Originally Posted by
Cha-cha-cha
Free idea for any restaurant that wants to try it:
Announce in writing on each check that tips are not accepted, but customers are asked to mark the service on a scale:
- Terrible
- Adequate
- Acceptable
- Superior
- Excellent
Each server would receive a bonus
from management equal to 5% of the bill (before tax) for a 2 rating, 10% for a 3, 15% for a 4, and 20% for a five.
No doubt there would be some things to work out -- are bar drinks tipped separately? how do you prevent cheating? what if customers in a party disagree? how do you count customers who neglect to fill it out? -- but the basic idea may still be sound.
Some might ask how this would be different from the current system. I can see several ways: it would make taxation of the tips easier and more honest, it would prevent the need to calculate tips, and it would bring about a systematization of the tipping standards, making it more predictable and promoting a common understanding of what the tip means. It would also make it much easier for both management and staff to rate the service "score" of each server.
I'd go for that even though I realize that prices would be raised as countermeasure.