Finally, A Restaurant That Smartened Up

[tetley]

Then there is no basis for complaint. Society is not egalitarian, the waiters are the servants. That's the setup people want.

 

[warpus]

"Hi, Restaurant Creme Freche?"
"Yes?"
"I have a hot date tonight and my question is - do you make use of waiters?"
"... Yes"
"Goodby- WAIT.. I have an idea.. Would you be willing to indulge me? I really want to impress this girl"
"Yes?"
"Would you allow me to take her order and hand deliver the food to the table for her? I will leave a 50% gratuity"
"YES"

 

[tetley]

There you go. Second-guess the culture that has always been there. There may just be something better right in front of you all along.

 

[Tigranes]

This restaurant in Pittsburgh has banned tipping and made their workers actual salaried employees. We can only hope this will catch on and become the norm so restaurant workers will finally get the fair shake they deserve.



Link

Nice to see this because just today I was asking my American friend why is my compulsory 17% tip included in the bill for my pizza with "additional tip" line above it. I was curious if there ever was a time when restaurant forcing you to pay tips could make it the yahoo news, but my friend was not old enough to remember those days, apparently.

 

[sophie]

I disagree. In some places tipping is not only frowned upon - but also considered offensive. In others it just doesn't happen. So you definitely should be aware of the policy and cultural norms before you consider whether to tip or not.

Obviously I was speaking within the context of the US.

 

[Zkribbler]

Why was it necessary to ban tipping?

I [and CivLancer] blame the IRS.

Once upon a time, the IRS just assumed waiters would report their tips as income. That didn't work. So, the IRS instituted an irrebuttable presumption that waiters got 8% of the bill as a tip. Then recently, it raised that number to 15%.

This is massacring servers' income. CivLancer's wife works in a casino restaurant. There's lots of foreign customers there, and both Asian and Europeans are notoriously bad tippers. So the servers are paying taxes on tips they didn't receive. Plus, the casino "comps" a lot of meals. Those people who'd normally tip 20% calculate the tip due as 20% of nothing, while the IRS calculates the tax based upon the value of the meal.

One server at the casino made $106 after taxes for one particularly busy week of serving non-tippers.

 

[hangman]

Nice to see this because just today I was asking my American friend why is my compulsory 17% tip included in the bill for my pizza with "additional tip" line above it. I was curious if there ever was a time when restaurant forcing you to pay tips could make it the yahoo news, but my friend was not old enough to remember those days, apparently.

10-15 years ago I'd find it shocking and weird, now it just annoys me. I think mandatory tips for large groups have been around a while though.

 

[warpus]

Obviously I was speaking within the context of the US.

I looked at your comment and at first thought so, but then also thought that it's also possible that you have strong feelings on the subject of servers not being paid enough in general and/or are aware of some server code that I am not that might require one to respect servers in a certain way no matter where you are.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The crappiest part about tipping is that a lot of resteraunts actually skim a percentage of every workers tips even though they only pay them sub-minimum wage to begin with.

It's even worse with delivery companies like pizza chains that charge a delivery fee (that goes to the restaurant and not the driver) and then also skim a chunk of the tips as well.

It's despicable, but as with many private business practices in the US, we tolerate it.

Imagine if the government tried to ban smoking and all forms of nicotine use for individuals, even when a person is at home and not working - there would be a massive outrage about our civil rights. But when CVS forces that policy on its employees - no one bats an eye.

 

[Commodore]

The crappiest part about tipping is that a lot of resteraunts actually skim a percentage of every workers tips even though they only pay them sub-minimum wage to begin with.

It's even worse with delivery companies like pizza chains that charge a delivery fee (that goes to the restaurant and not the driver) and then also skim a chunk of the tips as well.

It's despicable, but as with many private business practices in the US, we tolerate it.

Imagine if the government tried to ban smoking and all forms of nicotine use for individuals, even when a person is at home and not working - there would be a massive outrage about our civil rights. But when CVS forces that policy on its employees - no one bats an eye.

That's because corporatism is the state religion of the US...and I'm not saying that in jest. Corporations are held as sacred in this country and as such should be allowed to make whatever decree they deem necessary regarding their employees because hey, we should just feel fortunate that these most noble and holy entrepreneurs were kind enough to employ us.

It's a sad state of affairs and no one seems interested enough in the problem to actually do something about it.

 

[sophie]

That's because corporatism

That's not what that word means.

 

[JollyRoger]

I tip in cash to bypass the restaurant to the extent possible. I have heard that some will offset any merchant banking charge against the tip rather then the bill if you put the tip on a credit card.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I hadn't heard that but I do know that at least some chains (Applebee's) keep track of all tips, including what is given in cash. I guess the waitresses could lie about what they get but even still, Applebee's keeps track and takes a cut. And I could totally see them charging the banking charge to the wait staff.

 

[Esperr]

I hadn't heard that but I do know that at least some chains (Applebee's) keep track of all tips, including what is given in cash. I guess the waitresses could lie about what they get but even still, Applebee's keeps track and takes a cut. And I could totally see them charging the banking charge to the wait staff.

My cousin whom I am very close with has worked there for the last ten years, and IIRC they calculate the tip in a pool as a percentage of that nights sales. So it becomes a double edged sword, because if everybody is tipped well that night, everybody makes a lot of extra money. If everybody is tipped poorly you actually lose money(the assumption being that you didn't get tips because you gave poor service), and if you make a lot of tips and somebody else in the pool doesn't they effectively "steal" your money.

edit: which is also why the chain has such a hi hire and fire rate, everybody wants to get the guy bring them down out of there.

 

[Commodore]

That's not what that word means.

It does for me. That's because I use the term corporatism to describe the neo-feudalist tendencies of our society since it is the "corporate types" who are advancing the neo-feudalist policies in the US.

If you prefer though, I will use neo-feudalism from now on if my use of the word corporatism bothers you that much.

 

[sophie]

It does for me. That's because I use the term corporatism to describe the neo-feudalist tendencies of our society since it is the "corporate types" who are advancing the neo-feudalist policies in the US.

If you prefer though, I will use neo-feudalism from now on if my use of the word corporatism bothers you that much.

That's all well and good that you've appropriated an existent word with a very specific meaning, particularly in the context of a political discussion for your own devices, but here's the problem. None of the rest of us have.

 

[Commodore]

That's all well and good that you've appropriated an existent word with a very specific meaning, particularly in the context of a political discussion for your own devices, but here's the problem. None of the rest of us have.

Which is why I have offered to use the term neo-feudalism if you would prefer. There is no need to continue to be a jerk about it by trying to lecture me. Unless, of course, you are only interested in trying to show off how smart you think you are on an internet forum.

Just for future reference: I don't tolerate people taking a condescending tone towards me. Those who do immediately lose my respect. Take from that what you will.

 

[Flying Pig]

For Commodore's attention:

'There's glory for you!'

'I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't — till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

 

[bhavv]

The worst thing is in the UK, where restaurant workers earn at least the minimum wage, but still expect tips because they feel entitled to them.