Just damn @ragingloli
You couldn’t be more aggressively incorrect.
You have it backwards:
Gratuity is not a response of pity to underpaid workers. In fact the opposite has come to be. The all mighty STATE has lowered the minimum wage for typically tipped contractors by declaring gratuity to be a wage.
Yes, gratuity is wage technically. Your typical server, bartender or hairstylist is an independent contractor. We work and are paid directly by our patrons. The restaurant, bar or salon we serve in is not our true employer. It is simply where we have found our clients. There are some high scale restaurants where the server PAYS for the opportunity to work in such a lucrative establishment.
But the heavy hand of Government does not stop oppressing there. The tax burden on our pay from pleased patrons is often exorbitant to the point where it absorbs all and more of our hourly wage. This tax rate is based on the amount of food and beverage we have sold to our beloved guests. As a result I have at times received a paycheck with a NEGATIVE figure on it. Even worse, if you are a pathetic cheapskate that does not believe in paying for the service you are provided serving your sad ass actually costs me in the form of taxes. Yes, I am taxed on the food and beverage your refused to pay me for attentively delivering.
You twits would never imagine going to a transmission shop and demanding that the new gearbox be installed and then refuse to pay the labor charge, Yet that is exactly what you are doing when you refuse to pay for service. That dinner before you did not magically appear. LIKE I HAVE SAID BEFORE, IF YOU ARE TOO LAME AND CHEAP TO PAY FOR SERVICE STAY HOME AND HAVE A DATE WITH YOUR MICROWAVE. SQUEEZE YOUR own DAMN LEMON INTO YOUR TAP WATER.
Gratuity is not oppression but a sometimes payment, sometimes expression of gratitude for work well done. Nearly anyone can be tipped appropriately. If you get the feeling one should be tipped they probably should be.
Now that I am in Napa California I have carefully selected a bottle of Extended Prestige Mumm Brut from my new backyard and a check for fifty dollars to be shipped to my long time Honda/Acura technician in Florida for understanding that my car matters to me and for not only doing a master’s expert work, but also for his professional manner and the countless details he performed not because they were on the ticket, but because of the relationship between one professional car lover and another.
This, @ragingloli, is the essence of the gratuity. Cash speaks but tasteful items and delivery (a gratuity should always be delivered in a discreet manner) matter as well.
It is a shame you obviously will never be on either side of this happy relationship.