Occupy the restaurants!

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Related to the cultural schisms and conflicts surrounding wealth in our fair country (the US and A), I was made aware of this blatant thievery which should get all right-minded libertarians calling for people's heads.

You see, since money has become subject to the procedural and digital controls of our modern economy, it has become increasingly easy for people to stick their hands into the stream and just take money from other people. For instance, if I give a person a tip, it is generally a two-person transaction, between me and the fricking waiter/waitress/waitperson. But now, since we are prone to using credit/debit cards, other people get involved. What was an A and B (and C) conversation, becomes a four-way A and B and C(government tax) and now D(asshole employer). 2 percent of tip wages are now subject to a confiscatory process because times are bad.

There oughta be a law.

The sanctity of the tip shared between working folk amidst the hustle and bustle of high business is a sacred and cherished tradition. It is how we poor fools pay each other forward outside the domineering interests of the ownership class. But no, they gotta go and YOINK! our tips, even. This is a violation of the most sacred principles we poor fools have left.

"Whatever we end up doing in terms of compensation for employees is between us and the employees," Clayton says. "So there's no reason for us to share it with the rest of the world."

Do you see that? Do you see the blatant entitlement mentality? As if tips were ever something between the employer and the employees. Where does he even got off beginning to conceive of tips as something between him and his employees? WHEN WAS THAT EVER THE CASE? Our country is fast succumbing to a rampant and run-away entitlement mentality that basically states that if you're an employer, you have a right to everything, merely by virtue of being an employer. Even if it has nothing to do with employer-employee situations.

Is there nothing you cannot have? Is there anything you will not control? Must you take every semblance of autonomy and respect and throw it into the trash? No more, sir! I say, "Enough! This shall not stand! The tip shall not be sullied!"

Comments

He don't tip:

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Re: He don't tip:

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

to be serious:

"higher-ups explained the move as being necessary due to rising credit card use amongst customers and higher fees from banks"

didn't we JUST cover how that's not happening, and banks are actually now gonna charge LOWER fees for swipes?

fuck that. imma leave a tip in cash more often now, methinks.

Re: He don't tip:

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I've always left cash since it allows poor fools to dodge taxation. Credit tips are all accounted for. So I give them cash and we wink and nobody knows shit about it.

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

human nature is to fear that which is not visible... i think.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

As much as I see that as a dick move, I gotta agree that the cost of extracting the money from the card is reflected in the transaction fee. Some cards charge higher percentages, in which case the employee is actually getting a deal at only 2%.

Hey, I lived on tips for years. I feel their pain. Cash is the only way to go.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

The "you're not getting fucked as bad" reasoning? Yeah, I don't see how it works.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Huh?

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

If tips were actually an extra option as a reward for above average service instead of just a requirement, then I'd probably care more.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Tips never had anything to with being a "reward".

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

You have said about 4 dumb things in this post (from the employer's point of view, which I have) but this is the dumbest. a "Tip" is a "gratuity"; a reward for an above average job.

A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry. Though by definition a tip is never legally required, and its amount is at the discretion of the patron being served, in some circumstances failing to give an adequate tip when one is expected is a serious faux pas, and may be considered very miserly, a violation of etiquette, or unethical. In some other cultures or situations, giving a tip is not expected and offering one would be considered at best odd and at worst condescending or demeaning. In some circumstances, such as with U.S. government workers, receiving of tips is illegal.

The wikiline about non tipping being unethical was no doubt dropped in by some disgruntled waiter somewhere, but I digress...

In Holland, it was refreshing to to be served 'adequately' without the shake down of some droopy faced servers state side. Any chit-chat with your US server inevitable leads to their 'money problems', designed to lay some liberal angst on the suit being served.

Yeah, I know the games.

Me? We choose to allow the bartenders to take home 100% of their cc tips, which means, as an employer, I subsidize 3% of their credit card tips. I do this because I CHOOSE TO.

Talk about not tipping, they bitch because we make them tip out their bar backs 2%. Even the tipped don't want to tip!

That employer chooses not to, probably because like me, he sees his bartenders leaving with $500-900 a night in unreported income, while he pays their FICA and unemployment contributions.
Credit card merchant account (I have one) average about 3% a transaction now.

You don't own a business, do you? Not many of you do. And, quite frankly, it shows.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Freakonomics had an episode about tipping. They wondered the same thing; why do we tip? They noticed who gets tips traditionally. It tends to be people who handle food and drink when dining out.

The theory they posit: In those settings, the workers are not doing as the diners and drinkers, namely, partying. The tip, they maintain, probably evolved as a way to avoid resentment. Think of it as an anti-additive insurance for food and beverages.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

The boss is taking their tips?

You don't need a law, you need unions.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Oh, and for those who are anti-union and don't understand the power struggle between capital and labour, this is a perfect example: the boss can turn around and demand their tips, and sure, the employee could quit to make a point, but the injustice is still done none-the-less. If the employee refuses they're going to get fired. The only power labour have here is if *every* employee in the place says 'fuck you, we're not working unless you go to arbitration' where a third party can weigh up the claims equally.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

That's the sticking point on this, I think. You can't take tips, period. It's a law, but no one cares. If you have a business expense, you take it out of something else, but you can't yoink people's tips. You could add a surcharge to cc transactions so the payer pays for it, but you know, that would be honorable and we don't do that honor thing anymore.

[debergerac.livejournal.com]

yay, union dues!

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

The union's impact on the quality and cost of the service would probably eliminate the problem of tips altogether.

Eh, how about

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Re: Eh, how about

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

i want my mommy :(

Oops!

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

The "entitlement mentality" is usually ascribed to the little guy who is said to be entitled to a better life. For example, not being dinged 2% for credit card servicing. My personal tipping policy is to always tip in cash. This gives the server the option to accept the money "under the table," so to speak.

Re: Oops!

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Yeah well, our country is constructing a cult of personality around the sterling, no-named, no-man archetype of the "business owner", that proud and beautiful person who so valiantly provides in the face of so many ingrates.

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

Depriving the government of tax revenue make it more difficult for the government to provide health care, education, social services and other entitlements.

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

well, what? so the employers are taking 2% of the tip to cover the fee they're charged by their payment-processor? huh?

here is yet another really GREAT reason to only tip in CASH 8D

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I was all excited for libertarian outrage. But no. :(

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

This is another reason to justify my policy of ALWAYS TIPPING IN CASH NO MATTER WHAT even when I use a credit card.

My wife and I having in the past been on wait staffs know how restaurants historically abuse their employees.