Are we finally moving in a direction of sanity? Rest. stops tipping

[Book Lover]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/nyregion/15tips.html

Is the right to stiff the waiter as American as apple pie?

Thomas Keller, chef at the extravagantly priced Per Se restaurant in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan, does not think so. Indeed, he is taking tipping off the table at Per Se starting next month and replacing it with a flat service fee of 20 percent.

<snip>

Mr. Keller said he was making the switch to head off an exodus of cooks and kitchen workers who had complained that they did not earn enough. He said he had already lost one talented young cook and that another had asked to become a waiter temporarily so that he could pay some bills.

<snip>

Instead of worrying about how much they take home on a particular night, the waiters and all the other employees will earn steady wages, even for weeks when the restaurant is closed, Mr. Keller said. He said the system worked well for more than seven years at French Laundry, his restaurant in Yountville, Calif., which charges 19 percent for service.

Discuss.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Excellent! More restaurants should do the same.

And I totally support this idea given one caveat - that the wait staff who suck are fired instantly.

I don't mind the automatic addition of 20%, since that's what I tip for service anyway (sometimes more).

But I **WILL** mind if I am forced to support a lackluster piece of shit waiter/waitress.

While I think it's fucking insane that waitstaff can be paid so little (Raise their minimum wage you republican fucks!!), the carrot of the tip is one thing that is helpful in helping to ensure a good experience.

I have no qualms about not tipping a fucknob.

And I'm sure that in a good restaurant like this, fucknobs will be very rare, if not entirely nonexistent.

[Book Lover]

3. I am so with you

Mt father was a professional chef for more than 50 years - he was always paid a solid wage. Why should the waitstaff be any different? Plus, this false master-servant relationship that tipping creates; yucky and very undemocratic.

[mike_c]

2. I think this is a step in the right direction...

...with the end of that journey being restaurant staff who are entitled to a living wage just like workers in most other industries. When the "restaurant worker" loophole in minimum wage laws is closed, restaurant staff will be able to organize and exert some control over their economic destiny. What Kellerman is doing is a good step in that direction, but in the end he still retains all control of his employees economic future.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. How very continental of him

It will be interesting to see if other name chefs do the same. Keller's French Laundry is pricey and is so popular that reservations 1-2 months in advance are the norm. My question is, who are these pikers dropping serious money for the meal and then stiffing the servers?

California is a state where the standard minimum wage ($6.75/hr) applies to waiters. Servers here expect 20% tips just like in other urban areas. Do the servers provide less stellar service because of the higher guaranteed wage? Not that I've noticed. It's still about the tips.

[yewberry]

5. Here's Waiter's take on the piece:

http://waiterrant.net/?p=187


He has some valid points. I can see Keller's system working at a place like Per Se, but what about mid-level restaurants? What about Denny's?

The reality is that, under this system, the restaurant is paying the staff (not just the servers) with the tip money. Why would I work in that kind of place when I could work somewhere else and keep ALL of my own tips?

(If you haven't seen the site before, it can be pretty funny. And dead on.)

[Book Lover]

7. Many thanks for the link!

Great blog; I've got to find time to read more of it. It certainly helped me clarify where I'm coming from - my father worked under the European system (despite the fact he was in the US when he worked) where waitstaff paid modest but not impossible wages and their tips were little bonuses. The clientele that frequented the places he worked understood the system, also. I've got to rethink my complete 100% anti-tip position...

[yewberry]

8. Really, if nothing else,

Waiter can be pretty funny (especially for those of us who've done time in the restaurant business.)

Hope you enjoy it!

[MercutioATC]

6. I refuse to frequent restaurants that charge an automatic service fee.

I tip well. I start at 20% for fair service and have tipped over 45% for stellar service. I have chosen to not tip at all exactly twice. Both times, I feel it was completely justified (actually, I did leave some loose change on the table...I didn't want the server to think I had simply forgotten).

Receiving a tip is not a right. That's why it's called a gratuity .