I do think it sucks that a restaurant assumes I will pay their workers. They certainly can do so, but I mention it to them from time to time that it makes me less pleased eating out knowing how little they compensate their workers.
Cool. Let’s mark up the prices on the menu by about 30%. You won’t be expected to tip.
Is everything perfect in your world, now?
It’s all the same one way or another, right?
You have to know what the restaurant pays the worker so you can determine what a reasonable tip is to properly compensate them.
And the restaurant makes you feel bad if you don’t tip, by a policy that expects you to randomly be paying their wait staff.
On the other hand nobody has to take the job if they don’t like it. Sadly though, they can’t refuse to wait on the people the know won’t pay them. Think about that — they pretty much know that their next 20 minutes will be uncompensated because their employer expects the customer to pay, and the customer is likely not going to pay.
So yes, I would prefer to go to a restaurant where I know the waiters and waitresses are well-paid. If for no other reason than they won’t be looking for ways to stick it to their boss by punishing me.
But let’s explore the “mark up prices”. We were always expected to tip, the socialized thing, like 15% of the bill. If the boss now takes away wages equal to a 10% tip, a customer tipping 15% is now really only tipping 5%, while “paying the restaurant” the other 10% by paying the wages.
Now, does the restaurant have to pay their half of FICA and Medicare tax on tips? Or does the worker have to pay both sides (sure, get rid of them, but for now they exist).
People certainly have some pretty strongly held feelings about compensation for waitstaff.
I happen to think that part of the problem is the minimum wage, which has skewed the market for the low-skill end of this job market.