FYI I did spend three years at $1.25, $ 1.50 perhour pumpng gasin a land where is snowed over 80 inches a year ! This was in the days of full service, wash windshiled, check fluid levels, check fill air in tires....Very few people tipped, yet to just keep your job, you did all that (evertreid taking off your cheap gloves to be able to open valve caps off a tire in below zero ?
That's a false comparison. You worked in an establishment where the service you provided was built into the cost the customers paid. That is not the case with restaurants.
Originally Posted by
heraclitus
I don't think that anyone is opposed to the notion of giving service industry staff their due. I think the problem is with the manner in which it is done... it occupies this sort of grey area where it is officially treated as nothing more than a courteous gratuity (in the true sense of the word) but in practice, anyone who does something for you feels entitled to receive 20% of the bill for even the most indifferent service, to the point where some people will give you the stink-eye (or worse) if you don't pay it.
But that's the point. At least in restaurants, it is NOT a "grey area." It's part of the business model. It's assumed, when the restaurant sets its menu prices, that the patron will cover the cost of service through tips. If you choose to not tip, despite receiving the expected level of service, you're basically enjoying the benefits of the lower menu prices without paying for the service part of the experience.
Let's just cut the crap already, jack up the prices a bit, pay everyone a fair wage, and be done with this moronic "custom". The Japanese have figured it out (among others). Why is it so hard for us?
I agree. The less vulnerable service employees are to those who would exploit the restaurant business model out of some phony sense of "outrage," the better off we all are.