Maybe not as much as today but yes. Tipped wages were added to the FSLA at 50% less than a "regular"l minimum wage in 1966. They were decoupled from raises of the regular minimum wage in a 1996 amendment signed by Clinton under an Republican majority congress (Newt Gingrich was speaker of the house 226R(+1I)-207D and Bob Dole was Senate majority leader(55R-45D). This was the same Republican congress that forced government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996.
For waitresses/waiters, delivery people, and bar tenders, absolutely. Only during those times the normal tip for a waitress was 10%. Now food prices and inflation have gone up 4 fold, but for some reason tipped staff have shoehorned doubling up the tip percentage to closer to 20%.
Did tipped workers actually depend on the tips as their primary income in his time?
Maybe not as much as today but yes. Tipped wages were added to the FSLA at 50% less than a "regular"l minimum wage in 1966. They were decoupled from raises of the regular minimum wage in a 1996 amendment signed by Clinton under an Republican majority congress (Newt Gingrich was speaker of the house 226R(+1I)-207D and Bob Dole was Senate majority leader(55R-45D). This was the same Republican congress that forced government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996.
https://www.epi.org/publication/waiting-for-change-tipped-minimum-wage/ Wiki for the congress
For waitresses/waiters, delivery people, and bar tenders, absolutely. Only during those times the normal tip for a waitress was 10%. Now food prices and inflation have gone up 4 fold, but for some reason tipped staff have shoehorned doubling up the tip percentage to closer to 20%.
Probably because paying 40% extra on top of the posted price of a meal is laughably absurd. Then again, so is tip culture in general.