dopkick t1_j60o6qj wrote
Reply to comment by JBSanderson in James Beard Awards recognize Ekiben and Foraged chefs — but not Cindy Wolf by Cody_in_Baltimore
As I said, this is not about tipping. It’s about being hit with surprise fees. I’m happy to leave a tip. But once a business engages in deceptive practices I’m going to avoid the business entirely. If enough people avoid such businesses they will outright go out of business so the trend will end. Less directly, if such businesses cannot attract or retain labor because of pissed off customers not leaving tips they will go out of business.
Fees have proven to be a slippery slope - look at how a single burger on something like Uber Eats can be something like $30+ delivered. It won’t be long before there’s the 5% tipping fee. And 10% supply chain fee. And 5% carbon neutral fee. And then you’re asked to leave an actual tip on top of that.
There’s a reason that European countries have passed price transparency laws.
JBSanderson t1_j60p4ci wrote
You're almost there. The right solution is to not eat there at all.
You said you don't tip if a surprise fee is added. When you make that decision, you are not hurting the restaurant that assessed the fee, you are hurting the laborer who served you.
dopkick t1_j60ra2z wrote
Correct. I do not go to such restaurants. Just like I don’t use Airbnb anymore.
And yes, it hurts the people working there if I get hit with some unpredictable fee. If enough people get pissed off and don’t leave tips then the labor will go elsewhere and the restaurant will have a problem.
They could just be transparent and raise the price of popular dishes by $1 to cover the fee.
JBSanderson t1_j60slaw wrote
Maybe you have a really rosy view of the financial standing of most did service workers. They can't just bear the brunt of a bunch of non tippers without missing a car payment or not being able to pay tuition, etc.
From 20+ years of restaurant work, I can tell you that at least half of the waitstaff is living week to week on the tips they make. Switching jobs temporarily interrupts that income stream and is a financial hardship.
It's a nuanced topic, but at the end of the day we really do have a standing expectation that servers are paying their bills with the tips that diners give them. When you choose not to tip a server, in a roundabout way you're committing wage theft. That should not be on you as the diner, but it is the reality that we're all living in, and have been for decades.
Advocate for better wages, choose restaurants that are transparent about their charges, hype up restaurants that give their staff health insurance and pay a living wage, just don't use your irritation about a hidden fee as an excuse to not tip.
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