I have found no lack of good workers available. It's at a price point the company owner winces at, but that a different issue.
Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
71–80 of 456 posts
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#72Welcome to the terrible world of tipping. Subsidize the wages so the employer doesn't have to. I got out of my way to avoid any type of business or service that has tipping. It's getting so bad out there I've seen people talk about getting asked for a tip in a drive thru. Do I tip when I eat out? Yes. But that's cut down to a minimum now. I think we're headed towards a breaking point. Profits and cost of living canno…
I wouldn't lay this all on the world of tipping. The author was working as a bartender in a movie theater making $10 plus split tips. People don't see movie theaters are a tipping environment, especially for the vast majority of the positions that aren't bartending. These are the epitome of minimum wage "low skill" jobs that we apparently demand exist, but don't want to pay the cost for.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you'll find that servers and bartenders are the most adimant supporters of tipping. They make a killing.
Making a killing is pushing it unless you're working at a high end place. I really wonder how many HN people have ever worked in a waitstaff role. As much as you might hate it, tips keeps you just above minimum wage 95% of the time. Its not some money fountain like some people here seem to thing it is. People who want tips of course want it because it gives them money on top of minimum wage, why the hell would you ex…
The most professionalised elements are the ones who end up in high-end places, because they made a real career of it. Because of that, it's likely that they are also the ones most represented by unions and associations that might be consulted by policymakers. So when a policymaker puts forward an idea to improve their condition, and gets back an icy or ambivalent response (as well as a very negative one from employers, of course), he'll just shelve it very quickly.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that was the expectation, not sure where you read that into it. The two examples he gave were for the bar in the lobby and a total bill that would be mainly food. This is presumably a Drafthouse or one of the similar places that have full waiter service at your seat.
> On Christmas Day a family bought over $100 worth of tickets and food two days after Christmas. > The tip? $2.00. How else would I read that? If it was $85 in tickets, $10 in served items, and $5 in tax, that’s a 20% tip in my book, but the author (a career politician) would like you to read it as a 2% tip.
Tickets are 10-15 dollars, the assumption here is that bill is mostly food.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#75Sounds to me like a lot of "customers" in the US are just a55holes and anyone who has to work with them regularly is right to just stop.
I'm sure a little common courtesy in everyday interactions is all it takes to make workplaces enjoyable; and a wage that allows you to stay warm and fed while working a _single job_ will get most people back to work. It's really a very low bar to set, I'm surprised this is even such a debated topic, it's sad.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
It dismays me how many wealthy people I know that flat our refuse to tip. I end such friendships, as those people are monsters, waiting for an excuse to toss others away.
Any chance they're trying to end the practice of tipping for the betterment of workers in the long run?
I too refuse to pay for services to protest the mistreatment of workers.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#77> 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.
Well, the point is that these jobs don't create that much value. They're only worth so much, and the only skill required to do them is to put up with the misery. If you argue that all jobs must pay a "living wage", then jobs like this will just cease to exist and high-school kids won't be employable.
Good! High school kids shouldn’t need jobs. Encouraging that just ensures we have a child labor workforce that we can underpay, driving down wages for adults who need that money to survive.
Child labor laws are a thing for a reason. If there’s not a lot of value in a job, it shouldn’t be a job. Yes, this will mean a degradation in service level across service jobs. Yes, that’s okay. Customers need to adapt to a world where they are expected to be more considerate, otherwise they’ll find themselves without help.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I'm not sure I understand: me as a customer, whether I pay the menu + 20% tip, or I pay a menu 20% more expensive, I end up exactly the same. So why is for the restaurant owner better with tipping, instead of raising the prices 20% and putting an entry sign "no tipping needed here, we pay our workers right"? Even call the restaurant "no tipping place" if they wish. Can someone with experience in restaurant business e…
Menu: $5 burger
Customer 1 (richy rich): $5 + $2 tip
Customer 2 (workin man): $5 + $1 tip
Customer 3 (poor man): $5 no tip
Total: $18
Menu: $6 burger
Customer 1 (richy rich): $6 + $1 tip
Total: $7
You've reduced your customer based on true affordability and perceived affordability. This doesn't consider the margin on selling a single burger but generally you need to push product rather than sell master pieces.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would customers be willing to pay marginally higher menu prices if tips were explicitly not allowed? I assume there must be research on this.
Changing menu prices is probably a bit less elastic than letting people be flexible with their spending. I'm more likely to buy the burger that I can afford and stinge on the tip if I'm tight and come back next week and guilt tip when I'm full. Raise the price across the board and I'm not coming the tight week.
Why should wait staff salary be the thing that gets sacrificed to economic downfall? They have much less control over what kind of food the restaurants sell and for what price.
It makes more sense for those who have more decision power to eat the consequences. They can make cheaper burgers, lower salaries for everyone rather then single profession, change what they sell.
The wait staff can only decide whether they work or not.
Re: Former Labor Secretary Found What Work Is Like Now
#80Welcome to the terrible world of tipping. Subsidize the wages so the employer doesn't have to. I got out of my way to avoid any type of business or service that has tipping. It's getting so bad out there I've seen people talk about getting asked for a tip in a drive thru. Do I tip when I eat out? Yes. But that's cut down to a minimum now. I think we're headed towards a breaking point. Profits and cost of living canno…
> Welcome to the terrible world of tipping. While I agree, I remember bartenders making $10/hr + tips when I worked in a restaurant... in 1998. I could make $10/hr washing dishes (always the most hard-to-staff position) but wouldn't do so until after the restaurant died down because I made more busing tables with tips. Let's just call this type of employment what it is: wage slavery. People are used to there being a…
> in 1998. I could make $10/hr washing dishes
Most dishwashers were only making minimum wage back then ($4.25 in my state)