Service charges; resort fees; "surcharge" add-ons: A new state law requiring price transparency is set to take effect in July. Until now, no one knew how it would apply to restaurants.
Need this nationwide. I hate having fees added on to the price of what I'm ordering.
Only fees that are entirely optional — like leaving a tip for staff — can be left out of the posted price.
How do you say you’ve never worked as a server without saying you’ve never worked as a server?
Edit: I think there’s a misunderstanding. I’m commenting on describing tips as “entirely optional.” If you can’t afford to tip, don’t eat at a restaurant. Servers are paid below minimum wage because they receive tips.
Second edit: My bad. NY has a tip allowance, and that’s where I waited. I didn’t know it varied so greatly from state to state. California does, in fact, pay their servers $16 per hour minimum.
Restaurants should be forced to pay their workers a living wage, which is how it works in developed countries. And paying below minimum wage should be illegal.
it's such a fucking joke that they're allowed to pay like $2/hr because they'll make it up in tips. just because customers are nice doesn't mean the employer should get off the hook like that. even the joke federal minimum wage is fuck all, that's like 1-2 sides at a decent restaurant
Agreed. Each state differs on tip allowance. In NY, minimum wage is $15 per hour with a $5 tip allowance. That means employers can pay $10 per hour, expecting servers to make at least $5 per hour in tips. If it’s a slow morning of “coffee only paper readers,” it’s easy to come up short of minimum wage for some hours.
Yeah, and that's a problem. Tip allowance shouldn't be a thing. They should be paid a higher base wage. Yes, a lot of servers would dislike that because they make a lot of money in tips, and they often don't report those tips when it comes to tax time. But that doesn't mean that the system wouldn't be improved by eliminating tipping and increasing wages, like they do in the rest of the world.
I’m aware of tithing. I’m saying that 10% of your income in a tithe is not even remotely the same thing as 18% tip for a single purchase. It’s more comparable to a sales tax than a tithe. One is percentage of a total income, the other is a percentage of a purchase.
Parties of 8 or more often have gratuity on the bill like this. It's rare to see it otherwise, unless there's a particular reason (like they know these people never tip).
I honestly thought all states used a tip allowance. Thanks for the info! You prompted me to look up some more about it. Turns out it varies wildly from state to state. Most states pay Federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 per hour if they don’t make tips, or $2.13 per hour if they do.