I'm going to NYC! Need advice about the tipping culture

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I think I made that sound worse than it is. The tax you'll be paying will be the same amount across the board. I just don't know what NY's state tax is or what they do and don't tax. I'm in Michigan and here we have a 6% sales tax, so if I'm paying tax on an item, it's that 6% regardless of what the thing is...hotels, food, clothes, whatever...it's all that same percentage. It's like that everywhere here. I'd just assume you'll be paying the state tax percentage on whatever it is you're buying to err on the safe side.

I'm not sure how bartenders salaries work here anymore. It used to be minimum wage was the actual minimum you'd be making hourly, but more often than not, you'd make a dollar or two more an hour. I used to make bank doing that kind of work. Yeah, bartenders here do fine for themselves generally. Drunk people get a little loose with their cash it seems.

My middle daughter works in a bar and she makes minimum wage, but in all fairness, the place is kind of a dive bar, but her boss freakin loves her and wants her to stay. Her paychecks just pay for her gas for the week. That's it. She's surviving on her tips, and she does alright there. She makes enough to be able to comfortably live and support her son, so it works. But cost of living here is a lot cheaper than where you are. I couldn't imagine. I couldn't swing it.

Tips at the bar increased with the addition of $2 coins.. when people toss their coins in a tip jar, they have little comprehension of how much $ fits in a pint glass when there are a lot of $1 & $2 coins.

But now a lot of things have gone to cards/tap - some people tip automatically on there and tip well. There's one music venue bar in Vancouver that's recently gone to cards ONLY no cash accepted for tickets, drinks, tips, nothing. I guess this simplifies accounting.. but it means all tips are recorded and bar staff will have to declare the income and pay taxes on it = they're not going to get the best applicants for service jobs IMO. The other complaint is that it's "classist," because no it means that someone who doesn't have a debit/credit card can't buy a ticket to see a band or have a beer there - and there are certainly people without bank accounts.

No one can swing it fully properly - it's ridiculous. My parents' house, where I rent, is mortgage free.. but property taxes have risen so much they're nearly what their mortgage payment used to be! Heck, condo strata fees are often more than what my parents' mortgage payment was on a house!! Everything is NUTS. If you don't have family/roommates, a good paying job, no/few dependants, and aren't good with money you can find yourself proper F'd pretty damned quick.

It's hard enough for a single person with an above average income to make it month to month. I have no idea how families with kids are even surviving here.. like just barely.

Yeah, I can't imagine the $2 coins hurt any on that front. I bet that stuff adds up real quick.

Oooph. Card only? It would seem a major put off point for applicants. I wouldn't have wanted to work there, can't imagine my daughter would be keen on that either. One of the perks of tip based service jobs is that you can earn money now and not pay full taxes on that income. And I would think it is a bit classist to have such a place. My town couldn't have one of those...most of the bar crowd here is the cash sort. But my town is pretty poor overall. Other places here could likely do it and attract a more upscale crowd.

Bloody hell. My house is paid for and I budget $200 a month for property taxes and whine about it. Mine has gone up over the last few years. Keep in mind though, I live in a dumpy town. I get it though, as much as I can. I know condo fees here are insane to and so is rent compared to how cheap it is to buy a house. But who has a downpayment laying around? Especially with the cost of everything else skyrocketing to. I don't know how anyone makes it either. The whole things is concerning to me and it doesn't seem to be improving or easing up. Makes me wonder what people will be doing in another ten years. Scary, really. To me anyhow.

They'll still show out every popular show even card only because the max capacity is something like 998 people and they have a huge stage and dance floor so they get some bigger name bands coming through. Condos are over $1M now, so there's no shortage of people with money it seems - but for locals paying rent or trying to buy it's a nearly impossible game these days.

Property taxes on this house in the suburbs nearly an hour drive from downtown are $350/month right now, but may see a 17%+ increase to pay for a new municipal police force.. so $4200 right now, but soon to be closing in on $5k/year, and then they'll keep increasing it I'm sure.. so, seniors who are mortgage free are getting squeezed hard on their pension incomes these days. Maybe they'll go earn some tips Oh wait, all cards.. gotta pay tax on that now.

Yeah, down payments are nutty.. $100k isn't enough these days, even $200k. $300k is more like it - 3.5x what my parents paid for a house is the new down payment. My cousin put $300k down on her 2 bedroom condo. Crazy.

I'm never living in Canada. You all have decent health care and as a whole you all seem chill af, but damn. That's insanity.