Excerpt from the article:
Schenker says that after his years in the service industry, he has watched tipping evolve into a major part of his pay.
“If there is some means of tipping that’s available to you, that should signal to you that workers there aren’t being paid enough,” says Schenker. “Tipping is sort of an acknowledgment of that fact.”
To Schenker, customers who don’t tip are not understanding that businesses treat tips as a baked-in part of workers’ wages.
“They subsidize lower prices by paying employees less,” he says. “If you aren’t tipping, you are taking advantage of that labor.”
He was so close… Especially for someone who says himself does not make much money.
They effectively have, via tipping. And the employer pays less so ultimately the employee gets screwed no matter what.
The fact they look to us as the problem and not their employers just tells me the scheme is working. Count the money, twirl the moustache and pet the evil lap cat, villains of the world. You’ve won as always, and the downtrodden are still too busy infighting over scraps to realize whose boot they’re under.