Or where I remember that Seattle Weekly is truly a piece of shit.

Lemme just remind the douchecanoe author that part of the reason Washington is better than North Carolina is that the minimum wage law puts us closest to(but not nearly equal to)an actual living wage, even for restaurant servers. And with tips, serving actual becomes a living wage at 22 bucks an hour average (though there’s usually no benefits or paid sick days- another thing that restaurant owners were whinging about having to provide not so long ago). That minimum wage with mandatory cost of living increases means that more people in the state can afford to eat out. That means more money for restaurant owners and servers alike.

I’ve seen the 2 buck an hour plus tips servers in the south. I haven’t seen better service because the workers have less income guarantee. Actually I’ve seen worse. I’ve sent back a bad meal and complained to a manager exactly once in my 36 years. It was in a horrid chain restaurant whose name I won’t even mention in a state where servers get $2.13 an hour plus tips. In all my years in Seattle, I’ve had good and bad service. But I’ve never had consistently bad service.

Tips are not wages and should never be counted as them. A server should be able to budget based on their hourly wage and not on the kindness of strangers who may be pissy cause it took an extra 3 minutes to get a glass of water in the middle of a busy shift.