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Why some US restaurants are banning tips

bbc.com

121–130 of 416 posts

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#122
post #15

I never thought about paying staff via tips being a tax dodge for the restaurant if it lets them avoid raising prices and thus taxable revenue.

The BBC article's "sales tax" reason sounds good - unless you know that several US states do not have sales tax. The actual history of tipping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping#History And a bit on Sales Taxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax#In_the_United_States From old family stories, I figure the real reason for tipping service workers is that both employers and customers want there to be plenty of s…

Even in the majority of states that have sales tax, services are exempt and voluntary tips are also not taxable. (Mandatory tips are often considered part of the sales price, which seems reasonable enough to me.)

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#123
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that why US service ("checking on the customer every few minutes") is so incredibly annoying...

No. After you've ordered, it is rare to order anything else. You might ask for a refill of a beverage or something like ketchup, but the waiter is not expecting more ordering. It's simply expected by diners that their waiter is there and will help with whatever they need. In Europe you'll wait 20 minutes to get the attention of a waiter for salt or ketchup until your food is cold. Also in Europe this will be describe…

Drinkers order more. Every cocktail is $2-3 for the waiter nowadays.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many countries have far better service without tipping, China and Japan come to mind.

Japan is amazing in some places, that you can order with a tablet apps then you pick up your food yourself when it arrived. Very minimum interaction and employees needed.

If I go to a restaurant and it’s all handled through a tablet I leave. I can get that treatment at the airport.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#126
post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

Also, many Europeans have the "equal work, equal pay" mantra drilled into them. Tip-based salaries are the complete anti-thesis to that. It is obvious that better-looking younger women get more tips than those without those characteristics. It rubs me and many others the wrong way; hence, I never tip because that is always fair. As a customer I 100% prefer "worse" service over having to deal with the tipping BS. Americans don't care and don't think about fairness at all in the same way.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#127

The thing that bugs me about tips is the fact they are a percentage. Why am I supposed to tip more if I ordered something more expensive but the service is equally good?

In general a higher bill is a proxy for a larger meal of more people in a more high-end establishment so it tracks well.

I agree if you had the $200 sea food tower by yourself it deviates from that otherwise perfect proxy. But that's already a weird situation so just pay the tip and move on.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#128
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> European dining is the worst Europe has 40+ countries with what, a million, restaurants… let’s conflate them all! Horrible! The whole continent! 1 star (and not a Michelin one)!

To be fair US states are like that, too.

with far less cultural differences.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#129
"Tipping culture" has always been the most bizarre and stupid looking aspect of American society..

..and the most hilarious example of how the capitalist overlords keep the peasants fighting over pennies amongst themselves

No. The customer pays your boss → your boss pays you. Stop being bitches and demand your bosses to pay you a proper salary.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#130
post #22

I am against the popular opinion and I actually tip if the hotel is somewhat cheap (ie food does not cost a small fortune). I do it out of selfish reasons. When I order chicken, I want them to bring me a good piece. Or if I order Porotta, I want them to bring me the most fresh one. Or sometimes when I get a very tasty meal, I just tip them to share them some of the happiness that they brought me. But totally depends…

Any recommendations for tipping in India? (Amounts etc) I was warned against tipping too much by locals who worried it could distort local economies toward tourists and away from local people.

Sounds like you talked to the locals who might end up being expected to pay tips. The ones who might expect to receive tips would have a different point of view.
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