391–400 of 425 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What I don’t get is tipping for take out. Like, no server was involved, just someone handing you a box at the restaurant, and you are still expected to tip 20% (Or is it 25% now?).
Does anyone actually expect you to tip for takeout? I kind of assume the point-of-sale system including tip options on there is just because the system doesn’t have an easy way to disable it for takeout orders.
Eventually we will reach a new equilibrium where every company has sold their morals and then they have to either start competing again on a new front or find new morals to sell.
I don't have a pithy takeaway from this. It's capitalism.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My favorite is when wireless carriers can charge a "Regulatory Recovery Fee", which is basically part of the price, but can magically change and magically appear on your bill. The fact that the FTC is fussed about free chat apps rather than wireless carrier practices in the US is obscene.
This reminds me of the old land line "touch tone fee" you'd pay for touch tone service, even long after nearly everybody had migrated away from the original pulse dialing. Not only did the phone company charge for it long after they really needed to, but you had no assurance the fee was really going to pay for that particular part of the service you were getting. This is one of the big problems with these add-on fees…
They then proceeded to pay that lease fee for decades, ultimately paying hundreds or thousands of dollars more than the cost of the phone, and continuing to pay that fee even when replacement phones could be had for $10 or less.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not anymore. It's $45 for the actually-usable plan if you have a modern flagship smartphone. Gone is all the "party" pricing stuff that made them so popular in the first place.
How does the $30 plan not work with a modern phone? I'm curious because it looks the same as the $45 plan only it has prioritized data?
Note that drip pricing for restaurants (e.g. 10-20% non-tip surcharge) is illegal in many jurisdictions (if not "conspicuously advertised" before eating), but some restaurants try to do it anyways (claiming the policy is "conspicuously advertised" on the last page of the menu, or a tiny sign behind the bar). Sometimes you can just refuse to pay it and they'll back down because they want a repeat customer more. Someti…
One thing I've noticed recently on 2 restaurant trips in the last couple weeks: The automatic tip calculations are wrong in the server/restaurant's favor. Most of us typically check the 20% option and don't double-check the math, but in the past these calculations were always done pre-tax. If your food came to $100 and you tipped 20%, the total would be $120 + sales tax. Now, the last 2 times I've eaten out the autom…
There is no exception to minimum wage in California for tipped employees, and many cities in Alameda county have a higher minimum wage than the state minimum (Oakland for example, is $15.97/hr this year and Berkeley is $16.99/hr).
This article reminds me of 'Meditations on Moloch' https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
The multi-agent trap.
In some competition optimizing for X, the opportunity arises to throw some other value under the bus for improved X. Those who take it prosper. Those who don’t take it die out. Eventually, everyone’s relative status is about the same as before, but everyone’s absolute status is worse than before. The process continues until all other values that can be traded off have been, but relative X is still the same.
There’s a passage in the Principia Discordia where Malaclypse complains to the Goddess about the evils of human society. “Everyone is hurting each other, the planet is rampant with injustices, whole societies plunder groups of their own people, mothers imprison sons, children perish while brothers war.”
The Goddess answers: “What is the matter with that, if it’s what you want to do?”
Malaclypse: “But nobody wants it! Everybody hates it!”
Goddess: “Oh. Well, then stop.”
Malaclypse: “But we can't, because everyone else is doing it!”
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most employee interfaces don't have a way to represent customer paid arbitrary dollars towards their ticket but not all of it. Try this at retail. I'm only going to pay 50c towards that candy bar because that's what I feel like it should cost and ask to swipe your card for 50c. Most systems could represent a payment of less than the cost of the ticket as a partially completed transaction but would be faced with the d…
If their system is inadequate that is their own problem, certainly not any problem for the customer. Machines are not the masters of people. >Try this at retail I do this all the time in retail, paying part in cash and part by card. No problem at all, cashiers often ask if I have any cash I'd like to use towards the bill first.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If their system is inadequate that is their own problem, certainly not any problem for the customer. Machines are not the masters of people. >Try this at retail I do this all the time in retail, paying part in cash and part by card. No problem at all, cashiers often ask if I have any cash I'd like to use towards the bill first.
If you don't complete the transactions all funds are refunded including previously processed cards. There is essentially no button for customer decided to only pay part of the transaction no funds will be retained. The agent you are dealing with can no more complete half your transaction than you can complete half an amazon order and expect goods to be sent to you.
1. The human is the master 2. The machine is the slave
There is always a way to change an order in a POS system. If there is no button to do that, that is not a concern for the customer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you don't complete the transactions all funds are refunded including previously processed cards. There is essentially no button for customer decided to only pay part of the transaction no funds will be retained. The agent you are dealing with can no more complete half your transaction than you can complete half an amazon order and expect goods to be sent to you.
You've become confused as to the hierarchy. Here is the rule: 1. The human is the master 2. The machine is the slave There is always a way to change an order in a POS system. If there is no button to do that, that is not a concern for the customer.
You ought to inform management that you disagree with the fee and won't be eating there again now that you know about it. You of course can no longer claim not to know about the fee after this point.
Deleting the fee case by case would be shitty policy because it adds constant friction. Deleting it wholly and raising prices is the right thing but as mentioned in the article there is a strong incentive to keep the fee structure to avoid losing our to places that do so.
The correct thing therefore is to get with city government and forbid the practice because now everyone is incentized to do the right thing.
Your suggestion to throw individual temper tantrums all over town is manifestly ineffective compared to my suggestion to pay the piddling fee then fix the underlying problem.