"Dave C." wrote in message
ink.net...
Better they should ban tips and just pay everyone a decent wage
to start
with? The bottom-line cost to the customer would be the same. I
dearly
wish
the minimum-wage law for 'tipping' jobs and the IRS assumption
of 7% (I
think), would be taken out of the law.

aem sends...


I"d prefer they don't add any service charge to the bill. Just
raise
their
menu prices accordingly and pay the staff a livable wage.



Or at least minimum wage. That is, make wait-staff NOT exempt from
minimum
wage laws that apply to other jobs, such as cashier at Wal-Mart. I
wouldn't
mind paying the higher prices on the menu, as long as there wasn't a
mandatory "service charge" tacked onto the cost of food. I'd still
tip
about 20% if the service wasn't horrible.

I think this mandatory service charge is a really bad idea, for
several
reasons. First, if it's a service charge, what guarantee is there
that the
money will actually go to someone who provided service? (I can
imagine a
lot of dishonest employers keeping the service charges, essentially
robbing
the wait-staff of their tips)

and it was mentioned in the article that it would be used to subsidize
the low pay of the cooks, etc. this will cause the good waitstaff to
depart for more lucrative places that let them keep their tips (from
which they already have to tip the busboy--no cleared tables, no
seating and the bartender--no tip and your customers wait for their
drinks, thereby lowering the servers' tips).