You’re likely thinking about Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. I played it and a sequel (Call of Pripyat) recently on semi-modern hardware, but YMMV. I loved Stalker back in the day.

I haven’t personally tried it, but I’ve also been watching Chernobylite on Steam with interest. It seems like it may be intended to be a spiritual successor to Stalker. It’s been on sale recently, too.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t true throughout the entire US. Wait staff in Washington, for example, get paid the full state minimum wage, and the minimum wage act explicitly requires that tips be paid to employees rather than retained by the restaurant. Of course, actual practice or compliance can differ, but there are a few states with better laws than the norm.