this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 76 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Stop tipping and support establishments that pay proper wages instead.

I no longer live in Austin but before I left, a number of my favorite places had banned tipping. Tips were not accepted, prices were higher, and staff were well paid. Guess what? Post pandemic lock down, they had no problems being fully staffed. Shocking, I know.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 50 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

So close (but I’d be careful with your wording). Yes, support establishments that ban tipping and pay proper wages. But if you go into a restaurant where you are aware tipping is expected and don’t tip you’re just being an ass, not a revolutionary.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Of course. It is very easy to find out ahead of time and also leave feedback on why you chose to go elsewhere.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I got diagnosed with celiac and lactose intolerance and I'm saving so much money not eating out!

Follow me for more tips

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

That's still someone's rent and food money you are withholding from them by not tipping. It's a fucked up system, but they wont be compensated by their boss when you stiff them. So not giving them that tip could be the difference between choosing to pay for rent or groceries this week.

Refusing to tip does nothing but harm workers and allowing the owners to continue to profit. The whole system needs to be reworked from the top down. There is no reason that a restaurant can't just pay their workers a fair wage. They could also just automatically give the staff X% of total sales, but then that starts to sound like a co-op, and then people might start to ask themselves what the owner actually does for the restaurant.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 17 points 8 months ago

That's still someone's rent and food money the employer is withholding from them by not paying them adequately.

FTFY

Read my original comment again...slowly. We need to stop subsidizing cheap fuckers by tipping and instead bring our business to establishments that pay their employees fairly and ideally ban or discourage tipping. Tip culture is an American anomaly because our system is ridiculously exploitative.

[–] FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wait, are you saying that they're withholding rent and food money from servers by avoiding establishments that expect tipping?

Are we now obligated to eat out?

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Hey, careful. It looks like you are putting words in their mouth. The difference between eating out and not tipping and not eating out at all is that one involves you getting the product of labor from a waiter where the other does not.

That makes all the difference between those examples so it’s not fair to equivocate them.

[–] FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, they pushed back against someone who specifically said they avoid establishments where they are required to tip. What else can I get from that?

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

see my comment here. there was a pretty decent misunderstanding going on from what i can tell.

[–] FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 8 months ago

I think I get what you're saying there. I was reading their comment in the context of how I read what they were replying to.

[–] MantidSys@kbin.social 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Did you read their comment beyond the first two words?

They explicitly said to stop tipping by deciding to instead go to places that ban tipping, price goods higher, and pay their employees fairly. None of your argument about "you need to tip people who rely on tips" applies to what they said. You jumped to your "haha gotcha" moment a bit prematurely.

[–] z500@startrek.website 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They explicitly said to stop tipping by deciding to instead go to places that ban tipping

Is this a big city thing? This is the first time I've ever heard of this.

[–] MantidSys@kbin.social 2 points 8 months ago

I've never seen it either. I've heard of it though, but only in wealthier areas. Working class people don't have the luxury of deciding to pay extra to alleviate human suffering - it's the same reason walmart consumes all other choices; the average person chooses the cheapest option because they're already scraping by. A more relatable take would be to just opt out of eating at places that demand tips -- I already do that, but only because I can't afford to eat out anyway :)

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 3 points 8 months ago

their use of the conjunction “and” instead of “by” also had me confused at first but yes your interpretation is more accurate given further discussion which you can see following my reply.

BakerBagel’s position is also valid it just looks like there was misunderstanding.

[–] ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

I don't think they were saying to just stop tipping, but to go to places where tips aren't expected

[–] FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There's a new cider brewery that opened downtown that has no tipping. It's quite liberating.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 5 points 8 months ago

Yeah, I lived downtown. Highrises at first, then in the Holly neighborhood. What I found was that places that did not allow tips had far friendlier staff and paying was stress free. In contrast, I now live in Jackson, Wyoming and I barely eat out. To go orders are automatically charged 20% gratuity and if you dine in your options are 25%-30%-35%. That sort of bullshit sours the experience. Just bump the prices by 30%, ban tips, and pay your fucking staff a high wage. Lord knows rent is expensive as fuck here (if you can even find a place).

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I get paying a decent wage but why ban tipping. Here in California there is no tipped wage difference and min wage is pretty high but I still tip whenever I get the chance because I earn a lot more than service workers and that $5 is worth more to them than me. I also appreciate that it goes directly to the workers instead of through the boss who will take god knows off the top. It should definitely not be required and discrete enough so that those who don't can't be shamed but banning it just hurts workers.

[–] FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Because tipping is so ingrained customarily that if it's not banned, it will still be expected.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 6 points 8 months ago

and there are other detriments to tipping as well, for example faculitating an environment of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 8 points 8 months ago

This took me a while to figure out because it isn't clear why the meme is "Elmer", and not the people benefitting from the division it sows (my starting point was trying to figure out who Buggs and Daffy are that would be after the disgruntled waiter in the meme). Though I don't know how I would make it any better, so I'm no help at all really, sorry lol

[–] ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago