Originally Posted by
Visconti
In SF servers get min wage, which is, what, $15 per hour? Then, you stick the health care tax. Then, the sales tax. Then, another 20% tip on top of that? Not even sure why we're tipping in SF when they get minimum wage.
Is there a reason? Just tradition, I suppose?
Why is minimum wage the acceptable pay for restaurant service? While some servers should be fired on the spot, others can make your day / evening / meal into an exceptional experience. The restaurant isn't sticking you with the health care mandate, nor the sales tax. The voters of San Francisco and California have. They could include both of them in their pricing. [Actually, they are sticking you with the health care mandate, and trying to recoup the voter-imposed expense.] There are a few (and very few) restaurants that are able to pay a very decent wage with benefits, and they keep their staff for a long time, and fortunately, have the luxury of enough income to pay the staff such wages. Sales taxes (at least in CA) are not trust fund taxes - they are assessed against the business, not against the patron (and then the business would theoretically be holding the funds in trust for the State until turned over, if a trust fund tax).
If I'm being assessed an automatic gratuity, well then, by definition, that's my gratuity, and it is between the restaurant and the wait staff to work that out. If there are junk charges and I decide to eat somewhere anyway, my "base" is the total non-taxed, non-feed (no pun ... well, maybe a bit... intended) portion of the bill.