this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 254 points 1 month ago (23 children)

Who's the cheap one in this equation?

.... the customer who is paying the owner of the restaurant for the food AND is obligated by social convention to pay extra to the waiter who is underpaid.

or

... the restaurant owner who doesn't mind living in a world where we have normalized underpaying restaurant workers to the point where we pass down that responsibility to the customer who is already paying for the food.

Pay your workers a proper wage and get rid of the idea of tipping.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 82 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Don't like tipping? Protest the policies by not going to restaurants, dont shove it on the workers who are stuck in the system.

The owner is 100% happy you came to pay him and not the waiter he didnt wanna pay anyway.

[–] bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 month ago (6 children)

How does this form of protest translate into a change of the tipping system?

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah this protest only works if there are also another set of restaurants that specifically tell you not to tip. I have been to some but they are very rare where I live.

[–] HowManyNimons@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Or just don't go to restaurants. There are other ways of getting food.

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[–] VantaBrandon@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Thats one way of looking at it... but if everyone would stop tipping, they would be forced to pay them a living wage or go out of business when all the staff quit. Its actually in the consumers power to effect that change, but only on a mass scale. Unfortunately its an awkward social coercion tactic at play now, which just continues to perpetuate the problem pitting us against each other just as capitalism intends to.

If tips are bad, the worker quits. If sales are bad, the worker is fired and might collect unemployment benefits.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So we don't need OSHA? We can just let construction workers quit if the contractors make them do dangerous stuff?

Youre a bit oblivious to your privilege. People can't just quit or yknow, they starve.

[–] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Honestly, in these debates more often than not I find that the waiters don't want tipping culture changed either. A lot (not all, I understand) of waiters make bank on tips and then don't accurately report them as income so it's not even taxed correctly. They don't want that to change.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't give a shit what the waiter wants honestly, I shouldn't have to pay the owner and the worker separately

[–] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

I don't disagree with you.

[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 53 points 1 month ago

Tipping is fine, but as in "keep the change", not "we need to change this tipping culture"

I have no problem with tipping, I have a problem with expected tipping.

Waiters should be paid properly and tips should not be expected or even mentioned. If I get exceptional service, I may want to leave a tip. There should be an optional tip section when paying the bill, but no separate screen or list of expected tips (or even percentage calculations) anywhere at all.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

And who is hurt by not tipping

The staff member who is likely significantly impoverished...

OR

The business owner who got the $12 he's charging you for tendies?

The business owner doesn't give two shits if you tip, they get paid either way and $7.25 an hour per employee is pocket change to them.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world -4 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Here’s the equation. Restaurants keep food costs low by paying servers next to nothing. If they paid them what they deserve, the cost of your meal would increase.

So by not tipping, you are benefiting from the low cost of food while screwing over the person that has no control over the situation. YTA

If you don’t want to tip, don’t go to a restaurant that has servers.

Now, other places that actually pay a living wage and also have a tip button (ie concession stands at a sporting event) can get fucked.

[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Except that I’m fine if the cost of my meal increases if they paid their servers what they deserve.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Same here. I’m just saying don’t protest tipping by not tipping. You’re screwing the wrong person.

[–] vala@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Honestly if you think about it. The cost of your meal going up and the cost of tipping are not different in their end result for the consumer.

The employee still gets the short end because people won't always tip. Or even show up.

The owner gets the long (?) end because they don't have to pay their workers a higher wage (very bad if it's a slow day) and the customers who otherwise wouldn't have eaten there if the prices were high will still eat there and not tip.

So it really doesn't effect the consumer at all but it does effect the employee quite a bit for sure.

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are you suggesting that food prices will go up by more than the cost of the tip tacked on?

Because if not it’s really just more honest pricing, and the same (or reduced) impact on customers, but without having to do math or having the option of being a leech.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If tipping ended and restaurants paid their servers, food prices would go up. That is undeniable.

You are eating at a discount with the expectation that you will pay the owner’s employee for them. Yes, it is unfair and sucks but the one making out like a bandit here is the owner.

So, not tipping is your way of benefiting personally on a discounted meal AND STILL giving the owner money. And the only one you have punished in your equation is a server (the leech???) who is generally living off that tip day to day.

So if you want to make an impact, quit going to restaurants that have tipping as an expectation! That’s it! Otherwise you are just encouraging the owner to keep the status quo!

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It’s not a discount if you are expected to pay more to add a tip.

But dude, quit changing the subject, I’m not talking about people not tipping within the current system, never have been, and neither was the person you originally replied to. I’ve worked tipped positions, so I very much understand how they work.

So again, are you suggesting that if we do away with tipping, costs of food would increase by MORE than the present amount of a tip that gets tacked on? Because that’s the only way prices for the end consumer actually meaningfully raise. Most likely they will actually go down overall. Because again you have to pay the tip too.

You are really bad at reading comprehension btw. That, or you are a piss-poor troll and intentionally misrepresenting literally everything.. the option to be a leech is the customer, who in the present system can skip the tip. Like a leech.

Also, there aren’t any restaurants around me that scrapped tipping, not a single fucking one within at least an hour of where I live, so your suggestion is impossible for me and very privileged.

[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 1 points 1 month ago

Here's another part of the equation, the owner gets enough of a share of the business profit where they can buy a new house, expand to multiple locations, buy new cars, etc.

The extra couple bucks an hour per employee is a tiny drop in the cost pool per business operational hour compared to that. They could perfectly well keep prices the same without paying sub-minimum wages by taking a smaller cut themselves.

[–] Fuzzy_Red_Panda@lemm.ee -1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So by not tipping, you are benefiting from the low cost of food while screwing over the person that has no control over the situation. YTA

Customers aren't the assholes for the failures of the restaurant industry, just as customers aren't the assholes for the refusal of the federal government to ensure restaurant workers are paid a living wage.

Customers who don't tip are not the enemy.

[–] VantaBrandon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

*artificially low cost of food

[–] lemonmelon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

About that, though: yeah they are.

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