In capitalist nations like New Zealand, tipping is an insult.

@5,

I don't think it's a matter of the waiters being insulted because they're already being taken care of. In the absence of genuine need on the part of the tipped worker, tipping is done to ensure their compliance to your demands, not as a reward for good service. That restaurateur who experimented with eliminating tipping (I can't recall his name offhand) noticed that most of the people who got *really* pissed off that they couldn't tip were men, because they weren't tipping as a sign of generosity, they were tipping to buy the compliance of their attractive female servers. It's a power trip, and servers who don't need tips to survive are rightly insulted by it.

> The last time minimum wage was raised for restaurant workers (1991)

Anyone care to expand on that? Seems like complete bullshit, as the Dept of Labor show there have been 5 bumps since then.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm

Worth noting, in WA state min wage is the same for workers who make tips as for workers who don't...so I bet many tipped workers already make 15bucks an hour...

@8,

Notice how that chart doesn't include the wage for tipped employees? Do you think that maybe you're being a wee bit dishonest posting it?

How about Bloomberg for a source?

While states can require higher minimums, New Mexico and 12 other states use the federal level, which hasn’t been raised in 22 years. “I always had a base wage that I could count on,” Deluca said. “That brought a little bit of stability and security.”

Legislation in Congress this year would raise the $2.13 base for the first time since 1991.

This is the biggest piece of B^^^ S^^^^ I've ever read anywhere, and considering how awful the stranger is, that says a lot.

I worked for tips and less than 7.25 an hour for fifteen years, and the least I ever made was 35,000 a year. Why not talk to one of the server at Canlis, who also make minimum wage plus tips. Something tells me they aren't exactly the "starving masses".

Fact is, restaurant servers make more than enough on average. Look at this from the Bureau of Labor: Median income for a server in Washington State is 21-27,000 a year:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353031…

And KEEP IN MIND that assumes one thing we know isn't true: most servers, especially cocktailers and bar tenders, don't claim all their cash tips (screw the IRS!) Also, keep in mind that the median for Washington restaurant employees includes the rural areas of Eastern Washington, where restaurants are cheaper and hence, tips are smaller. In Seattle, that is not the case at all.

Honestly, the Stranger is getting dumber and dumber. I only read it to "know my enemy", i.e., left wing authoritarians.

Oh, and when you consider the average restaurant works on a 5-8% profit margin if they're lucky, a $15 an hour minimum wage would destroy the restaurant industry here in Seattle, and all the bad servers whining would be out of work.

"Those with checks under $15 showed a profit of 3 percent. Those with checks from $15 to $24.99 boasted the highest profit margin at 3.5 percent. Finally, those with checks of $25 and over had the lowest profits, at 1.8 percent."
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-p…

Want better tips? LEARN TO DO YOUR JOB! I did it and it ain't that hardy, baby cakes.

And while we're talking about "wealthy disparity" and the "evil one percent", why doesn't the Stranger ever run an article on the fact that labor union bosses make just as much as CEOs? I'm not holding my breath for an article on how union bosses rob from their members...

@10
No, it is bull. In Washington State, all employees, even tipped ones, make $7.25 and hour, the highest minimum wage of any state in America. Now, let's say a server has eight tables in five hours, each with average bills of $80. That means $16 in tips (20%, what a GOOD SERVER should be able to pull on average)

That means $128 dollars in five hours...plus 7.25 from wages. But of course, a server doesn't take home all their tips, as it is shared with the bussers, hostesses etc. So let's say 20% of those tips are "tipped out" to the support staff. That still leaves the server with $103 for five hours of work. Divided up that means the server made $27.85 an hour.

And that is for a relatively slow night...

Only someone with NO CLUE ABOUT THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS would ever say servers in SEATTLE OF ALL PLACES are "underpaid."

@12, it's shocking. I always go to Hooters and Twin Peaks for the wings and burgers, not for the service.

@13,
I read your entire posting and I believe you have a point. Bruce Ramsey had a convincing editorial against a $15/hour minimum wage:

http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/202…

I still remain quite wary about it. I know many servers. Some have worked in the industry an extended time (5+ years). I haven't discussed whether they believe they are underpaid or not. But something tells me they aren't suffering. I say that candidly.

I also know I, as a patron at bars or restaurants in Seattle (and elsewhere in America) DO tip well (15% or above if the service is excellent. And, NO not because the server is a hot adult female. As a het male, I award male servers equally for excellent service). I can believe your assertion that many servers don't "report" their tips. And, many do expect tips regardless of good service. Veteran servers have told me this. They also resent some who don't report them, the tips.

I've read recently that more and more service industry jobs are coveted in this lackluster economy. Given my own experience (largely pleasant BTW) in Seattle's bars & restaurants, I have noticed many servers working at the same job for easily 5+ years. I've also noticed some actually like their job. Their wage among other perks must be considered.

It's been said already but many societies DON'T expect tips. Tipping is voluntary. I don't believe any server should expect them. But, I do tip my server. He/She could be bartender, waitress/waiter, mountain guide, taxi driver etc. The award is there if the service is good.

Not an advocate of tipping as a way of paying wages per se, but "tipped worker" is too broad a category to parse reasonably - the kid behind the counter at the Omak ice cream shop is in the same set as the sommelier at El Gaucho. If we're talking Seattle restaurant servers they generally do pretty well.

Here's a tip: tip 20% no matter what the server's performance is like. If they do a truly horrible job complain to the manager, but just tip the same 20% every time. It's surprisingly liberating not having to think about the fake "relationship" you had with the server, not having to consider how much you approve or disapprove of their workplace performance. Much better to just write down a preset number and opt out of having to go to the "I'm evaluating you" head space - you aren't getting paid so why do the boss' job for free?

@17
Good point! While I agree that the girl at Starbucks should be paid more, because that little tip car isn't enough, don't compare her to the waitress at Wild Ginger who makes 50,000+ a year (I know because I dated her)

@16
The good news is, despite what the Stranger would have you believe, most Seattlites at against a 15/hour minimum wage. Keep in mind Sawant herself won by less than one percent of the vote, and her opponent didn't really try to win. If this came up as an initiative, so many local businesses would be against it it would fail by a landslide.

In Spain, what they'll do is leave a coin on the bar if they really like the service, but the servers get good wages.

Also, this is an important fact: Opponents will toss around that it will be a 61% increase in the cost of business. That is not quite true. Commonly, a business will spend about 30-35% of its revenue on labor*. Now, as an extreme highball estimate, let's say there's a company with everyone making minimum wage. If every single employee had their wages raised from $9.32/hour to $15/hour, the cost of business would go up by *at most* 21%, i.e. about the amount that non-assholes tip anyways.

*http://smallbusiness.chron.com/percentag…

@20
No, this would indeed raise labor by about 60% in a restaurant. No one is talking about RESTAURANTS which are VERY labor intensive and have VERY LOW profit margins (think 3-5%)
My restaurant has labor at around 18%. If it goes to 25%, we're in the red. This would put our labor up to 28%, and my restaurant will no longer be profitable and myself and every other employee of said restaurant will be out looking for a new jobs.
Also, very rarely do "assholes" not tip. Most nights in my over ten years of waiting tables have been very profitable. Anyone who thinks a server at a Cheesecake Factory or The Metropolitan Grill is "a poor proletariat" needs to get their head examined. But after businesses close and/or are forced to move out of the city limits, those now unemployed servers will indeed be poor.

@12,

It's not just hetero men; I think they just get more of a charge from holding some degree of power over their server, I can't imagine why.