“European restaurants pay staff like any other profession and workers don’t rely on tips, so customers assume they’ve already paid for service”.
Europeans are right on this one. The more years go by, the more I find tipping to be ridiculous. Tell me upfront what you expect, then I’ll choose where to eat. Managers must adapt to customers, not us do their minimum wage employment practice.
#PAY YOUR FUCKING STAFF
Greetings from Europe, we’re not baffled. We just don’t play your game. Start paying your workers properly.
Oh what ever shall we do? The cash registers are bursting with cash due to the influx of visitors… but they’re not tipping the servers.
I see absolutely no way that employers could make the situation fairer for servers, even if it were only for the duration of the event.
Gosh, if only there were some way!
We come from nations where staff get paid at least the minimum wage and don’t rely on tips to make it up to that.
Should we pay an actual wage?
NO! ITS EVERYONE ELSE WHO ARE WRONG!
Yea, because tipping is intended to be optional.
The mere fact of trying to pressure or force the tipping will make sure I regard the service as not tip worthy.
It’s not “culture” it’s unfettered capitalism. Make your staff beg your customers for their wage instead of paying it yourself, great for bosses.
Fuck american tipping culture… Pay your staff fair…
I visited the US 3 years ago and tipping was a bloody pain in the bum. It added probably 20min to our meal as the waiters took a while to get change. Further, asking every 15 minutes how our meal was going was quite exhausting; mainly because we knew it was performative for more tips. We tipped 20% each time but it’s really, really frustrating not knowing the price up front.
Back home, I’m used to paying up front and then leaving as soon as we’re done. Waiters leave you alone, unless you’re a regular, and ask you how the meal was at the till if you pay after.
Imagine the price being… You know… The price…
The cash registers are ringing, the beer is flowing and the tables are full.
So there is money to pay staff, right?
Maybe if the US paid a decent minimum wage…
Fighting back against what? Pay your employees.
What did you expect? They come from non tipping cultures. Where wait staff make livable wages. Not their fault we are incapable of paying people enough to live.
Tipping culture does exist in europe, but first of all, it isn’t nearly as “mandatory” as it is in the US, and second of all we tip way less. There isn’t a fixed percentage you “have to” tip. Usually, if the waiter was nice, it’s just rounding up to an even sum. At least here in germany.
When in rome, do as the Romans do. You may not agree with it, but it’s how it works here and not doing it is taking advantage of a worker not the restaurant
So the restaurant owner is taking advantage of the worker but suddenly it’s my fault?
No it’s not. The only one taking advantage of workers is the restaurant owner.
If tipping is optional, why the hell would anyone “choose” to pay more? Imagine if I sold you a phone and said you can buy this phone for $500 or you can optionally pay an extra $100 and get literally exactly the same product. That’s tipping.
If tipping is mandatory, then make it clear beforehand that there is a mandatory fee and how much it is.
Or just gasp include it in the price like civilised countries…
If you raise prices then fewer people will eat at your restaurant because the prices are too high.
Then your restaurant is too expensive to operate, this is very basic economics.
Restaurants are basically always operating on a razor thin margin.
I see them open and close every year in my city. Restaurants coming and going like a revolving door. The commercial landlords stay the same though.
Restaurants are notoriously difficult to run profitably (non-paywalled: https://archive.is/cQ2pB). I’m a patron of a lot of local restaurants and they definitely open and close a lot more than pretty much any other business I can think of (except maybe vape shops, remember those?).
Landlords are definitely an issue that needs to be handled as well but that doesn’t absolve the employer of paying their people a living wage. Tipping culture in general needs to die off.
If that’s not possible but they believe in their business, they could consider a different business model, maybe become an employee co-op so the employees have a stake and could see the fruits of their own labor one day.
But the prices are already too high because of the expected tipping? Are you counting on people to eat at the restaurant because they didn’t expect to pay more and you can secretly price gouge them at the exit?
If anything the total expected price for a meal will come down because servers will be paid the fair market rate for their labour and not the current guilt trip percentages… the rise in prices won’t exceed the savings from not tipping.
This is the dumbest possible take on this matter.
Like, customers are stupid enough to both ignore that they need to add 20% on top of the bill, and still tip? What?!
We’re talking about irrational behaviour by customers and you’re surprised that it happens? Why do you think entire industries routinely use hidden fees that dramatically raise the final price above the advertised price?
Because it works! You may not like it, I certainly don’t like it, but I can’t dispute it because it does in fact work.
We’re talking about irrational behaviour by customers
No, we are not. The article is about foreigners in the US not tipping, which is not irrational behaviour, at all.
Why do you think entire industries routinely use hidden fees that dramatically raise the final price above the advertised price?
Because some governments, especially the US government, would rather punish their citizens than the companies scamming them.
Regardless, anyone in the US who is economically conscious enough to choose to eat out or not depending on prices, would inevitably take tipping into consideration, and anyone who isn’t, wouldn’t. The alternative would be people who cannot afford eating out not tipping, equally screwing over service workers, so your point is moot.
So, you are actually defending intentionally misleading your customers?
Everyone in the west knows about tipping. No one is being misled. There have been many attempts to run restaurants with higher prices but no tipping. They always go out of business.
Everyone in the west knows about tipping
That’s a bold assumption. I’m in the west too. Tipping is not a thing here (at least not in that way). Having a price on the menu and asking for more is also frowned upon here, not to mention illegal.
It is literally the exact same price.
They don’t do it because then they have to pay taxes on those tips
If you go someplace and get waited on, and you KNOW that not tipping them means you basically took their labor for free, you are also an asshole. If you think not owning the business abdicates you from that, then you are just as bad as the business owner who thinks the custom abdicates them from paying a living wage. You’re not a crusader for justice, you’re a cheap jerk.
Nah, fuck tipping. Pay a livable wage.
Oh do fuck off with that. The customer isn’t taking advantage of the worker or the resturant. The employer is taking advantage of the workers.
If it’s not optional. Include it in the price up front so we all know what we’re paying.
people like you, believing this kind of bullshit propaganda pushed by business owners lobby, are the reason why things are getting so bad in the US… next thing you’ll tell me unions are bad and affordable healthcare is some communist bullshit.
if the business is not paying their employees livable wage they should not work there and the business should go bankrupt. yes, there are many people who wouldn’t find any other job right now. and they can choose to suffer temporary unemployment now or accept to live indentured life forever.
history clearly shows that workers not accepting unbearable conditions ultimately leads to improvement for everyone. guilt-tripping customers into giving alm to employees instead of paying them actual wages is just postponing the inevitable.
Most people from a non tipping culture don’t know how to tip. They don’t know how much, is it inappropriate, do the stuff get it or does management steal it. Really is a big deal.
I understand your point of view, and even to a certain degree agree (too bad it’s about tipping because fuck that). But these are not normal tourists you are getting, that did any kind of research. These people are here to drink beer and shout at each other, and are already very upset that everything is so expensive.
you mean “when in a dystopian exploitative society, do as the dystopian exploitative societies do”? :)
They are from Rome though…
So, when in Nazi Germany… do as the Nazis do?
This is the way, both for tipping and other local customs.
Rome has no tipping culture
These people are shit.
