August 14, 2016

No tipping restaurants growing

Guardian

While ditching gratuities in Portland and elsewhere has meant ‘less judgment, angst and anger’ at some establishments, others have seen staff members quit

When customers of Portland’s upscale Le Pigeon receive their credit card slips, the line has been removed where the tip would normally be scribbled in. Co-owned by Gabe Rucker, a chef and recipient of two James Beard awards, the French-inspired bistro threw out tipping Tin June, while prices have increased by about 20%. Servers are now paid an hourly wage as well as a share of revenues, similar to a commission, and wages for cooks have gone up.

Le Pigeon is just one of many restaurants in the US to end tipping in the past year. It’s a bold experiment in a country where tipping is so heavily embedded in the culture and it has met with mixed results. But at Le Pigeon it seems to have worked – at least for the staff.

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1 comment:

Tom Puckett said...

Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: It's not tipping I believe in. It's overtipping.
-- From My Blue Heaven (1990)

Me too. Try it. How many times have you had wait staff chase you down before you can get in your car to express their thanks? A straight $100 tip will do it every time! Try this thinking, from Catch-22 (1970):

Dobbs: Look Yossarian, suppose, I mean just suppose everyone thought the same way you do.
Yossarian: Then I'd be a damn fool to think any different.

Yes, and there'd be a lot more happy wait staff around!

My brother's rule is when restaurants provide the tip, right on the cc receipt, they don't get anything extra. But, to be fair, he doesn't really score that hard on the Coldheartedness scale, in the previous post...

Cheers, Tom