Us Europeans simply cannot understand how the US tipping culture has been allowed to exist. It is terrible for everyone except restaurant owners. Don't pay your staff properly and expect customers to deal with that separately? WTAF?
I own a pub and restaurant and help run a Yacht club that has a very good restaurant and bars. In both cases we pay our staff well above minimum wage and oddly enough we have staff who have been with us for 20-30 years and do a fantastic job and our customers are happy. In the Yacht Club, there is a specific ban on tipping of staff. It does occasionally happen, but we prefer to deal with it directly. For example, we have just had an amazing summer and have done really well, so I'm just sorting out the bonus payments for all staff this morning. All of them will get an additional £500-1500 in their pay packets at the end of next month.
I realise it is a weird concept, but well paid staff means a good service, happy customers and from my perspective a successful business. We never have any issue recruiting or retaining staff, whereas other businesses in the hospitality world around us are always crying for staff and complaining that "no-one wants to work in the sector any more." They do, they just need to get paid properly and treated with respect.
See this is where you’re misunderstanding. The number 1 proponent of tipping culture are the servers. They don’t want 15 an hour, they want to keep making tips. My girlfriend in nyc was making 200-300 a night in tips as a server and then 500 as a bartender. This is non taxed money and something people who don’t have work visas can do.
Most restaurants in nyc have servers who are not legally allowed to work. So they are staffed with people who will make a lot off tips only.
You can’t say the servers aren’t making much money on a post with a receipt that would bring in the server $57 for just that one table.
Both presidential candidates have come out in support of untaxed tips. Which is dumb economic policy, but the service industry is a large voter base with a number of strong unions so they get pandered to.
Yeah and this is just a stupid “buy votes in Nevada” policy. Tipped workers are just upset they can’t evade taxes anymore now that credit card tips are the norm.
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u/RofiBie Aug 28 '24
Us Europeans simply cannot understand how the US tipping culture has been allowed to exist. It is terrible for everyone except restaurant owners. Don't pay your staff properly and expect customers to deal with that separately? WTAF?
I own a pub and restaurant and help run a Yacht club that has a very good restaurant and bars. In both cases we pay our staff well above minimum wage and oddly enough we have staff who have been with us for 20-30 years and do a fantastic job and our customers are happy. In the Yacht Club, there is a specific ban on tipping of staff. It does occasionally happen, but we prefer to deal with it directly. For example, we have just had an amazing summer and have done really well, so I'm just sorting out the bonus payments for all staff this morning. All of them will get an additional £500-1500 in their pay packets at the end of next month.
I realise it is a weird concept, but well paid staff means a good service, happy customers and from my perspective a successful business. We never have any issue recruiting or retaining staff, whereas other businesses in the hospitality world around us are always crying for staff and complaining that "no-one wants to work in the sector any more." They do, they just need to get paid properly and treated with respect.
The US tipping culture fails on both fronts.