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Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

nytimes.com

121–130 of 209 posts

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cultures differ even among "industrialized countries," so it makes little sense to compare them. Given your comments in this discussion, it is clear you have never worked in the service industry and you have little empathy for their issues.

In fact, my first job was a typical summer job in the service industry: I scooped ice cream at an ice cream store. There was a tip jar and our tips were pooled and divided by the hours we worked -- it was not much but it was something. I would not have complained if there were no tips and our salaries were increased a bit to compensate. No, I do not have a lot of empathy for people who are unwilling to accept change…

> do not have a lot of empathy for people who are unwilling to accept change

As if you are going to change the tipping culture in the US?

I use cash because there are less fees to small business, and I like privacy. You are obviously free to participate in FB or whatever privacy-compromising activity you want

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. 7.25 is not enough to live on. And the ability to pay less with the assumption that there will be tips does not make it better. Especially considering that in many states you can require tip-pooling, effectively removing the stated point of tips in the first place (to motivate better service). Nor does this really address the problem of tipping as a cultural phenomenon, it just doesn't really need to exist. 2. The…

$7.25 is not meant to be enough to live on. People were not meant to make a living flipping burgers. Its an entry level job. Minimum wage is where you start, not where you end.

Minimum wage is designed to be enough to live on.

The problem is that calculating such an amount is more than tricky. Consider that inflation changes "constantly" or whether newly enacted bills are factored in. From my quick research, it appears as though the affordable care act made the assumption that minimum wage already factored in mandatory health insurance.

Now consider what does it mean to say a person is "living." Are you living if you have a roof over your head and food in your stomach? Is the food being considered, the same meal morning noon and night, or a variety of foods? If you are making minimum wage are you eligible for SNAP (a.k.a.food stamps)?

What about access to the Internet, OTA television, radio broadcasts, or entertainment of some sort? Biologically none of these are needed to live, but I bet an argument could be made.

I agree with you that no one should work for minimum wage, always the maximum. I think simply raising the minimum wage amount is treating symptoms of bigger issues.

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#124
post #76
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be. But it is still incredibly frustrating to have to reward the waiter for a terrible experience and literally have nothing that you can do about it. That said, if Trump's proposed revision of regulations around tipping go through, I'm going to probably greatly cut back on tipping. It is one thing to reward the waiter. It is quite another to believe that the money is going to the owner of the restaurant.

"My steak arrived cold? Try paying your rent this month now!" Unless you are an uncaring psychopath you should pay servers in the US for bad service as well - everyone should be paid for the labor they do. If they aren't doing an adequate job they should be reprimanded or fired. That's not your job though, that's their boss's job. You don't know if they are just having an off day or the problem you had was caused by…

Your comment reminds me of http://blog.samaltman.com/e-pur-si-muove and http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html. In your books, either I agree with you, or I am an evil person.

But if I take my clothing to a drycleaner, and my clothing comes back torn due to their incompetence, I'm not expected to pay for the drycleaning. Ditto if the valet damages my car.

The fact that someone put time in does not entitle them to my money. If I receive something of value, I give something of value. If this makes me a person that you do not wish to know, then I'm happy that I don't know you because you sound like an unpleasant person for me to be around.

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We honestly need less comments on HN that end with, "Screw X!"

[downvoted for excessive irony]

Saying we need less comments of some sort does not equate to saying "screw them!"

I can't DV, so you all can create an aggressive environment on HN if you want, but it won't help you IRL if you say this. If you want to create a toxic environment for discussion, that is up to dang.

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#126

The 'cashless society' is starting to show another dark side here in Sweden in that several banks have started to close accounts for organisations [1] which don't "agree to the bank's ethical foundation" (the Swedish word is "Värdegrund" [2]). While there still are banks willing to take these organisations as customers this is a development in the wrong direction. It does not matter whether you agree with the "ethica…

If only there was a way for society to go cashless, but not to rely on central authorities to decide who has money and who doesn't... Oh, wait.

Joke aside, you just described why blockchain ideologists hope the future will be a global, decentralized system. So no one can unilaterally deny access to your money.

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the reverse? Do those that deliver better service make more money than their under-performing peers?

Only if those providing better service are more attractive, more flirty (works only for the attractive, I suspect), touch their customers more, draw smiley faces on the bill, or participate in the various other things that do actually affect the tip.

But that's true in general. Attractive people have lots of advantages.

I wonder if anybody has ever done a study with a group of waiters where on alternate days they alter the quality of service they provide but nothing else. Are their tips constant?

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#129
post #7

I've had this problem from the other side. I haven't been to the bank to withdraw cash in years. Usually I got all the cash I needed by splitting bills with friends, where I paid on the card and got cash, or Chinese New Year money. But since having kids (and the invention of Venmo and its ilk), we've stopped going out with friends and splitting checks and when we do it's all digital, and now I have to give the New Ye…

Seriously you don't keep any cash for emergencies small payments and so on?

No? I mean, we used to just always have it around, but now we don't. But I can't think of a single emergency that would require cash to solve that credit or venmo can't.

Re: Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips

#130
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We used to do that too, but that couple hundred came from the meal splitting and New Year money. :) Now I actually have to remember to stop a bank when they're open, because the ATM only gives 20s, and I need 5s and 10s, but since no one uses cash I have no where to break the 20s anymore.

A trick I learned in college where the bank was on the other side of town: use your Debit card with pin at the grocery store and get cash back.

Hmmm, not a bad idea. But they only give like $20 back, right?
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