I thought Chidi delivered the best straight line of the night:

I hate the line “when all your expenses are accounted for.”
In what other job are “all other expenses accounted for”
If you work at a bank and wear a suit and tie, do you take into account drycleaning costs? How about commute times? (time you are commuting is not YOUR time) . How about the wear and tear on your…

Also, if you have a family to feed and you tried to do so exclusively working what advertises itself as a way to make EXTRA money (you know, in addition to an actual job), that’s on you.

Or maybe they can help redo the bar and restaurant scene so that the owners are forced to pay their employees fair and livable wages instead of the customers who already spend a lot of money at these bars and restaurants to foot the bill for the waiters and bartenders

If you want to feed your family and your current job isn’t cutting it working toward a job that will allow you to do so is your best bet. Waiting for your current employer to change your situation is a losing bet.

The damnedest thing is that many of the writers say they’re losing money, but neglect to say why they won’t stop driving. It’s like blaming the knife manufacturers for your constantly stabbing yourself in the leg.

“I did at some point relied on this gig economy to sustain me but it wasn’t ever made to sustain anyone. The “be your own boss” definitely throws you off. Living off gig economy is crazy!”

“I don’t like thing, therefore no one likes thing.”

instead of having to rely on the whims of the customers...

There are plenty of perfectly legit NYC restaurants that have gone “no tip,” including the whole Danny Meyer empire (Gramercy Tavern, Union Sq. Cafe, The Modern). Also, high-end sushi restaurants in NYC (like Sushi Yasuda) are no-tip in the Japanese tradition.

It’s especially silly at a place as expensive as the one mentioned in the letter. I can see where an average restaurant is afraid to add $1.50 to each burger or whatever because they think customers will be sensitive to that and eat elsewhere. But if you’re already charging over $250/person, just build that “fee” into…

Servers who are skilled and proficient enough to land positions at a $1200/four-top establishment aren’t stupid. If they weren’t making money hand over fist, a server with that level of ability won’t have any problem finding a slot at other high-end places that don’t jerk them around.

I’m all for living wages and benefits for servers and doing away with tipping. But restaurants need to stop with these “service charge” and “administrative fee” line items. Just make a budget based on paying your people right and set prices based on that budget. Don’t tell me about it. I can go to Target and buy a…

‘Administrative fee’ is some bullshit wording right there. Put up a thing that says ‘We pay our waitstaff a full wage, please do not tip the waitstaff!’ or something like that, don’t tack on a fee that essentially means ‘We want an extra 20% because we needed to use extra administrative assets for your meal.’

I don’t know...I guess? It also says “We did away with the practice of tipping, ensuring that our entire team is compensated more equitably....”

This place in SF, nice but not schmancy, has raised prices to pay living wages & benefits, and says tipping is not required. Seems easier than “administrative” charges.

So, good news, Over-Thinker! You don’t have to tip on top of that fee, and you can probably afford that dinner.

Because definitive is more like “the 20% fee replaces tipping practices and ensures fair remuneration and work benefits for our skilled wait staff”.

Especially in a place like this, where nobody is going to them for commodity dining, and where they are already willing to write an expository essay on their tipping policy, why can’t they just say, “Our employees are compensated appropriately, and that cost is accounted for in the price of the meal"?

It’s really become too big of a pain in the ass to eat at restaurants anymore. I can’t be bothered to keep up with all of the rules, spoken, unspoken or otherwise. Also, restaurants need to pay their workers a living wage and stop expecting customers to subsidize their business.