Quote:
Originally Posted by Nage Waza
The only question I ask is why doesn't their employer pay their wages, why am I stuck in the middle, and are they paying their fair share of taxes?
Anytime I am paying for a service, I certainly have a reasonable assumption I can pass judgement. Not rudely or anything, but it is reasonable. I haven't really seen what you are accusing people of in this thread.
We would be better off with no tipping. Let employers pay the correct wages, charge the correct amounts, and everyone pays their taxes.
LOL at the power part, wth.
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Of course you can pass judgement - in the same way you do any time you get something you don't like - go somewhere else next time. Complain if you want or write a bad review.
The problem is that restaurants have zero incentive to pay fair wages and increase prices: they'll have less customers with higher prices, they'll have trouble hiring good staff, they'll pay higher payroll taxes, and they'll have higher costs than competitors. So it just won't happen. Every restaurant that tries it gives up on it very quickly. There have been many.
So the next obvious solution would be to tack on a "service fee" to every bill, which should be the same as increasing wages and increasing prices. But people hate that - they don't get to use the tip to pass judgement as it's no longer discretionary and so any type of automatic gratuity is just absolutely hated. Aside from very high-end places, or for large groups where this has become the norm because of cheapskates, businesses that have gone the service fee route also quickly give up on it.
And why I say this is about power: because every restaurant and bar that tries to be fair to employees and remove tipping has almost the same experience. The biggest reason they have to go back to tipping is that in our culture tipping has created an entitlement to use that extra little bit of money on a bill to pass judgement, good or bad. The customers who complain the most are often those that want to tip the most: can't get the pretty waitress's number without tipping and also can't pay a proper compliment to their level of attractiveness; can't complain about the ranch dressing properly without withholding the tip.
My view is this: if people stop thinking about tipping as optional, or something to be adjusted based on satisfaction with a server, we'd slowly be able to ween ourselves away from this crappy model. Just tip 15% every time and don't think about where that money goes or why you should or shouldn't tip in the circumstances. Then places could succeed with the service fee model and eventually just increase wages and do away with tipping altogether. Until then, tip when and what you're supposed to and just factor it into all restaurant and bar costs without adjusting up or down.
That raising the minimum wage brought on this conversation at all is an example of this: tipping has made everyone think they should be an arbiter of what servers should be paid without knowing anything else aside from that the minimum wage has increased. There is an assumption food prices will increase, maybe drink prices, maybe servers will make more money, or maybe better service will be enjoyed by all because it will become more lucrative and competitive. Who knows? I generally don't make a lot of assumptions about what goes on behind the scenes at my grocery store or gas station: restaurants and bars should be no different.