The entire business plan of most restaurants is faulty!
What other business requires the patrons of that business to pay money to supplement the pay check of the business's employees? Can you imagine "tipping" a car dealership for the good service provided by the dealership's employees? Can you imagine the dealership suggest that they could no longer afford to pay a liveable wage to their employees if the patrons were unable or unwilling to "tip" their employees? How totally ridiculous!
So, what is the answer? In Europe, I have had it happen that when I go to "tip" the server, many are genuinely insulted that I would do such a thing. Their employer pays them for doing a good job!
I am appalled at certain restaurants that I have frequented that add a special charge to my bill to address the fact that they have to pay their workers a liveable wage (this has occurred primarily in states which have upped the hourly pay of servers). When the restaurant does this, they should realize that my patronage ends with my payment of that one bill.
In my opinion, a restaurant should charge what it needs to charge to cover all of their expenses of operating the business including their employee's wages. Obviously, the menu prices will have to increase. A patron pays a business for the entirety of the costs the business incurs plus a suitable charge to patron for profit!
So, maybe the solution is to not tip. The immediate impact will be on the servers. They will soon look for other employment. But, ultimately, the restaurant owner will either have to increase prices to cover the employee's wages to a living wage or go out of business. I have no problem with less restaurants if it means the cessation of paying slave wages and then relying upon the largess of the restaurant's patrons.
By the way, please consider what the minimum wages permitted by statute really amount too. A wage of $10 per hour means a gross annual pay of about $20,000 before taxes. A wage of $13 per hour equates to an annual wage of $26,000. Could you survive on either amount? Why should we expect serves to live on these amounts? It is time to increase the minimum wage for all employees to an amount sufficient to provide a liveable wage. And yes, all of us patrons, across the board, would have to pay what it actually costs for a business to stay in business!
|