The US faced a dilemma: Post civil war, many people didn't want to pay freed slaves for their labor.
A combination of tipping and converting jobs that were typically held by blacks to unpaid positions provided a solution. It became popular despite attempts to ban the practice.
Today, tipped workers in the US are paid, but have a lower minimum wage than normal workers.
A sociologist was joking on twitter that “every time I dig a rule that has been on the book for a long time but doesn’t seem to make any sense, it ends up to come from slavery” (paraphrasing)
All states that border the Pacific Ocean have full minimum wage (as in at least $14/hour) no matter what your job. Source: have lived there, have worked in restaurant
> Today, tipped workers in the US are paid, but have a lower minimum wage than normal workers.
No, they have the same minimum wage as all workers. The employer is liable to pay the employee if tips + earnings from tipped min wage are less than earnings from non tipped minimum wage.
That's true on paper, but I worked as a server for like 12 years and never heard of it happening once. In contrast, I've had like 4 bosses who practiced wage theft.
A combination of tipping and converting jobs that were typically held by blacks to unpaid positions provided a solution. It became popular despite attempts to ban the practice.
Today, tipped workers in the US are paid, but have a lower minimum wage than normal workers.
Source: https://time.com/5404475/history-tipping-american-restaurant...
FWIW: Because I abhor the practice, I always tip 20%. If service is sufficiently bad, I tip 20% and never come back.