Manager explains why paying 'livable wages' to servers might not be the solution customers want

Tipping is a huge topic of discussion in American society. Every class except those of elites is impacted by it. For many, the culprit of the situation is those who are not giving their servers a livable wage and forcing them to depend on tips. However, Stephanie Carlisle—who goes by @sassyserver0529 on TikTok—is sharing how managers and restaurant owners feel about tipping culture. She supervises the servers as a manager and presents why providing livable wages might not be the solution customers believe it to be in response to a toxic tipping culture, as she shared in her video.

Carlisle began the video by sharing the story of a couple who are old customers of her restaurant. Due to their practice of not giving tips, she finds it hard to assign them servers. Nobody wants to attend to them. It does not matter what quality of service they are provided, their resolve of not tipping remains the same. She added, "You know, we try and coach our servers. Just keep giving great service. Maybe we need to build their trust. Just keep giving amazing service." Despite their best efforts, the situation has remained the same.

It has been going on for a couple of years and now the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that 90% of servers refuse to attend to their tables. As soon as they walk in, they disperse. "They typically do have to tip out support staff based on the sales from a no-tip table," the manager stated. It implies that if they attend to the table, not only they do not get any money, they have to pay out of pocket. Carlisle understands that the couple are well within their rights not to give tips, but servers make a living through them and they should give this aspect a bit of consideration.

It brought her to the hot topic of why owners cannot give "livable wages" to their servers. She knew her comment section would be filled with people defending the couple and relegating the responsibility to the owners. Hence, she had the answer ready. She shared, "I didn't create the tipping culture, but I'm just here existing in it like everybody else. But I can tell you that if we were to pay them livable wages, the prices of everything would go up so high you would probably not be able to afford to eat there anymore."

Carlisle explained that the system in place is such that the reason restaurants remain affordable to a large section of the population is because of the tip system in place. Until a big transformation takes place, this scenario will not change. Even the people who can afford the restaurant might not like to visit them because the standard of service will be impacted in a world with no tipping. Tips have become such a deep-rooted part of the social dynamics that it will take time for the system to function without them and unfortunately, that time cannot be given at present.

The comment section ensured their thought regarding this situation was communicated loud and clear. @brandimiley4 agreed with the stance on tipping taken by Carlisle and wrote, "I refuse to ever go into public with someone who doesn't tip or doesn't tip well." @cthefam questioned why this is an issue only with America and commented, "I find it interesting that all of Europe pays employees well and service is good, but somehow the US can't ever pay their employees fairly."

You can follow Stephanie Carlisle (@sassyserver0529) on TikTok for more content on the service industry.