It’s about the same as looking a homeless man right in the eyes as you drive off in your Benz without giving him anything.
It’s totally doable, expected even, people do it all the time. But anyone with a functioning moral code probably feels a bit shitty about it, even if the circumstances around the source of the problem are largely out of their control.
The No Tip button says “I’m fine paying money to your corporate overlord but not to you, specifically, peon.” You’re specifically opting out of the ability to directly benefit the workers of a company rather than the management.
The discussion around why tips are an expected or “required” part of this transaction is another story. But so long as food service workers are being paid $2.13 an hour plus tips I’m going to continue to tip the guy that makes my tacos, largely because I feel that’s probably the only semi-ethical way for me to excuse buying those tacos.
And before you say “if they don’t make enough in tips to equal minimum wage then the employer pays the difference”, that is true, but you should also know that it is true that those people do not retain employment.
The discussion around why tips are an expected or “required” part of this transaction is another story. B
No, it’s the same story. The reason there’s a tip economy is because there’s no pushback against it. We have allowed tipping to be expected for PICKUP ORDERS because we haven’t punished businesses for trying to subsidize paying their employees.
The best tactic of all for changing this culture would be to not buy from places that expect tips, put them out of business… but why does that seem less socially frowned-upon than just not using the tip button?
So now my man is out of a job and I also have no tacos.
I do get the point you’re making though. I don’t even necessarily disagree. I just think there are a lot of factors at play and until we get some sort of meaningful change around this system - i.e. some sensible legislation around the minimum wage issue - we’ve gotta make some concessions if we expect to still participate in society. I figure that tipping my service worker is a sensible concession to make in many cases.
Now there are definitely some cases where it’s getting out of hand though. You made me some good food? Fair enough, here’s a tip, good stuff. You hand me something off a shelf and expect a tip you can fuck right off though. Anyone making a proper wage shouldn’t expect tips and customers shouldn’t be expected to give them.
Food service in particular just stands out to me because of their generally exceptionally low wage. Most of the money your waitress or your cook takes home is in tips. Refusing to engage with this system harms the worker more than it harms the company, and finding a restaurant (not fast food, strangely enough) that doesn’t engage in this “tipped wages” practice is effectively impossible. So if you want to eat a nice meal out, basically ever, you’re either going to tip your workers or be a gigantic asshole unless you have a real genuine complaint to air. It’s not right, but it’s the reality we exist in.
…Though to be fair seeing the way America is going these days the restaurant industry as a whole might just completely implode soon when people can’t afford to eat there anymore. Who knows. Maybe the problem solves itself in a fashion.
It’s about the same as looking a homeless man right in the eyes as you drive off in your Benz without giving him anything.
It’s totally doable, expected even, people do it all the time. But anyone with a functioning moral code probably feels a bit shitty about it, even if the circumstances around the source of the problem are largely out of their control.
The No Tip button says “I’m fine paying money to your corporate overlord but not to you, specifically, peon.” You’re specifically opting out of the ability to directly benefit the workers of a company rather than the management.
The discussion around why tips are an expected or “required” part of this transaction is another story. But so long as food service workers are being paid $2.13 an hour plus tips I’m going to continue to tip the guy that makes my tacos, largely because I feel that’s probably the only semi-ethical way for me to excuse buying those tacos.
And before you say “if they don’t make enough in tips to equal minimum wage then the employer pays the difference”, that is true, but you should also know that it is true that those people do not retain employment.
No, it’s the same story. The reason there’s a tip economy is because there’s no pushback against it. We have allowed tipping to be expected for PICKUP ORDERS because we haven’t punished businesses for trying to subsidize paying their employees.
The best tactic of all for changing this culture would be to not buy from places that expect tips, put them out of business… but why does that seem less socially frowned-upon than just not using the tip button?
There is another option: don’t buy the tacos. Stop patronizing businesses that give you an option to tip.
So now my man is out of a job and I also have no tacos.
I do get the point you’re making though. I don’t even necessarily disagree. I just think there are a lot of factors at play and until we get some sort of meaningful change around this system - i.e. some sensible legislation around the minimum wage issue - we’ve gotta make some concessions if we expect to still participate in society. I figure that tipping my service worker is a sensible concession to make in many cases.
Now there are definitely some cases where it’s getting out of hand though. You made me some good food? Fair enough, here’s a tip, good stuff. You hand me something off a shelf and expect a tip you can fuck right off though. Anyone making a proper wage shouldn’t expect tips and customers shouldn’t be expected to give them.
Food service in particular just stands out to me because of their generally exceptionally low wage. Most of the money your waitress or your cook takes home is in tips. Refusing to engage with this system harms the worker more than it harms the company, and finding a restaurant (not fast food, strangely enough) that doesn’t engage in this “tipped wages” practice is effectively impossible. So if you want to eat a nice meal out, basically ever, you’re either going to tip your workers or be a gigantic asshole unless you have a real genuine complaint to air. It’s not right, but it’s the reality we exist in.
…Though to be fair seeing the way America is going these days the restaurant industry as a whole might just completely implode soon when people can’t afford to eat there anymore. Who knows. Maybe the problem solves itself in a fashion.