The bay effect moderates temperature swings for the most part. The weather is not abnormally variable here, it's just temperate.

Why do people think that's a unique thing here? Every other temperate climate I've lived in, the locals say the same thing.

Baltimore is in a temperate climate and we're transitioning from winter to spring right now. Some days will be warm, some will be cold.

I've worked the closing hours in Baltimore bars. It's a harsh lifestyle. If businesses want to have more employees working that late, they need to make the compensation worth it.

Sure, I made a lot of cash, but I also had to buy my own health insurance, had zero paid holidays or paid time off, and the earnings were variable depending on the season.

I can work a 9-5 with less cash flow, but be better off financially due to the entire picture of compensation, and that doesn't even touch on the fact that working regular hours with paid vacations is way easier on your body and mind.

I'm pretty sure that Avenue Kitchen and Bar owns that lot. At a minimum, they used to lease it.

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.

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.

Tipping for service at a restaurant is not new by any stretch of the imagination.

I think that all businesses should pay their workers a living wage, and that we should move away from tipping for anything.

However, I live in reality and understand that if I choose to dine out in the USA that there is a standing social contract older than any of us that the server earns their living from tips. Until that changes, you are an asshole for not tipping, for any reason.

Looking for an excuse to give 0% tip is a real shitty move on your part.

Expecting to pay at least 15% for service (more realistically 20%) is part of going out to dine in the US.

You could maybe justify subtracting the 5% fee from your tip.

By tipping the server 0%, the server effectively paid you for the "pleasure" of serving you as they will have to tip out their bussers, bartenders, etc.