You could boost me to 2x minimum wage and I’d still make less.
There is a reason why the tipping system still exists.
Now on one hand I think it's fair that a pregnant woman needs more money than a high school kid who's saving up for extra toys (a DSLR in my case), so I'm not complaining about my pay. But then again literally no customer actually knew that; for all they knew I was supporting my poor family with extra income. The arbitrariness is troubling. If tips are a significant chunk of your pay, then you're dependent on either customers feeling bad for you, or generally liking you in order to make a good wage. And heaven help you if you're in a demographic group that's disliked for whatever reason.
Nope! The minimum wage in Ohio was $4.25 in 2005, 17 years ago. It has however gone up since then significantly to $9.30 today.
I agree with the rest of your post though. The capriciousness and pettiness is very real, and doesn’t reflect super great on our society imho.