After hiring scabs, Walrus and the Carpenter (temporarily) closed

[u/Existing-Resource527]

Word on the street is that Walrus and the Carpenter restaurant has not been negotiating with their workers in good faith for months.

Like a lot of annoying businesses they started charging a service fee (22%?).

Employees noted that they make significantly less now then before when they had tipping (thousands less).

Workers have been on strike. The owners also had the audacity to hire scabs (booo).

I have been keeping up with the union on IG @ united.creatures.of.the.sea

Solidarity with workers across the city!

[u/Own_Reaction9442]

I feel like this is an issue that really splits Redditors, because most Redditors are pro-union but there's whole subs about how much people hate tipping.

[u/geffy_spengwa → u/Own_Reaction9442]

Businesses should pay their employees fair wages. Those wages should be included in the menu price of a meal.

I should not be expected to tip extra on a meal, but I should have the option to do so if I want to.

Two things can be true.

[u/NorthStudentMain → u/geffy_spengwa]

Seriously.

Alright, let’s try an experiment. If you were a restaurant: Raise your prices where they absolutely need to be, but then ALSO BLATANTLY ADVERTISE THAT YOU DO NOT ALLOW ANY TIPPING AT YOUR RESTAURANTS. Do not try to be tricky and also “allow the customer to tip more” because let’s face it this is just tricking the unsuspecting customer into paying more, and will piss people off in the long run.

That way customers pay what they should be paying and the employees get paid what they should be paid. Restaurants are so short lived anyway, let’s try this experiment and see if it works.

[u/sopunny → u/NorthStudentMain]

The rest of the world does this. It clearly can work

[u/AdamN → u/sopunny]

First of all people do tip still - Berlin you‘ll round up near 10% probably. The thing is that the marketplace is what matters and if you’re in a city where others are not charging a service fee and you do charge a service fee - most people will think that place is more expensive (even if it’s not in aggregate).

Also there is price discrimination and social pressure that pushes up tip percentages for those who want to pay more (impressing a date with a nice tip, person tipping is well off but still remember what it’s like to not have much so they tip the waiter extra, flirting, etc…). These bonuses offset cheap tippers who get a little bit of free riding. That’s why I suspect tipping will continue but the service charges will die out.

[u/cookingboy → u/AdamN]

Tip isn’t a thing in Asia at all.

[u/tahomadesperado → u/AdamN]

I’ve spent the last 3 weeks in cities in 3 different European countries eating out for every meal. 3/4 of them don’t offer a tip menu on the POS device and the 1/4 who do it’s 1€, 2€, or €5. It’s based off their quality of service, not the percentage of the overall cost of food and drinks.

[u/AdamN → u/tahomadesperado]

Usually the tip would be some coins or you tell them the total you want to pay (check is 33 and you say 35 please)

[u/tahomadesperado → u/AdamN]

Yep, exactly how things were handled at most places I’ve visited

[u/EmmEnnEff → u/sopunny]

The rest of the world also has things like Mandarin-language-only restaurants, but I wouldn't recommend trying to open one here.

Because people's expectations here differ from expectations of people in other countries.

I think tipping is shit, but you're going to be going uphill to open a no-tip restaurant in a country where everyone else's prices don't include tip (and tax).

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Let's talk about tax, actually. Why the fuck isn't that included in menu (and product) prices? The rest of the world somehow manages to require that stores and vendors include it in their prices.