Or take it even further: make everything have no price. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/17/lippert.qanda/index.html People pay what they want for the food/service.
I can list a whole slew of jobs that make less than $12/hour. What does that even matter? The sense of entitlement in America is incredible. IF.YOU.DON'T.LIKE.WAITING.TABLES.GET.SOME.EDUCATION.AND.GO.GET.ANOTHER.JOB. I waited for 2.5 years. I've also worked on assembly lines and even putting up security fences at a prison one summer. All crappy jobs. And all motivation to get more educated and get a desk job. Turn your bitterness into motivation to do better for yourself. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OtQ6km5VpW8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OtQ6km5VpW8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
You achieve the same thing with a mandatory fixed percentage 'tip' as this restaurant had. Patrons pay the final tab....no discretion on 'tipping.' It's called a 'tip, ' but really, it's just a table charge. It didn't seem to go over so well with many of you in this example.
california (where i live) doesn't allow tip credit for wages... which makes this argument for california waiters even sadder. List of minium wage for tip jobs
That's all beautiful in theory but consider how many people have lost their jobs in this economy and are scrambling to get any work. Just because someone is stuck working a crappy service sector job doesn't mean they aren't trying to better themselves.
People who are trying to better themselves aren't usually whining about how they're entitled to more money. Everyone is monetarily compensated for what they do and how well they do it. It's just that with a service field, like waiting tables, you see it directly and immediately. With any other job, if you have customers complaining about you, you'll eventually get fired and lose compensation that way.
They do exist, without the comment cards pushed to your table thing. Mothers is a famous New Orleans joint that serves great food that has "no tipping allowed" plastered everywhere.
But if the menu said there was a mandatory gratuity of 18%, and they should have known this when they ordered....what's the difference? (they could still argue the bill -- just as they could for a menu item if their food was bad, but saying the charge was 'not required' is not their call to make).
i didn't watch the video, and the article didn't indicate it was on the menu... but if it's on the menu, then they should pay for it. i'm surprised no one posted this: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z-qV9wVGb38&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z-qV9wVGb38&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
It's not about entitlement. But rather the misunderstanding some people have that waiters make tons of money due to the tip amount they write on checks. As well as the skill/effort involved. $10-12 is A LOT different from $20-25 no matter how you look at it. I don't see why it's wrong to explain that to a person who obviously have no clue how tips are split afterward. Why so angry?
It's entitlement when you think people (who do not employ you) are SUPPOSED to give you money to do your job.
Hell yes it is. The whole damn country's perspective is totally ****ed up in this regard. You work hard, you get rewarded. Nobody owes you ****.
I will say that as long as restaurants only pay the waitstaff $2.15 an hour or whatever that not tipping for good service is wrong. If they perform poorly, then by all means lower or remove the tip. Just because the system is wrong does not mean the victims of said system(only getting 2.15/hr because you get tipped) should be punished. One of the ways restaurants keep their prices relatively stable is that they dont have to pay much labor on the waitstaff. If they have to pay the staff more out of their pockets, there will most definately be a rise in prices.
That's an idea. The restaurants could save money by not paying their cooks at all! Then either the cooks can quit and find another job or you can rally to their defense and tip them too to make sure they can make a living. I used to wait tables. I routinely tip 15-20%. But the idea that I have to or supposed to tip just makes me boil. The idea that I'm 'punishing' them makes me incensed. I do think that they should be guaranteed minimum wage, which only a few states do currently.
Not paying the cooks was your idea, not mine. Anyhoo, as I said the system is flawed, but in general not tipping isn't the answer. Now, feeling as if you have to tip may be due to the waitstaff you experience. I dont get that feeling at all while at a restaurant. My reasoning for tipping is the service is good and the waitstaff doesnt make any money so I offer to help. If the waitstaff was paid 8-12 bucks an hour I wouldn't tip because the restaurant would be compensating them for providing a good service to keep customers returning. Of course, the system is as it is likely because some folks started tipping people making a decent wage. The owners saw they could save some coin and the waitstaff could still make a decent wage. Voila the system of today.
My facetious point with the cooks is that it is not up to you to fix what the restaurants do or don't do. If they didn't pay the cooks at all, would you ante up by tipping enough to give them a decent wage? Because you're similarly supplementing the waiters wage with tips. Anyway, the original post was not about tipping or not tipping. It was about not tipping when the service is bad. Which you've already said you're okay with. So what point are you arguing again?
