shakran

To play devil's advocate, why should I as the customer have to sit there figuring out what amounts to a entry-level economics course in order to make sure I've tipped you correctly. Y'all pushed for 15%. OK. I've gotten to where, even with my crappy math skills, I'm pretty good at figuring out 15% of anything. You'll get 15% as long as the service is decent. Do a good job, and you get 20%. Blow me away and you'll get something significantly above that.

The trouble that you're having is that waiters as a group should, when offered $2 an hour plus tips with the caveat that oh hey you have to tip out a set amount no matter what you actually make in tips, you should say "No thank you, I'll get a job elsewhere." Trouble is you don't do it. In other words, you're willing to work under those conditions. It is not my responsibility to financially support you because of your poor career decisions.

It's like any other industry in this country. People will pay the minimum they have to in order to get the goods and services they want. Waiters aren't running to the tire shop asking if they can pay $200 over list price because, gee, the guys on the factory floor making the tires aren't all rich and would like a little extra in their wallet. You don't go into best buy and try talk them up from the pricetag.

Waiters as a group have offered themselves to restaurants for $2-ish an hour. Restaurants naturally aren't going to say "Oh nonono, here, have $80,000 a year and a company car" if they don't have to.

I never cease to find it amazing that people run around saying how great capitalism is, and how our financial system is so far and away superior to communism, yet they then sit there with their hand out demanding that others compensate them when capitalism naturally results in them getting less for their product.

And what *really* gets me is that waiters expect this compensation even when the service is lousy. I've had several occasions in which waiters, who do an allaround horrendous job, follow me out to the parking lot demanding to know why I didn't tip them. Some have even whined that 15% is the standard, and that I should tip that even for atrocious service. Sorry, no. You have agreed to a job in which a large part of your income is dependent upon how much your customers like the job that you do. It would be wisest if you saw to it that I liked your work.


The "gimme money to compensate my personal choices" trend isn't just coming from the service industry. Farmers want subsidies for growing corn. Then they want subsidies for not growing corn. The government subsidizes tobacco farmers and then puts out anti-tobacco literature. I bring this up not to threadjack, but to make sure you understand that I don't have some vendetta against waitstaff. You chose the work. You knew what it was going in. Don't complain when some people stiff you - it's a guaranteed variable in the system you willingly bought into.