Tipping your server makes sexism worse, whether you intend to or not | Mashable - 0 views
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Tipping your server makes sexism worse, whether you intend to or not
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Federal tip minimum wage has been frozen at $2.13 since 1991, even with raises made to non-tipped wages.
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Though some states mandate a higher minimum wage for service employees, many servers are stuck living on this extremely low wage, often left with few paycheck dollars after taxes.
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While there are laws in place meant to ensure that servers get at least federal minimum wage by requiring employers to make up the difference if a server isn’t tipped enough during their shift, workers often report this isn’t the case.
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“[Servers] have to act in a certain way in order to receive those tips," Kitterlin says. "That being said, of course that opens an opportunity for women and men in our industry to feel that they have to accept certain levels of harassment -- be it sexual harassment or any form of rude behavior from guests.”
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“We need to be careful of how we go about doing that because we have historically been a country where tipping culture serves as a huge motivating factor for employees. Our employees feel more driven to give good service in order to make a good tip.”
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“It’s to get more tips, but it’s kind of opening the door -- especially in our industry and culture,”
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90% of women in the restaurant industry report experiencing some form of sexual harassment while on the job.
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“I’m spending all my day helping people who have $70 to spend on food, but I can’t barely afford my own,” Jessica says. “How messed up is that? I watch people go out, eat and they will spend $30 on an entree. I got paid $30 all day in wages -- and you just spent that on one entree.”
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“People will be like, ‘I thought we just raised minimum wage? Don’t you get 10.50?’” she says. “No, not us. We got left out. We always get left out.”
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For many women in the restaurant industry, the fastest way to prevent only barely making bills is to enhancing their “performance” through appearance. Jessica tells Mashable servers “wear what we can get away with wearing,” because a push up bra and tight shirt often means more tips. It’s service industry sexism at work -- and Jessica knows that.
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Without the "motivating factor," your server may not have nightmares about serving a too-cold-entree.
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“I don’t think it’s right that people in America are getting paid $2 and change to do any job,” she says. “I don’t think it’s right. I didn’t have to live with it being in California -- I could just kind of forget that most of the nation is making nothing.”
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This article is in essence about the broken tipping system within American culture today. The title in my opinion is a bit exaggerated but is truthful nonetheless. People within the service industry are being horribly mistreated by being underpaid and forced to rely upon tips for wages. The issue with this is that specifically women are being forced to dress skimpy and act a certain way (possibly flirtatiously) In order to possibly get better tips. With their salary being on average around $2 an hour, without tips they are being forced to live far below the poverty line. So, it's not tipping that makes you inadvertently sexist, it's that tips contribute to woman acting in a more appealing way to male customers in order to pull the standard tip percentage (20% to 25%).