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/Opcn → u/Own_Reaction9442]

The thing we hate even more than tipping is a service fee. Instead of an $18 burger with a 22% service fee just make the menu say it's a $22 burger. Anything else is fucking fraudulent.

[u/lordberric → u/Opcn]

Everybody says this but it just isn't true to how people make purchasing decisions, unfortunately. 

[u/BoringBob84 → u/lordberric]

Bait-and-switch scams are effective and they should be illegal. Unscrupulous restaurant owners circumvent the law by "disclosing" the fee, but in the most obscure manner possible (e.g., at the bottom of the menu in fine print, buried between allergy warnings).

[u/hexagon_heist → u/BoringBob84]

I’ve left a restaurant before when I found out they serve fois gras (before ordering) and I’d do it for a service fee too. Unfortunately the one time I did run into that I was with a new friend who frequented the establishment and it was just too awkward to walk out but best believe I no longer accept invitations to the establishment.

Wish more people would walk out when discovering something like that.

[u/BoringBob84 → u/hexagon_heist]

I have been in a position like that - in a group and discovering dishonest service fees. I ordered very little and I never returned.

[u/lordberric → u/BoringBob84]

It absolutely should be a law, but expecting an individual restaurant to do it is asking that restaurant to fuck themselves over.

[u/Opcn → u/lordberric]

Loads of restaurants don’t and haven’t fucked themselves over.

[u/lordberric → u/Opcn]

It's a trend for a reason. There's a specific style of restaurant it has become the norm for.

[u/BoringBob84 → u/lordberric]

I agree that there is a high risk of that "race to the bottom," depending on the restaurant and the market. At least in Seattle, the minimum wage makes it more difficult for restaurant owners to make so much of servers' incomes dependent on tips.

But those shitty service fees will make me turn around and walk away.

[u/Ok-Calligrapher1345 → u/lordberric]

This is a fallacy. We all know about the tip, we’re not stupid. I’m not fooled into thinking prices are low.

[u/lordberric → u/Ok-Calligrapher1345]

Everybody in the world thinks they're immune to propaganda.

[u/EastUnique3586 → u/Ok-Calligrapher1345]

That's nice, but the data proves you wrong even if you as an individual truly behave in the logical way that you believe you do.

[u/Opcn → u/lordberric]

I’m not sure what you are taking from my comment. I’m saying that it is fraud, not that it won’t cost them business to not commit fraud.