Joe's Crab Shack Drops Tipping [UPDATE: Policy now abandoned]
#31
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,438
A lifetime ago I worked a minimum wage job and was not allowed to take tips at the risk of being fired. Even that didn't stop people from persistently trying.
#32
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Potomac Falls, VA
Programs: AA Plat 2MM, MR Gold, Avis Pref
Posts: 41,109
#33
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 60,174
Quote:
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
every place adjusts prices from time to time.
a wage that plenty of people will be willing to sign up. Also, someone who operates on tips may be tempted to comp a drink or other spiff just to garner a nicer tip. Mystery Diners on Food Network showcases this. That behavior no longer is incentivized.
What's wrong with an occasional comped drink?
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
every place adjusts prices from time to time.
a wage that plenty of people will be willing to sign up. Also, someone who operates on tips may be tempted to comp a drink or other spiff just to garner a nicer tip. Mystery Diners on Food Network showcases this. That behavior no longer is incentivized.
What's wrong with an occasional comped drink?
#34
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: HH Diamond, GHA Titanium
Posts: 1,961
#35
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,684
I read it. The article noted that someone pointed out to the guy that "You sir, are a douche". That's applicable. The food industry isn't run by rocket scientists. The guy compares two of his restaurants and treats it as if that's a good sample. One gets better food out of the door. Apparently abolishing tipping is how you do this? Odd that so many excellent restaurants exist in the old model.
It's the start of the death spiral for good service in this country. The restaurants are stealing tips to pay for back of the house staff. That's all it is. Nobody will make more. The net effect is the sales people make less and everyone else makes the same though the employer pays people partly out of tips and you get no say in the compensation.
The guy made his wittle blog post and then turned the comments off.
It's the start of the death spiral for good service in this country. The restaurants are stealing tips to pay for back of the house staff. That's all it is. Nobody will make more. The net effect is the sales people make less and everyone else makes the same though the employer pays people partly out of tips and you get no say in the compensation.
The guy made his wittle blog post and then turned the comments off.
#36
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DMV
Posts: 2,092
As a European I always found the U.S. tipping culture pretty asinine, especially as they randomly turned the 15% expectation into a 20% expectation a few years back for no good reason.
Service in the U.S. *generally* is better than in Europe at least in terms of 'soft skills' but this applies to store clerks, who don't get tipped, as much if not more so as it does to wait staff. I think it's more attributable to a greater cultural expectation of superficial niceness than tips.
The other American thing I struggle with is the tendency to list prices pre-tax rather than the total price to be paid. That just feels sneaky.
Service in the U.S. *generally* is better than in Europe at least in terms of 'soft skills' but this applies to store clerks, who don't get tipped, as much if not more so as it does to wait staff. I think it's more attributable to a greater cultural expectation of superficial niceness than tips.
The other American thing I struggle with is the tendency to list prices pre-tax rather than the total price to be paid. That just feels sneaky.
#37
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: The lower of the two Carolinas
Programs: Former AA Gold, SkyMiles, Hilton HHonors, SPG Gold, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 387
What really annoys me is when they calculate a suggested tip and include the tax. Uhm, no, the restaurant doesn't earn the tax, I pay it to the state/locality, so I'm not tipping on it (not that I follow those suggestions anyway, but why bother?).
#38
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,285
1. The desire to do a good job
2. The desire to see your customers satisfied
3. The desire to develop marketable skills to increase your employability and the wage you can command
4. The desire to be seen favorably by the boss to advance your career through raises, promotions, and recommendations for future employment
5. Among bosses, the desire to protect the business by hiring, retaining and promoting staff who enhance profitability by satisfying customers and creating repeat business; and avoiding, retraining, or dismissing staff whose poor conduct materially harms the business by discouraging customers from returning.
#39
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Formerly HPN, but then DCA and IAD for a while, and now back to HPN!
Programs: Honestly, I've been out of the travel game so long that I'm not even sure. Maybe Marriott Gold?
Posts: 10,677
#41
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: RNO
Programs: AA/DL/UA
Posts: 10,775
It's cheaper to do that over labeling everything with the local tax rate - which can vary from county to county, between city and county, and always varies state to state. It's easy when there's a flat VAT, but not so easy over here, where the tax rate can change just by crossing the street (if that street's on the line between the county and the city in some places, for example, or on a county line).
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
#43
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AA Plat, Nexus
Posts: 358
Good, as long as they state that tips are no longer necessary (on the menu, for example).
Tipping has apparently gotten crazy (I live overseas) - when I was young it was 15%, and when I was in uni I would tip the Papa John's guy 25% or so as it was like $10, plus they knew me. I see people talking about 18% or 20% - honestly, just pay the servers a reasonable wage. Also, tipping at events/bars is also crazy as the bartender poured me a drink that took all of 30 seconds.
Tipping has apparently gotten crazy (I live overseas) - when I was young it was 15%, and when I was in uni I would tip the Papa John's guy 25% or so as it was like $10, plus they knew me. I see people talking about 18% or 20% - honestly, just pay the servers a reasonable wage. Also, tipping at events/bars is also crazy as the bartender poured me a drink that took all of 30 seconds.
#44
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
Those wages are also not enough for anyone to really live on in those states, in their major metro areas anyway.
#45
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: RNO
Programs: AA/DL/UA
Posts: 10,775
Tough titties. You are not guaranteed a comfortable living working in a dead-end service job. How do the people who work at Taco Bell, making the same minimum wage but with no tips, survive? Take the bus and share an apartment with other people.