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Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

jasonstanford.substack.com

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Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Restaurant staff make significantly less than minimum wage.

No, they don't. If their tips don't put them over minimum wage their employer is required to make up the difference. They usually make well over minimum wage factoring in "tax free" cash tips.

> If their tips don't put them over minimum wage their employer is required to make up the difference.

You'll get your hours cut if you try this.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#23
post #4
post #2

Excellent article. Shame so many wealthy people are cheap on tips. Always round up on the tip - the people relying on them need that extra $1-5 dollars more than you do. And if you can't afford those extra few dollars than what are you doing going out in the first place?

Um, way to be incredibly classist. "If you can't afford to support someone else, why are you treating yourself to a luxury of any kind?" Everyone needs luxuries sometimes. The solution to tipped employees not getting enough money is not to bully people who can't comfortably afford higher tips out of going out; it's to a) encourage unionization, b) eliminate the separate "tipped minimum wage", and c) raise the minimum…

> Everyone needs luxuries sometimes.

Then by definition that's not a luxury?

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#24

> When I was a 16 year old kid working as a “Courtesy Clerk” for Albertsons Grocery store, we got a 15-minute break for every 4-hour shift and an hour lunch for an 8-hour shift. Shouldn't this be enforced by law?

Yes. One of the big problems we have now is that companies are either reframing their work Uber-style to get around regulations or flat-out ignoring them. Going after violations like that or e.g. the endemic wage-theft at small businesses like restaurants would be a great use of civic money since most of the people affected by lax enforcement have limited power to push back.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#25

> Places like this rely on high school students for jobs like working the counter and delivering food. This sentence should be amended to “Places like this rely on people to accept low wages and low quality of life at work”. The whole article can basically be cut down to that sentence.

For what it's worth, the usual "high school jobs" are not a problem when done by actual high schoolers as side gig to fund phone, beer, weed and gas. They don't need to pay rent, food or health insurance so what would be a non-living wage for an adult is luxury money for high schoolers. The problem is when actual adults who have to take care of adult things (rent, food, health insurance, car payments, ...) have to re…

> The problem is when actual adults who have to take care of adult things (rent, food, health insurance, car payments, ...) have to resort to entry-level jobs as a result of economy crunches or various forms of discrimination.

No, the problem is labor supply and demand curves have shifted, hence prices have shifted.

People do not make business plans and budgets based on the number of high schoolers are available to hire. They make budgets based on the price at which they expect to be able to purchase labor. In this business’s case, they seem to have made some erroneous assumptions, which is the cause of the problem.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#26

I am always baffled when I read about the tip culture in the states. I find it so belittling for workers. It seems to incentivize a mentality of "the customer is always right", with workers putting an extra effort to always smile and be nice in the hope for a fair tip.

> It seems to incentivize a mentality of "the customer is always right", with workers putting an extra effort to always smile and be nice in the hope for a fair tip.

That's exactly the point. It's meant to be an incentive to put in extra effort, and in my experience it works. Everywhere I've been that doesn't have restaurant tipping, for instance, has had notably worse service on average.

Where it becomes a problem is that the tips are now treated as the expected wage, rather than something extra. Working entirely for something that is intended as an incentive is a bit perverse and demeaning. In the end, I think for this reason tipping ought to be done away with, but it does have its upsides.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#27

I am always baffled when I read about the tip culture in the states. I find it so belittling for workers. It seems to incentivize a mentality of "the customer is always right", with workers putting an extra effort to always smile and be nice in the hope for a fair tip.

Restaurants can really barely afford to stay open in my (small) region, frankly they are seen as a service to a town not a net extractor. I know the finances behind my locals and can tell you they would not be able to stay open if workers were not also compensated via tips, and workers would not be there without the requisite pay. Tips end up being the difference between having a restaurant or not.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#28

I am always baffled when I read about the tip culture in the states. I find it so belittling for workers. It seems to incentivize a mentality of "the customer is always right", with workers putting an extra effort to always smile and be nice in the hope for a fair tip.

I agree and in that regard I've always found EU countries much more humane, in the sense they don't have to take shit from a bad customer and smile because of the weight of the tip in their salary.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#29

I am always baffled when I read about the tip culture in the states. I find it so belittling for workers. It seems to incentivize a mentality of "the customer is always right", with workers putting an extra effort to always smile and be nice in the hope for a fair tip.

Restaurants can really barely afford to stay open in my (small) region, frankly they are seen as a service to a town not a net extractor. I know the finances behind my locals and can tell you they would not be able to stay open if workers were not also compensated via tips, and workers would not be there without the requisite pay. Tips end up being the difference between having a restaurant or not.

Would customers be willing to pay marginally higher menu prices if tips were explicitly not allowed? I assume there must be research on this.

Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now

#30

I am always baffled when I read about the tip culture in the states. I find it so belittling for workers. It seems to incentivize a mentality of "the customer is always right", with workers putting an extra effort to always smile and be nice in the hope for a fair tip.

Its weird who is "supposed" to get tips, too. Someone who brings you a plate is supposed to get 15% of the bill for doing their job; but an auto parts store clerk who chases down something weird for you over 2hrs of searching may well be forbidden to accept any gratuity, and possibly even disciplined for spending too much time on a small sale.
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