dopkick t1_j60ra2z wrote
Reply to comment by JBSanderson in James Beard Awards recognize Ekiben and Foraged chefs — but not Cindy Wolf by Cody_in_Baltimore
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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