*dramatic eyeroll*

[conuly]

I'm not entirely sure that the service was as bad as he says (though the comment at the end was out of line), but that's not the point. I could be wrong here, I often am. The point is that this guy has a crazy idea that if you don't like your job, you can just leave and get a better one. If your boss isn't paying you adaquately, you can just call in the authorities and everything will be all right, because there's this law.

I'm not sure if I'm laughing or crying here, but whatever I'm doing, at least I'm doing it in the real world.

Comments

[conuly]

Go ahead. To be fair, I hate the idea of "you must tip". I know why that idea exists (because people aren't being paid minimum wage) but I hate it anyway. I'd be thrilled if restaurants were required to pay minimum wage, prices went up slightly (to about the amount they are already with tip factored in) and tips were optional again.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I'd be thrilled if restaurants were required to pay minimum wage, prices went up slightly (to about the amount they are already with tip factored in) and tips were optional again.

So would I! Tipping should be for _exceptional_ service, and not required.

And I was a waitress for a few years, even.

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

and tips were optional again.

Did I miss the memo? Tipping, to me, is very optional, and very dependent on the level of service I've received.

Having said that, I do generally tip unless the service was abominable. I just tip better when the service is better. However, when the service is really good, I tip really good.

[conuly]

To me, tips stopped being optional when waiters stopped being paid minimum wage. They're taxed as though they were tipped anyway, whether or not they were, so not to tip is stealing.

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

I am reasonably sure that waitstaff have always been paid under minimum wage. I recall that when I was growing up and my mom was a waitress that she earned less than MW. But she got a lot of tips. Basically, her paycheck paid the rent and the tips paid for everything else. She worked in a coffee shop, day shift.

It makes me sad that I am so self-absorbed that I seem not to care about other peoples problems, such as waitstaff being paid less than the legal wage. Every now and again, I try to feel empathy for a group, but it's difficult (for me, personally) to feel anything for a faceless group. Give me an individual, with a face, a name, someone I can care about, it's much simpler to care.

I probably should shut up now.

[conuly]

I am reasonably sure that waitstaff have always been paid under minimum wage.

Depends on where you are, which is a crying shame.

Then there's the fact that in many areas the minimum wage isn't a living wage, but that's a different issue.

It makes me sad that I am so self-absorbed that I seem not to care about other peoples problems, such as waitstaff being paid less than the legal wage.

Do you deliberately grind the faces of the poor into the dust? When given the chance to help people with no harm to yourself (whether or not you care), do you? Okay then.

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

I more often than not give to individuals that I see that are in a need state of some sort.

It's large, faceless-nameless-group caring and giving that I have a problem with. I think this is largely because I know that groups are composed of individuals of whom we cannot rightly make sweeping generalizations.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

They're taxed as though they were tipped anyway, whether or not they were, so not to tip is stealing.

I think you've got that wrong. You seem to be saying that not to give them money that they're going to be taxed on is stealing on the part of the non-tipper; I think that taxing them on money that they weren't given is stealing on the part of the government. "Not tipping" is not necessarily stealing; "taxing them on monies that they've never received" is very definitely stealing.

On that note, though, I always tip fairly well.

[conuly]

Well, it's stealing from somebody. We can't change the government's stupid attitudes (especially when people are intimidated into saying they were paid adaquately), so it's easier to just tip nicely.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I hate, hate, hate the relevant laws. But we live in a system where part of your food and service is paid for from your bill and part is from your tip. If you do not leave a tip, you have not actually fully paid for your service. Yet the tip is optional unless the restaurant mentions a mandatory fee for service. This is incredibly stupid, and only serves to benefit those who least deserve the benefit, and to make for inconvenience for many.

But you really do have an ethical requirement to tip if you eat somewhere that expects it. And I really hate the system and would change it if I could. I think it's underhanded, disgusting, and demeaning. But it's not the waitstaff's fault. It's the fault of the restaurants and the laws.

If only there were more people like me (except with money), then there would be a market for nice restaurants where tipping is not expected, but feel free to if the service truly goes above and beyond what you expect.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

I agree with your sentiments exactly. I could write volumes about it, but the problem does exist in the basic sentiment that 'the system sucks.'

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

In CA, waiters get slightly less than minimum wage. Our menu prices reflect that, for sure!

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Restaurants do pay minimum wage where I live, but I still tip. I figure that anyone trying to live on minimum wage needs it.

However, an association of restaurant owners is pressuring the government to rescind the mandatory minimum wage for people who make tips. They say that people who earn minimum wage don't really need the money, they all live with their parents and get their room and board for free, so why should they have to pay minimum wage to someone who doesn't need it?

[conuly]

They say that people who earn minimum wage don't really need the money, they all live with their parents and get their room and board for free, so why should they have to pay minimum wage to someone who doesn't need it?

*screams in agony*

The stupid... it doesn't just burn anymore....