warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I thought in Murica you can pay less than the minimum wag as long as tips cover the rest? Maybe only in some states.
I did some research into this before my backpacking tour of California about 6 years ago now.
Apparently employers in most (all?) states have a legal obligation to "top up" their employees if they don't get enough in tips, so that they get paid at least minimum wage. However, a lot of employers will just not do that and will fire you if you complain (using a made up reason), and there isn't much the employee can do about it. So most people just suck it up and "try harder" next month. The status quo seems to be "You're not pulling in enough tips so obviously you suck at your job, so suck it up or look for a new job"