Mandatory tipping based on race is bad

[Thegonagle]

A bi-lingual friend of mine (who works for tips!) has a story of the only time he ever dead-zero stiffed at a restaurant.

He and his French wife were eating together in California, and speaking French to one another.

The server must have assumed they were not American (although he speaks perfect American English with no accent--don't quite know how that escaped her) and she auto-grat'ed their bill for 15%.

Auto-gratting my tip-earning friend was not her brightest move of the day. Everybody knows that someone who works for tips naturally tips well over 15% unless something REALLY bad happens. Irritated and insulted, he talked to the manager, who agreed that the policy to auto-grat tables of 6 or more obviously did not apply their table of 2. The manager removed the auto-grat from the bill, and my friend stiffed them.

 

[KaOTiK]

I remember when I worked in a restaurant and hearing the servers bitch each and every time a foreigner was seated at one of their tables. They had a rotation for seating just foreign people to make sure everyone got screwed equally lol

 

[rh71]

in countries where tip is not expected, do the workers make more or is the food price more?

I just have trouble wrapping my head around 1) paying employees less on purpose, because they will make tips, that aren't guaranteed and 2) tipping someone for doing their job.

I tip only because it is common, but I still think it's BS. But I think I've said that like 4 times here in the past.

 

[Thegonagle]

It just exemplifies the whole problem with tipping in America. Too many people require tips to survive and it fucks things up.

True. Another thing that really, really messes it all up is that restaurants are allowed to pay less than minimum wage (in every state except 6), based on the explicit EXPECTATION that the worker will earn above minimum wage because they also collect tips. Once that happened, tipping became pretty much mandatory in practice.

 

[shortylickens]

True. Another thing that really, really messes it all up is that restaurants are allowed to pay less than minimum wage (in every state except 6), based on the explicit EXPECTATION that the worker will earn above minimum wage because they also collect tips. Once that happened, tipping became pretty much mandatory in practice.

Great big mess it created.
I live in Virginia. One of my waitress friends said if they dont make minimum wage with their tips the manager is supposed to up their base pay that week. I dont know exactly how it works.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

in countries where tip is not expected, do the workers make more or is the food price more?

I just have trouble wrapping my head around 1) paying employees less on purpose, because they will make tips, that aren't guaranteed and 2) tipping someone for doing their job.

I tip only because it is common, but I still think it's BS.

True. Another thing that really, really messes it all up is that restaurants are allowed to pay less than minimum wage (in every state except 6), based on the explicit EXPECTATION that the worker will earn above minimum wage because they also collect tips. Once that happened, tipping became pretty much mandatory in practice.

It's a practice that is embedded in our culture. Want to know the fastest way to ostracize yourself either at home or abroad? Make a huge noise about how you're not going to follow such a dumb/ignorant/stupid custom. They call it being an ugly American.

 

[Thegonagle]

Great big mess it created.
I live in Virginia. One of my waitress friends said if they dont make minimum wage with their tips the manager is supposed to up their base pay that week. I dont know exactly how it works.

Ask her how often that happens. That will tell you exactly how it works. (IOW, it doesn't.)

 

[Ns1]

Right.

So what you do is just give Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi customers shitty service so they stop coming. If they aren't going to tip for good service, then don't give them good service.

this

 

[SlitheryDee]

I'm against mandatory gratuities period. What I'm really against is calling it a gratuity when it's a part of the regular charge. I hate the whole mentality behind it actually. For better or worse, getting a tip is something that should be up to the whims of the customer. It's only because people have been extra generous to a particular type of service giver over an long time that they have seen that generosity as something that they absolutely must have.

Say you randomly chose someone and gave them $10 a day for no reason for a year. Over time they'll come to depend on that money. They'll base their finances around it as though it were guaranteed. When you stop giving it to them, as is your right, they'll hate you and scheme to make sure that you are somehow legally bound to give them that money and more in perpetuity, never remembering that you never had to give them anything in the first place. It's a despicable mindset, and it's the one behind mandatory gratuities.

 

[shortylickens]

I'm against mandatory gratuities period. What I'm really against is calling it a gratuity when it's a part of the regular charge. I hate the whole mentality behind it actually. For better or worse, getting a tip is something that should be up to the whims of the customer. It's only because people have been extra generous to a particular type of service giver over an long time that they have seen that generosity as something that they absolutely must have.

Say you randomly chose someone and gave them $10 a day for no reason for a year. Over time they'll come to depend on that money. They'll base their finances around it as though it were guaranteed. When you stop giving it to them, as is your right, they'll hate you and scheme to make sure that you are somehow legally bound to give them that money and more in perpetuity, never remembering that you never had to give them anything in the first place. It's a despicable mindset, and it's the one behind mandatory gratuities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38&feature=player_detailpage#t=93s