Free Republic

In many US cities tips of 20% are now expected at restaurants The debate about tipping culture in the US has reignited in recent years, with social media posts about waiting staff angry that they haven't been left enough money going viral. Is this increased pressure to tip, and to do so generously, now spreading around the world? Lillian Price thinks that tipping in the US is "out of control". "It's too much," she says. "You might just be grabbing something to go, and you are expected to tip," says the animal care worker who lives in Philadelphia. Price, who...

Days ahead of the Nevada caucuses the state’s influential culinary union decided to sit this one out. They’re not endorsing anyone. Why? Well, because right now, they all suck. And if they don’t suck, they’re peddling action items that will screw them over. It’s become nasty between the Culinary Workers Union and the Bernie Sanders campaign after the former distributed leaflets to their members about the dangers concerning Sanders’ Medicare for All proposals that will gut 150+ million private health care plans. And a lot of union members’ health care plans will be shredded by a Sanders administration. For the...

“Servers, and in particular women, can receive larger tips if they touch their customers, call customers by name, smile, crouch next to the table and engage in other similar behaviors. This puts workers who depend on tips in a difficult position when faced with inappropriate customer behavior,” ROC wrote. Chaisson called ROC “the Scientology” of the restaurant industry and supports the government proposal. “It is a pragmatic and sensible plan,” he said. The Trump administration’s pending policy change would reverse an Obama administration rule, which holds that tips are the exclusive property of waiters.

Servers suffer as gratuities, and their incomes, plummet with the economyNobody is sitting at the rack at Mary’s Club on a Friday afternoon. The rack is the counter that lines the stage at Mary’s, an institution among Portland strip clubs, at 129 S.W. Broadway Ave. Customers who sit at the rack, up close to the dancers, are expected to tip dollar bills or more throughout the performances. In fact, there’s a sign in Mary’s Club that reads, “If you’re watching and not tipping, you’re stealing.” But it’s easier to watch and not tip from seats further back or at the...