Observations From a Tipless Restaurant, Part 5: Sex, Power and Tips • Hacker News Board

Re: Observations From a Tipless Restaurant, Part 5: Sex, Power and Tips

#31

Post by marcosdumay » Fri, Aug 09, 2013, 1:42 AM UTC

Wingman4l7 wrote: post #27

gambiting wrote: post #18

I still find the entire idea of tipping to be super silly. Those people are being paid to do their jobs,and you leave them tips if they do them well? Why? I understand that in the US waiters are paid less because they also get tips,but that entire system is wrong(in my personal opinion) - you are going to a restaurant, you should be paying exactly what it says in the menu, not more,not less.

The system of tipping in the US is used to skirt around minimum wage laws and to push the cost of labor onto the customer, which makes eating out at restaurants seem deceptively cheaper than in other countries.

The cost of labor is always pushed into the client. The only difference is that tips aren't added to the price, or fixed.

Re: Observations From a Tipless Restaurant, Part 5: Sex, Power and Tips

#32

Post by hiram333 » Fri, Aug 09, 2013, 1:45 AM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #7

This is a very interesting but dangerous post: It's interesting because obviously the author has put a lot of thought into the topic and has done some research. However, for me, it clearly shows the danger of ideology, in fact it's a great example of it. "To be ideological is to preconceive reality." and we have a good example of that here: The author has strong opinions about sexuality and our approaches to it, ther…

I don't fully get this. It's the nth article about non technical topics I come across where the first comments start with ripping the content and the author apart. Always in such a subtle but mental and aggressive way. The other article which comes to mind was the post about the 10 simple things which make you happier from yesterday.

It seems to reflect how narrow minded this community outside of technical problems and business models actually is.

Re: Observations From a Tipless Restaurant, Part 5: Sex, Power and Tips

#33

Post by crazygringo » Fri, Aug 09, 2013, 1:51 AM UTC

> I’m proposing that tipping allows us to assign women a role where any sexuality they display can be attributed not to their desires but instead to their greed for money. In doing so, we both dehumanize and desexualize women, in large numbers.

Sorry, but as merely a "guy's opinion", this is pretty worthless. Maybe if he brought in some quotes from actual women working as waitresses, it would be more convincing and he could make a case.

But it's just far, far too simplistic. Maybe some guys look at waitresses that way... but that doesn't mean all of them do, or even a majority do. Lots of people disrespect lots of service workers, period. And why stop with women? What about hunky bartenders hired for their biceps or handsome faces, to attract a nice female clientele? Are they dehumanized as well?

This blog posts starts out with some interesting observations, but quickly veers into drawing unwarranted universal conclusions, making waaaay too many assumptions.

Re: Observations From a Tipless Restaurant, Part 5: Sex, Power and Tips

#34

Post by Isamu » Fri, Aug 09, 2013, 2:27 AM UTC

hiram333 wrote: post #32

Jun8 wrote: post #7

This is a very interesting but dangerous post: It's interesting because obviously the author has put a lot of thought into the topic and has done some research. However, for me, it clearly shows the danger of ideology, in fact it's a great example of it. "To be ideological is to preconceive reality." and we have a good example of that here: The author has strong opinions about sexuality and our approaches to it, ther…

I don't fully get this. It's the nth article about non technical topics I come across where the first comments start with ripping the content and the author apart. Always in such a subtle but mental and aggressive way. The other article which comes to mind was the post about the 10 simple things which make you happier from yesterday. It seems to reflect how narrow minded this community outside of technical problems a…

Hold on. It's reasonable to critique an article on the basis of the evidence given (or the lack thereof.) That is what the parent commenter is doing.

It is a big theme in HN, but why not give all ideas the same treatment? What is your thesis, your pitch, and have you made your case? What are the holes, where do you need work?

How do you evaluate ideas, if not by critique?