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I’m not wading through all of this thread. I just read the article. Is the waitstaff’s hourly pay going up enough to make up for losing tips? Conversely are sou chef hourly pay going down since they will now be sharing tips? Something doesn’t quite add up in my head. I feel like the restaurant is playing a shell game.
I’m not wading through all of this thread. I just read the article. Is the waitstaff’s hourly pay going up enough to make up for losing tips? Conversely are sou chef hourly pay going down since they will now be sharing tips? Something doesn’t quite add up in my head. I feel like the restaurant is playing a shell game.
The proof of the pudding will be in successful staff retention.
I keep seeing posts on social media about restaurants shortening hours because no one wants to work due to “government handouts” (referring to Covid era unemployment checks). There’s a sign some restaurant owners have hung on this doors thanking patrons for patience with the staff that “did choose to come to work today”.
What’s the real story?
As usual, in adult life, everyone has their own "real story," so there is no "one real story." There is no one simple answer.
The restaurant doesn't have the traffic to support the staff and the staff doesn't have the immediate funds and/or income to support going to work, child-care (if they can find it and it is safe from COVID), someone to be home for remote learning help for kids, available car and/or fuel $$$ to commute, etc.
So, what comes first, the hot wings or the omelettes?
I went to a restaurant on Friday night and it took 20 minutes before I got acknowledged by a waiter because they were so short staffed. There were 2 poor waiters running around for 14 tables.
By charging a fee and not making it voluntary, the owner of the restaurant can subsidize his kitchen labor. Legally tips must go to people who actually provide service and not dishwashers, cooks, etc. A service fee otoh, can be divvied up however the owner sees fit.
Expect service quality to decline when servers aren't directly incentivized by tips. It's also not fair because many people who work back of the house jobs wouldn't be able to do the server's job (language barrier, tendency to fly off the handle, etc).
I'm all for paying food service workers a living wage and eliminating tipping is a necessary part of that. However, I'm annoyed by doing it as a surcharge. It's basically false advertising. Why not just raise your prices 20% and disclose the actual cost? What's funny though is one of the biggest obstacles is the restaurant workers themselves, who are largely against eliminating tipping because they believe they make more money that way, despite all evidence to the contrary. I think it's a Joe the Plumber situation, where workers aren't actually benefiting from the status quo, but they have aspirations of making it to the elite ranks of their profession.
To get there, it's going to require regulation to create an even playing field. I think this is the same situation we saw with smoking in restaurants and bars. Most wanted to ban it, but they were afraid of losing business to those who choose not to. So by banning indoor smoking by law, it created an even playing field. So if we just eliminated tipped wages and made tips optional, everyone could raise their prices and pay their workers prevailing wages.
As usual, in adult life, everyone has their own "real story," so there is no "one real story." There is no one simple answer.
The restaurant doesn't have the traffic to support the staff and the staff doesn't have the immediate funds and/or income to support going to work, child-care (if they can find it and it is safe from COVID), someone to be home for remote learning help for kids, available car and/or fuel $$$ to commute, etc.
So, what comes first, the hot wings or the omelettes?
I was honestly surprised to hear that there are lots of places with too much staff, given the rhetoric I’ve been hearing about the industry. If they do need workers, they may have to provide guaranteed pay (vs tips) to attract workers with childcare needs. Too many times, service workers are sent home from shifts when it isn’t busy enough. Often after paying for an Uber to take them to work, possibly securing childcare, etc.
Food service workers are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
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