food shops serving hot food from a bay marie. All the staff were younger Asian women with limited English, & to me it seemed like he was treating them like whores. The woman seemed uncomfortable.
So, pretty much in-line with Washington State's min.wage... which just bumped to $9.19/hr USD. (Previously $9.04)
Since the Canadian Dollar is currently trading at $1.01 USD, that makes Canada's liquor servers making $9.09/hr USD.
Liquor servers would most likely pay a tax rate of %15. (British Columbia currently has no sales tax, according to my limited research.)
Versus the US income tax of 15% for the same approximate wage (less than $45k), PLUS Washington State's 9.5% sales tax...
So yeah, it seems like Canadian minimum wage workers are apparently doing slightly better than our minimum wage workers. Oh, right, and American workers don't have health care like every other industrial state in the world.
Gee, I wonder where all that US money is going? Approximately the same tax rate... yet somehow Canada has universal health insurance. Weird.
The only outstanding question is whether Washington servers get forked by the US Federal standard where "tipped workers" can make as little as $2.13/hr.
If you stiff a server in Canada, it's exactly the same as stiffing a server here. You can come up with all kinds of excuses (See Mudede's post for a common one), but you are what you are when you stiff a server in a culture where tips are included.
Personally, I try to equalize the relationship with service staff by sticking to a rigid formula, regardless the quality of the service.
In other: Washington State is powered 92.5% by Hydro.
No, they don't. Tipped employees make full minimum wage in Washington state. The tip is just bonus, as it should be.
Well, actually, it should be that they're paid more like $15/$20 per hour with benefits so we can do without tipping entirely (or only tip for above and beyond service), but that's never going to happen.
@2,
The French might leave a small gratuity, but tipping isn't common there. It's presumed that waiters and bartenders are paid a decent wage. And, as others have mentioned, many servers in other countries consider tipping to be insulting, which it is.
And you forgot to add that healthcare only costs something like $40 a month no matter how much you make.
not the skyline?
Don't mistake unorganized for not-powerful, either. Was it the Pita Pit that shut down recently, in part because they stole tips from their employees?
Also, is it still custom for business owners working their own counters to refuse tips, or has that stopped?
You don't have to go nuts -- the norm is a dollar per drink, or 15% on food service. But please. It's not really "optional," it's expected, and it's the only way that it is feasible to live there on minimum wage. (Also, the government assumes that you are making a certain amount of tips, and taxes you accordingly. Hurray.)
- A Canadian.
Weird, I grew up in Minnesota and never got free drinks. Maybe Wisconsin has more generous bartenders?
It's also dumb -- and particularly American -- to go to a foreign country without local currency, and expect to be accomodated as you would be at home.
Ordering and consuming a drink implies that you have the means to pay the cost. The cost includes the tip. You are at fault; you did not pay what you owed.
@36, reading @35 put more light on the matter. if he is correct, then tipping makes much more sense to me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_%28gra…
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gratuity+convention…
We all know about starter homes and condos being a half-million and up, right? Well, you can guess what that's done to the rental market. Ten years ago you could fine a perfectly fine 1BR apartment in the West End for, say, $800/mo. Now it takes at least $1500-$1600.
I'm told in time all this will equal out - but it doesn't seem to be in any hurry, does it? Meanwhile, wages continue to stagnate while prices for many necessary things keep going up.