Restaurants That Are Ditching Tips for Higher Wages Are on the Rise A new message appearing at the top of the menu at Camino, a high-end restaurant in Oakland, California, declares the end of an age-old American practice. “No more tips!” it reads. “Our prices now include service so we can pay our employees a living wage.” The new prices—which have gone up 22 percent, and which now range from $29 to $37—and the restaurant’s corresponding tipping policy went into effect earlier this year, around the time the city’s minimum wage rose 36 percent to $12.25. And the two are related. While the new policy probably won’t put more into pockets of Camino’s decently paid servers, it will do something quietly revolutionary: it will help them offer a living wage to their (traditionally underpaid) cooks, dishwashers, and bussers. https://www.yahoo.com/food/restaurants-that-are-replacing-tipping-with-higher-124769692026.html I would rather pay the old prices at restaurants and tip the waiter. I tip well when the service is good but if it's crappy that gets reflected in my tip. Gives the customer at least some feeling of control over the service. And again, how many of those nouveau riche cooks, dishwashers and bussers are going to get their working hours reduced so they don't lose their food stamps and welfare?
My daughter, whose only conversation is RANT anyway, cannot stop ranting about tips. She works hard and does a great job, but she is getting shitted more and more. And, the place she works is loosing wait staff right and left. She works at a place that gets young people, and many young people have not figured out that waitresses get paid by tips. Recently she has had a little league team and parents, coming in at 11:00 pm (yes) and leaving $2.35 for 27 total. Next night a birthday party of 22 left a dime, and called her "ratchet" when she tried to identify the one person that skipped without paying. Every night when she comes home, she is raising hell about either a non tipper or a dime tipper. She is called in to work all the time, and has been promoted to lead trainer, so I know she is doing a good job, she is just not paid anywhere near consistently. I wish they would add 20% to all meals and say tipping not expected. I know my life would be easier!
I can feel for your daughter getting stiffed when she is doing a good job and giving quality service. I tip well when the service is good but if would piss me off to know that I was giving a mandatory tip to a waiter who gave me shitty service. I want the satisfaction of stiffing him enough to let him know he is a piece of shit. I never leave nothing. They might just think I forgot. But for really bad service I will leave a quarter or 50 cents. It's especially gratifying if I'm paying with a credit card so I can write the amount on the tip line. If I was paying cash and they found some loose change on the table they might just think I left it there by accident. I want there to be no doubt.
Well, I understand that, but...if the check out person at the food store is an idiot (high likelihood) you don't get 20% off your milk, or the teller at the bank is on the phone and you have to wait, you don't get extra money when you deposit, or the lady at the doctor's office window is a total biatch, the doctor does not charge you less. Just sayin!
Tips have always been important to restaurants because it is the most effective way to see that the wait staff gives a damn about customer service. You only have to go to a fast food restaurant to see how non-tipped employees treat you. Waiters are better if they have some skin in the game. It's how tip got the name--To Insure Promptness. Most restaurants add a gratuity to the check for parties of 8 or more, because big parties are notoriously stingy. I never stiff a waiter, even if they are slow or sloppy, but bad waiters get the low end (10%) instead of the high end (20%). The only time I stiff a waiter is if they are blatantly rude and that is rare. That's a suggestion that they are in the wrong fucking business. But with no tips at all, we would see a lot of sassy, rude waiters.
Store checkout clerks are much less idiots than fast food clerks. Most just scan your items and bag them and rarely make a mistake with your change, especially now that I almost always pay with plastic. Some are even friendly and engage in light banter which almost never happens at a fast food place. If there is an old lady in front of me who waits until all her items are scanned and then pulls out a purseful of coupons and then takes a millennium to find her checkbook and write a check I don't hold that against the store clerk. I can't recall ever having a bad bank teller. They have to be professional. They are handling peoples most prized possessions. Their money.
This is based on a "article" that's circulating the conservative news websites right now like Breitbart and FoxNews. It originates from a magazine published by restaurant lobbyists and used b Forbes piece that is poorly written, uses anecdotal evidence and ignores a mountain of data that says otherwise while saying things like "there is no evidence to the contrary". There is no legitimate news source out there that I can find that is willing to make this argument and have something substantial behind it to make the argument. Many of the claims made in these articles about restaurants closing down have been debunked directly by the owners of the restaurants closing down who cited numerous other reasons why they closed their businesses and the wage increase had nothing to do with it. Most of them actually support the wage increase. The funny thing is that the original articles ignored the 27 new restaurants that opened while harping on the six or so that closed as evidence that supported their claims. The estimated increase restaurants will have to add to their checks has been projected to be as high as 5% seven years from now when the wage increase actually reaches $15/hr
