"not that the server got stiffed on a tip"....

it's only when the owners get robbed that they'll say something about it

I'm sorry, we only accept cash, Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

Yeah, if owners were required to cover the difference when waiters get stiffed or under-tipped, I bet things would change pretty quickly.

Call me a godless skeptic but I'm going to take this with a grain of salt.

Yeah, these things are notoriously faked.

Sir, this isn't a Wendys

I'm sorry but THEFT OF SERVICE???

America needs to pay its fucking staff already. That is not the customers responsibility. The customer should have already paid the wages, the taxes, the food cost, and the profit as part of the bill. That's how every other business and every other country runs.

"Theft of service" is wild, and is putting the blame back on the customer as the employee, who is now not getting paid for their labour, complains to his manager about it (the one who should be paying the wages).

They are? Unless you mean to an arbitrary tip amount like 20%. Businesses are required to pay servers minimum wage if tips don’t make it. It’s still super scummy and they should pay living wages by default, but they can’t just not pay people.

Don't get me wrong, I grew up in a southern baptist family and I agree, Christians are self important, entitled, cunts that use religion as an excuse to be horrible.

But I moved to Australia as a teen and have worked in hospitality for over 15 years and the entire time I have been paid a reasonable wage. Before I went salaried in management positions (over ten years ago now), my minimum wage as a bartender was $37 per hour. And the customers got some of the best service they've ever had because I loved the job and didn't need to beg them to be paid.

It says theft of services. Food is a service, that's why they serve it to you. They stole the whole meal.

A specific tip amount, yeah. Minimum wage is pretty low compared to 20% tips. Fully agree that just having a living wage across the board would be the best solution, though.

You're ranting about tipping culture and tipping wages... Which isn't the issue here.

Did you miss the part saying the customer walked out on the check? They didn't pay for anything. That is textbook theft of services.

That's even worse lol

The tip thing is a well known one and while I doubt anyone would be as brazen as the situation in OP, I've known some very brazen people.

Uh... 'Render unto ceaser that which is ceasers...?'

Caesar*

Ah damnit. Youre right, of course. Ill take the humiliating L

Caesar. Or Cæsar, because how often do you get to use æ?

There's a very slim possibility that a KKKristian handed this to a beggar on the street, and the beggar was canny enough to use it to get the meal he was begging for in the first place. Which sounds like a Bible story, except it needs a bit about wild boars or locusts destroying the KKKristian's garden or something.

That minimum wage for servers can be as low as $2.13 an hour, depending on the state. The amount and how it is applied varies widely and all of the minimums are pretty low. That server needs every last dollar.

EDITED TO ADD: this conversation goes on for a while in which another person goes out of their way to mischaracterize US law in multiple ways. I stopped responding simply because the law doesn't say what they think it does, and they're trusting you not to look carefully at external sources. I have linked them so you can look through them yourself and not have to rely on someone simply asserting "That doesn't say that." Well, see it for yourself.

This person wants to get eyes on the minutiae in order to draw attention away from what I started with: that minimum wage for servers is absolute shit, not all servers are guaranteed even that, and they need every dollar. I have yet to be corrected on that.

If paying servers a living wage is something important to you, as it is to me, don't be fooled: what servers actually go home with, and the laws that dictate that amount, are a complete fucking mess, there are literally exceptions and variations of the law in EVERY state, and it all adds up to hard-working servers not getting paid their due because people fight very hard to defend the tipping system, based on racism and slavery, exactly as it stands.

Handy links:

What servers make in the United States as a full-time job -- Salary.com

Compare and contrast this with the 2026 federal poverty guidelines (used for SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, etc)
Federal Poverty Level Tables -- 2026

(Note: I linked a third party site because official HHS poverty guidelines pdf publication returns an error)

The US Department of Labor Reference Guide to FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) -- dol.gov

The first table I linked to, in my comment above; note especially the tip credits:
Fact Sheet #32: Youth Minimum Wage - Fair Labor Standards Act -- dol.gov

While service workers in restaurants, hotels, bars, and elsewhere would now be covered under [FLSA], the 1966 amendments to the FLSA created a “tip credit.” The tip credit allowed employers to count the tips received by their staff against 50% of the minimum wage they were required to pay—effectively establishing a separate “tipped minimum wage” set at half the regular minimum wage. Subsequent amendments to the FLSA adjusted the level of the tipped minimum wage to varying percentages of the regular minimum wage, reaching as high as 60% in the 1980s. In 1996, the FLSA was amended again to raise the federal minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15. However, the bipartisan deal that was struck in Congress to achieve this increase decoupled the tipped minimum wage from the regular minimum wage. The deal locked the tipped minimum wage statutorily at $2.13 per hour (50% of $4.25), the level at which it had been set in 1991. -- quoted from Tipping is a racist relic and a modern tool of economic oppression in the South -- Economic Policy Institute, June 2024

The same information, but with minor explanations in an easier to read format:
Tipped & Youth Minimum Wage by State: 2025 Table for Employers

Caelsar? (okay the pun was bad sorry)

Fellow Christianism hater?

I waited tables for 5 years quite some time ago. I never had someone skip out on the total bill, but I did get a few of these as a "tip". Since I'm in the US, I actually lost money on those tables since we had to pay a flat percentage of our "sales" into a pool that was split between other front of house staff.

You are misunderstanding. A server must be paid $2.13 an hour (depending on state) plus tips. However if the tips do not raise the server to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 (or the state's minimum wage if required) then the business must pay the difference.

Basically if a server goes in for a 4 hour shift and doesn't have a single customer/tip they must at minimum be paid by the company $7.25 an hour.

Funnily enough this is stated a couple of paragraphs down in your very source:

If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.

Why would the beggar need the fake receipt to dine and dash, assuming he looks presentable enough to be served at the restaurant in the first place, he could always just walk out without leaving anything.

actually it's pronounced Caesar

this is just slop with a ragebait caption. upengagement!

Hang on, are you saying Caesar or Caesar?

No, I am not misunderstanding. There are a number of exceptions: hotel restaurants, bartenders, minors, students, people in Montana working for a "business not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act with gross annual sales of $110,000 or less." That last one you're only guaranteed $4.00 an hour.

That's why I linked the table.

That bit you quoted does not apply to all situations, nor does it reflect this provision at the bottom:

Some states set subminimum rates for minors and/or students or exempt them from coverage or have a training wage for new hires. ...Such differential provisions are not displayed in this table.

Here's another source that gives it from another viewpoint. Whichever way you turn it, server pay is abysmally low. They need every dollar. And no, not all of them even make minimum wage.

There are a number of exceptions: hotel restaurants, bartenders, minors, students

That is incorrect all of these employees are subject to the Fair Labor Standard act. Everything previously stated applies.

business not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act with gross annual sales of $110,000 or less

So that's an interesting one, because Montana is even stricter than the what is laid out as an exemption federally. Which is a buisnesses that makes less than 500,000. But those buisnesses also cannot engage in Interstate Commerce per federal law. In the modern world it is nearly impossible to have a buisness making any amount money that does not engage in some form of Interstate Commerce. So functionally that exemption is meaningless.

You did skip a few types of employees that are actually exempt like movie theater employees. Originally they were exempted from overtime and federal minimum wage provision of the FLSA. However, this has since been changed and now they are only exempt from overtime regulations.

Now to your last part which is the crux of your misunderstanding

Some states set subminimum rates for minors and/or students or exempt them from coverage or have a training wage for new hires. ...Such differential provisions are not displayed in this table.

This only applies to the wage they receive before tips. Still per federal law they must make at least $7.25 an hour after tips.

What this paragraph is saying is that a state may have a minimum tipped wage of $4.00 per hour, but a provision for students that sets it to $3.00 per hour. The table does not reflect this.

An individual state law cannot supersede federal law. So these employees still must make a minimum of $7.25 an hour. That is base tipped minimum wage plus tips. If the minimum wage, be it 3 or 4 dollars to use the example, and the person's tips add up to less than 7.25 an hour then the buisnesses must cover the difference. Unless the buisness is exempt, which is functionally impossible for a restaurant.

This is all to say yes, all servers do indeed make at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. If they are not making at least that they should contact the department of labor for unpaid wages.

You wrote,

Which is a buisnesses that makes less than 500,000. But those buisnesses also cannot engage in Interstate Commerce per federal law. In the modern world it is nearly impossible to have a buisness making any amount money that does not engage in some form of Interstate Commerce. So functionally that exemption is meaningless.

I am well aware of what that means. I think that you are not. Check out what the DoL has to say about businesses and individuals not covered by FLSA: there are plenty of businesses that do not meet the standards but have employees that do, for example.

You are really reaching when you insist -- incorrectly -- that Montana's exception has no real world meaning. I assure you that exception was very specifically placed in the law for a real world business' benefit, and that that business had pull in the state capitol or it would not have been added, just as the FLSA itself provides for those exceptions to be made by the states.

If you can't be bothered to educate yourself on what "interstate commerce" means in the federal legal sense, that's fine by me because I've provided links for all of my assertions, unlike you: people can read them for themselves.

The FLSA has carve outs for various kinds of employees, and while minors are covered, they are not covered as adults are:

The 1996 Amendments to the FLSA allow employers to pay a youth minimum wage of not less than $4.25 an hour to employees who are under 20 years of age during the first 90 consecutive calendar days after initial employment. The law contains certain protections for employees that prohibit employers from displacing any employee in order to hire someone at the youth minimum wage. -- from the DoL page linked below

In addition, only a handful of states actually ban subminimum pay for minors, requiring by law full minimum wage. You wrote,

An individual state law cannot supersede federal law.

That is where you are flat out wrong. When it comes to minors and other special categories of workers, they can and do.

Here's the DoL page on that, you should read it:

Fact Sheet #32: Youth Minimum Wage - Fair Labor Standards Act

Here's another page that lays out what that means for tipped minors. Quoting from further down in the page:

State law prevails: If state law is more restrictive than federal (higher youth wage or no youth wage), you must follow state law.

Again, that's why I linked the table. It's a complex maze of laws and conditions. And I didn't miss this. You wrote,

You did skip a few types of employees that are actually exempt like movie theater employees.

That's because I did not expect someone to fight so hard, with such incorrect and easily disproved assumptions, in defense of such a shitty principle: not paying servers a living wage.

Just in case you missed it: (emphases mine)

Which employers may use the youth minimum wage?

All employers covered by the FLSA may pay eligible employees the youth minimum wage, unless prohibited by State or local law. Where a State or local law requires payment of a minimum wage higher than $4.25 an hour and makes no exception for employees under age 20, the higher State or local minimum wage standard would apply.

I did indeed miss that one, so you got 1 out of 4

Almost everything you said was error filled, and you provided no material proofs for it, because you can't: links don't exist for what you pull out of your ass.

But it's what you said it in defense of that is truly shitty. No surprise, then, that it requires lies to defend.

You are really reaching when you insist -- incorrectly

Honestly nothing you said made any sense there. You expect me to believe buisnesses lobbied the state of Montana to make a law that is more strict than the federal law? Kind of a silly assumption.

If you can't be bothered to educate yourself on what "interstate commerce" means in the federal legal sense, that's fine by me because I've provided links for all of my assertions, unlike you: people can read them for themselves.

You can just admit you have no idea what interstate commerce is. The DoL defines that too, dig through your own sources a touch more.

I will concede I was mistaken on youth minimum wage. You got 1 out of 4 groups you identified correct. And before you bring up "students" that applies to students enrolled in a vocational program. Not someone that is a student working at another place of buisness. The other 2 you mentioned are not even mentioned by your own sources again.

But then you said

That is where you are flat out wrong. When it comes to minors and other special categories of workers, they can and do.

State law cannot supersede federal law. The federal law specifies that youths may be paid 4.25 and hour. I was mistaken there, but that has no impact on the Supremecy Clause of the constitution. A state cannot decide to set the wage for those employees lower than provided by federal law, which was the whole point anyway. I never should have allowed myself to get so far drawn off topic, but here we are.

in defense of such a shitty principle: not paying servers a living wage.

That's complete fantasy and not something I said nor implied.

No lie was told, everything can be found through the links you provided if you take the time to click through the DoL website some more instead of cherry picking.

At least I've been able to admit my mistakes instead of a stubborn refusal.

Also can you stop trying to assign a false moral stance on the issue to my statements? Everyone deserves a living wage, I'm just stating what federal law says for tipped servers.

Very MAGA.

But what if I don't order a salad?

Caesar. Do try to keep up.

I got plenty of fake Jesus dollar tips as a barista. So fucking annoying.

I wiped

Got a link to the post?

What a stupid system.

Why don't all food service places have you pay when you order? It works like that in the uk in more than half of places and the establishment can't suffer any loss.

Yeah, look at the bottom of that receipt. Somethings not right.

Because they want to upsell you throughout the meal, add on drinks, appetizers, side dishes, desserts, etc.

why couldn't they do it anyway after they've made you paid for the first round?

I have very mixed feelings about it TBH.

It was a bigger place that would staff for surges in customers. "Better" WWs would get better sections and shifts, so you would stay busier longer despite dips in overall volume. Not to mention more consistent tips.

This all created an incentive to be decent at your job, which involved a mix of knowing the menu, how to interact with customers, and multitasking/path optimization to turn your tables. I routinely did 20,000 to 30,000 steps a shift. Not everyone figured it out or wanted to do that amount of work, so the low end of the staff had a decent amount of turnover.

On the higher end of the scale you could clear $200-$300/shift working in casual dining, depending on the day of the week, without any education barriers. That's $20-30/hour or $42-$60k/year. You weren't getting rich, but that's enough to put you around median income levels. There were lifers who had been doing it for decades.

I don't see a shift to hourly pay making up the difference for the higher earners.

High earners can still make tips on an hourly pay.

Hourly pay does not exclude tipping.