Basically no one is tipping America’s fast-food workers. But after looking at a new survey of tipping practices by salary information site PayScale, maybe you’ll agree we should be.

Of the 51 types of workers surveyed by PayScale, no group received fewer tips per hour than fast-food workers. That’s both in terms of median hourly tips (40 cents) and the percentage of income that comes from tips (4.8 percent). And if you think non-tip pay compensates for that, you’re wrong. At $8.30 per hour, fast-food workers also lay claim to the lowest typical total income -- that’s the combined total of tips and base pay -- of any group surveyed.

That means fast-food workers earn less per hour than a wide-ranging group of tipped workers, including strippers, waiters, bartenders, pizza-delivery drivers, restaurants hosts, baristas, tour guides, movers, housekeepers and even dog groomers. (For the full list of jobs surveyed by PayScale, you can click over to the report.)

Unlike some of those professions, fast food typically pays a minimum wage, which theoretically should make up for the tips workers don't receive. But the minimum wage has not been raised in four years and arguably should be three times more than the current national minimum of $7.25.

More and more, these fast-food workers aren’t simply teenagers looking to make a couple of bucks on the side, either. These people need the money. More than half of all fast-food workers are full-fledged adults, aged 21 or older, and more than a quarter are parents, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Yet the typical fast-food worker made only $18,130 in 2010, according to Labor Department data.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/fast-food-tips_n_4385813.html

First you deny racism exists. Then you smear the reputation of any black man who appears to be a victim.

By Jamelle Bouie

Did you know Michael Brown was a killer?

Did you know he was a devoted gang member with an extensive juvenile record who routinely robbed convenience stores and committed acts of mayhem? And did you know that when Officer Darren Wilson shot Brown, he wasn’t using unjustified force, he was defending his life? The 6-foot-4, 300-pound 18-year-old fractured Wilson’s eye socket while reaching for his gun, and was killed while charging at Wilson to land another blow.

If this sounds suspect—if it sounds almost unbelievable—then your head is in the right place. Nothing in this narrative is true. Racist innuendo aside, there’s no evidence Brown was a violent gang member, nor is there evidence of any serious wrongdoing—as a juvenile, Brown was never convicted of a felony nor was he facing charges as an adult. And while Wilson was taken to the hospital after his encounter with Brown, he didn’t suffer serious injuries—the fractured eye socket is a myth.

But if you read websites like the Independent Journal Review, dive into far-right media, or explore the world of Darren Wilson support pages, you’ll find plenty of people who buy the fantasy. They reject the mainstream picture of Brown: A typical teenager, struggling to carve an identity and a life out of his beliefs, actions, and missteps. In their minds Brown was a budding criminal, and Wilson a hero. Or, as one Wilson supporter said during a demonstration for the officer, “We’ll all see this in the end that it was a good shooting. You know, it was a good kill.”

We know why the Brown family was quick to give a loving portrait of Michael. Like any parents in their situation, they wanted the world to see their son as they did—a decent boy who didn’t deserve to die.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/09/the_new_racism_michael_brown_and_trayvon_martin_deny_it_exists_and_smear.html