I see that you really love the current arrangement.
But why doesn’t free enterprise allow people who don’t like the arrangement to push restaurants in a different direction? I mean, the restaurants are free to do whatever they want, right? And they can choose to take input from customers or not, right?
Is it unfathomable to you that some restaurants might choose a slightly different method of compensation, and appeal to the clientelle that likes that?
You seem to think that anybody saying that they prefer something else is asking the government to change it.
Do you run a restaurant? You seem very passionate about it, passionate enough to be quickly insulting to anybody who doesn’t like it as much as you do.
I also wonder if you have missed the near-daily reports here of how freeloaders are now taking advantage of the system to stiff workers and get their meals cheaper. Don’t you see how that can upset the balance you find so favorable?
Would you want to be a plumber if the way you got paid was that you showed up, did your best, and the customer paid you whatever they felt like?
But maybe I don’t understand what you are actually defending here. Do you think the restaurant should have the right to add a required tip to a bill? IT IS JUST A QUESTION. Isn’t that just like raising the price and eliminating the first 15% of the tip?
You really think this is working great. Do you think it is great that two waiters both work their butts off, do great service, and one makes $15 an hour, the other makes $2.50 because the second one served a table of minorities?
Maybe where you live there hasn’t been a rising problem of waiters getting stiffed. Do you know waiters and waitresses? AGAIN, IT IS A REAL QUESTION. Are they saying the love the current system? Are they having trouble with non-paying customers?
My position is that I prefer restaurants where while you still tip, the waitstaff have a higher hourly wage. I find them to be more pleasant. I don’t know why you think this is somehow “anti-free-enterprise”, I think it is exactly what the free market gives us — businesses that cater to the differing desires of different customers.
you’ve shown me no evidence of reading comprehension, proportionality, or any understanding of the free enterprise system. Oh for three.
Now, go to the cafeteria and leave us alone….
You really think this is working great. Do you think it is great that two waiters both work their butts off, do great service, and one makes $15 an hour, the other makes $2.50 because the second one served a table of minorities?
When my friends and I frequented an establishment in Heidelberg, Germany, we had our favored staff and ensured we sat in their sections (large crowd, we overlapped).
They took great care of us (including running a tab which the est never did with anyone else). We took great care of them. With a group of 15 -20 we each dropped an average of an extra $20 on top of our tabs.
We went there nearly every Friday and they knew we chose them as our servers. That’s because we knew their service was great. That’s what happens when a server is exceptional.
If you don’t like exceptionalism and performance based awards it’s your business. Just don’t screw it up for the rest of us.
“Would you want to be a plumber if the way you got paid was that you showed up, did your best, and the customer paid you whatever they felt like?”
One difference between the quality of service of a waiter, and a plumber. If the plumber says they fixed the leaky sink, and you still have water flooding the kitchen, you won’t pay the lousy plumber.
If your waiter is getting paid no matter how good or bad their service was, what recourse do you have? If you ate the food, you must pay.
Do you not see how a system of tips based on the quality of the service of waiting on you and bringing you food will be the incentive for good service?