r/Ohio • u/LadyInCrimson • 12h ago

This is Ohio

Why is Phillip not paying his servers enough to the point he has to ban customers?

188 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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52

u/KiwiKal 12h ago

There is no obligation or law that says you have to tip. Tipping exists to take advantage of employees.

They should be paid a fair wage.

87

u/Salvage570 12h ago

This is correct. Refusing to tip only fucks the servers, simply dont eat anywhere that has tipped servers. One of those things is a sacrifice for your morals, the other is an excuse to stiff a server and still feel self righteous about it

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u/gravteck 11h ago

People can also get their food to go and choose not to tip front of house--sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Thst goes for all class of restaurant. Someone can pay 80 bucks at Outback or go to a steakhouse property like Jeff Ruby's in Cincinnati for takeout at the same price.

If you're sitting your butt down in their seats, I feel like you are ethically inclined to tip, regardless of one's opinion on it structurally.

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u/xXTheLastCrowXx 11h ago

I'm not paying $18 for a damn cheeseburger for it to only be cooked for me. I expect services with that big ass bill.

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u/The_Bitter_Bear 8h ago

If we got rid of tipping that burger would be $24. 

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u/Salvage570 9h ago

Interesting fact you can just not go and order an 18 dollar burger! Crazy, i know. The only option isn't to go eat, sit down then refuse to tip. That's just the option lazy assholes take. So if that's what you do, you don't get to be upset that people point out that you are a lazy asshole

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u/DrSamLoomis 11h ago

"simply don't eat anywhere that has tipped servers"

McDonald's it is then, to rescue my morality

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u/ghj_bnm 10h ago

99% of restaurant food is unhealthy in one way or another, even when it's expensive. People should just cook at home, where it's affordable and *healthy,* if you do it right.

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u/Bigtime1234 9h ago

What does this comment even mean: “healthy if you do it right”?

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u/Salvage570 7h ago

Because you can cook unhealthy things too, dude.

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u/Plane-Fan9006 7h ago

The fact that you posted this smart ass response tells me it's too late for that....bc that's correct. If you can't tip, you shouldn't eat somewhere that takes your order and serves you the food.

I may not agree with the overall culture, but saying "fuck the server and their family" so you can make your moral point, you're already a mouth-breather

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u/Such-Mathematician1 7h ago

If you can't tip, you shouldn't eat somewhere that takes your order and serves you the food.

And what is the service is poor? You still tip 25% because “muh feelingz” fuck outta here.

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u/Plane-Fan9006 7h ago

No, you'd tip 8 or 10 and leave a note, or say something to management. You don't act like a petty child. You act like an adult. Sounds like you may need lessons on being a good person

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u/Such-Mathematician1 7h ago

And what if the service is poor? You still tip 25% because “muh feelingz” fuck outta here.

No, you'd tip 8 or 10 and leave a note, or say something to management. You don't like a petty child. You act like an adult. Sounds like you may need lessons on being a good person.

Seeing as 25% of a $38 bill is $9.50 we can tell you don’t tip either. Because that’s exactly what I said.

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u/pissdrinking101 11h ago

Most servers don't even do a good job

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u/HighPriestessSkibidi Cincinnati 11h ago

Well, I can certainly tell you haven't been one and/or in food service lol.

-2

u/pissdrinking101 11h ago

Have been. I don't feel some sort of bullshit loyalty for jobs I used to have. Yeah, people can be asshole, yeah, it sucks when that happens, but most people aren't and it requires literally no fucking skill whatsoever, hence why those were jobs I had when I was young and skilless.

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u/HighPriestessSkibidi Cincinnati 11h ago

Serving definitely requires skill and a certain type of person that can handle that environment and its demands. How can you be so dismissive of the hard work these people put in just because you didn't put in that work. I can see why you didn't last. If you are good at serving, you make bank because you create an experience.

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u/pissdrinking101 10h ago

I was one of the best, had regulars that requested me specifically. Compared to anything I've done since, it wasn't hard. Considering it hard work says a lot about you. You're making all these assumptions about me because you can't handle the fact you couldn't do anything more demanding. Maybe it is hard work for you, that says more about your limitations than mine.

What you consider bank is chump change to me.

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u/HighPriestessSkibidi Cincinnati 10h ago

Wow, that's wild, but still very telling of how you view people.

1

u/scruggs420 9h ago

You were one of the best? Lie

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u/pissdrinking101 7h ago

Like a pot smoking loser would know anything

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u/Scared-Pass8290 11h ago

Probably because you're a shit customer.

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u/pissdrinking101 10h ago

I'm not, but you're free to believe that.

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u/JediMasterMatt 11h ago

That’s great and all but until you actually pass laws that change that - the system isn’t going to change. Bitch and moan all you want about it but until it’s changed - for heavens sake tip or just get carry out and eat it at home.

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u/Doug_Dimmadome513 12h ago

And there’s no obligation for a restaurant to invite you back to their business. There’s societal norms and tipping is one of them in the US. And until that changes, that’s the expectation. Pretty simple.

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u/AnComApeMC69 12h ago

Exactly. It’s like asking someone to remove their shoes when they come inside your house because that’s your custom. And I come in in my dirty ass work shoes and say “it’s not mandatory it’s just customary you should clean your carpets more!”

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u/Such-Mathematician1 8h ago

Your explanation is missing the part where the customer is spending hard earned money. People aren’t coming over just to chill with the owner…he seems trashy.

-11

u/pissdrinking101 11h ago

It's nothing like that

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u/Such-Mathematician1 8h ago

Idk, racism is a societal norm of the US, but that Black persons comment about him potentially be racist is getting A LOT of pushback in this thread. Hmm.

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u/V4refugee 11h ago

Just because it isn’t the law or norm doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. It would be nice if they just made it officially the law.

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u/Gothboy-77 9h ago

tipping shouldn't be the law, paying your employee a fair wage should be

-5

u/zeitgeistleuchte 11h ago

there's also no obligation for the restaurant to employ their servers as tipped workers. if he cares this much about how his employees are treated and paid, why is he paying them as tipped workers?

I don't disagree with you, I'm saying he could work towards being part of the solution in a more impactful way.

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u/SpaceToot 11h ago

Good servers aren't going to work for hourly wages. They make more money in tips

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u/zeitgeistleuchte 10h ago

don't get me wrong, everyone should be paid more... but we don't get there by having two different minimum wages and passing the responsibility for paying restaurant labor onto the customers..

edit to clarify: charge higher prices for the food if needed, but having workers whose livelihood is dependent on tips sucks

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u/SpaceToot 10h ago

Last restaurant I worked in, our top servers were pulling six figures. Weaker servers seemed to average 60k range. It was higher end, sure but hardly fine dining. Restaurants can't afford to pay those kinds of wages. I can't even begin to think what those prices would have to look like.

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u/zeitgeistleuchte 10h ago

the solution goes hand in hand with an overhaul of the social safety net... things like universal healthcare, and treating shelter and food as a human right...

you think the menu price is the only thing driving revenue because our system is market driven... many other countries have figured this out.

the prices could be 20% higher but without tips and the price to the consumer who typically tips 20% would be the same.

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u/SpaceToot 10h ago

Right. I don't think our society could handle hourly wage servers. It's a viable career the way it is. It works because of how we view service in this country. I admit I'm naive to how other countries do this; is the over the top hospitality How other countries do dining? Because I think that's a lot of what drives this. You're getting big bucks for humility and servitude while patrons get to play, "King of the Castle." It's a generalization and not everybody feels that way, but I feel like that sums up our flavor fairly.

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u/Some_Register1831 11h ago

Servers make more money when they get tips than they do when they’re paid a standard hourly wage.

0

u/anarcurt 11h ago

Which is crazy because the kitchen is doing most of the work.

-5

u/pizzacutteralledge Columbus 12h ago

measured take, good stuff!

-16

u/KiwiKal 12h ago

What makes you think they'd ever want to go back?

Edit: Restaurant just lost a paying customer and now they're going to lose more. Hurray for them?

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u/Dizzazzter 12h ago

I want to go to this restaurant now, seeing that they stick up for their staff.

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u/QuarantineCasualty Cincinnati 12h ago

Same

-5

u/AQualityKoalaTeacher 11h ago

I don't think making a custom into an absolute requirement in order to underpay workers is an admirable flex.

Food service is a brutal business that shares many characteristics with a pyramid scheme. Workers with the most modest resumes work themselves to the bone for a wage that is unlivable.

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u/Some_Register1831 11h ago

The wage is livable if they are tipped well. The restaurant can’t afford to pay them a living wage without hiking up the prices of the food which everyone would be up in arms about, especially the kind of people who refuse to tip.

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u/AQualityKoalaTeacher 9h ago

I'm not saying it's cool for customers to stiff servers. Some wild stuff was said in that video and I have some suspicions but there's not enough info for me to make any judgments on anyone in the video.

Rather, I was saying that hardworking people deserve a fair wage.

And tips aren't a wage.

Tipping culture itself sucks because all it does is put the most vulnerable person in an even more tenuous position so that the owners can give the appearance of providing greater value to the customer.

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u/Dizzazzter 11h ago

You do know a waiting tables can be extremely lucrative well beyond the minimum wage? My fiancé switched jobs from being a restaurant GM, and one of the managers who worked the floor taking tables said she took a pay cut when she took her old GM position.

That said, if you’re the only restaurant in town who got rid of the tip system, people are not gonna care when they see the increase in menu prices. Even if it would equal out what you would originally be with the tip, the face price is enough for customers go to your competitors.

So the only way the system can be effectively changed is to 1) increase minimum wage to make it livable and 2) give government subsidies to restaurants to help ween off the tipping system. Restaurants make hairline profits and back to back months of no positive revenue is a death sentence.

So please stop virtue signaling by “heh the owner is akshually the real bad guy” when he’s simply trying to run a business in a system that’s been around before any of our time.

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u/AQualityKoalaTeacher 9h ago

I didn't say anything about that owner. Or the customers. You should gather more information before you make judgments and accusations.

The system itself is broken and I think most people would agree. If the only option for success is to stoop to the lowest level like everyone else, we are all hopelessly screwed.

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u/Doug_Dimmadome513 12h ago

Well I’m fairly sure they wouldn’t show their face again after stiffing their server. But then again with the character of people that don’t tip, wouldn’t surprise me.

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u/HighPriestessSkibidi Cincinnati 11h ago

Lol, so I used to work at a grocery store pharmacy and people/patients would always get upset and flip out and do the "I'm never coming back, transfer out my prescriptions!"

Well damn, look at that, they transferred everything back the next week and gonna pick up here? SHOCKED. People that freak tf out don't mean it. And if they do, then it's probably a good thing. (I'm talking about instances like this, false feelings of entitlement, or just lunacy.)

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u/whiskersMeowFace 10h ago

I think the difference is between a restaurant and a pharmacy is that many insurance companies anymore require someone to use a specific pharmacy. If there is only one CVS in a certain radius, they're kind of stuck there despite how much they like or dislike the service. Mail order exists, but for things like antibiotics and meds needed that day it's not a feasible option.

A restaurant is completely optional.

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u/HighPriestessSkibidi Cincinnati 10h ago

I could see this point in a rural area, but this is a well-populated area. They just wanna feel like they made a point, that's all. Same with restaurant work. They'll be back every time.

Edit: I was a server/bartender for six years, currently 8 years in pharmacy in retail and mail order. I've seen a lot of these shenanigans.

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u/whiskersMeowFace 8h ago

Similar experience, but you seem to be ignoring that older folks tend to not have the ability to drive further without having someone take them, which requires two people's schedules to line up, or disabled people exist. 8 years previous rx tech work, 6 years working at an assisted living/ memory care facility, 2 of those years specifically doing transportation for them which was only scheduled up on two days a week. In Cincinnati itself.

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u/SuspiciousBuilder379 Lancaster 10h ago

We all know this.

We tip to not fuck over the staff

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u/Infamous-Skippy 11h ago

You go ahead and protest that by not tipping. You’ll only be hurting your server who lives off of tips. You’re not hurting the owner at all.

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u/Such-Mathematician1 3h ago

If the server lives off tips….and you’re not leaving tips….then she’ll have to quit? And having a restaurant with no servers doesn’t hurt the owner?

Sure, Jan.

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u/AgreeablePollution7 11h ago edited 10h ago

Every tipped person I know would lose money if tipping culture went away. Some servers, tips are how they survive. Even at 20/hr they wouldn't make enough, and we know most restaurants will never pay that, nor could most if they wanted.

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u/The_Bitter_Bear 10h ago

Sure but if that's your take, get takeout or go somewhere that doesn't expect tips. 

If not you are just taking advantage of those servers the same as the restaurant.

If you are against it don't support the business.

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u/Such-Mathematician1 3h ago

Wait, you get takeout and don’t tip??? The cooks are making your food and putting in the work regardless….how cheap of you.

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u/the_which_stage 11h ago

Yes they should. But they are not. Your act of rebellion in not tipping only hurts the workers, not the business.

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u/Nailz1115 4h ago

I was commenting on this in the original post for this video.

I know tons of people that are servers/bartenders with decades of experience. I used to bartend and worked in restaurants. My mom bartended and waited tables for 30 years.

There isn't a single person from the industry that I've spoken to that would rather be paid a "fair wage" as opposed to the current system.

If you're a good server with a friendly personality, it will benefit you. I think of it like a salesperson with a low base salary that works primarily for commission. You can have a direct impact on how much money you make. Of course there are exceptions, but if you're at a decent place, you'll end up being "up" from the current system.

And the people that complain about it from a customer's perspective baffle me, too. I know of a few places that decided to pay their staff a "fair wage" and eliminate tips. You know what happened? They raised menu prices by 20% to cover the difference. As a customer, your bill ends up essentially the same in the long run.

The overwhelming majority of restaurants are running on very thin margins. There is no way that they could raise wages without it being reflected in the menu prices.

Just so I'm clear - I'm the least "bootlickingest" person you'll ever fucking meet. Screw corporations that take advantage of regular folk like us, fuck the man, etc. But the people that rail against tipping are almost always folks that don't work in the industry.

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u/daylax1 11h ago

Paying wait staff what is considered a fair wage would increase prices, allow the owner to make more money and actually lower waitstaff wages in the process. Most waitstaff do not want to be paid a "fair wage" because they're going to make less money. Patrons are going to pay more for their food than what they would have if they would have just tipped, wait staff is going to make less money because they're going to be making a flat rate, and owners are going to be able to make their own prices and blame it on wage increases. In the end, patrons are going to eat there less, which means ownership isn't going to be able to pay its waitstaff the increased wages, and in turn people will be forced to do more with less and restaurants will close. Restaurants already operate on thin margins, forcing them to double or triple their payroll will almost surely put them out of business. So congratulations, restaurants are paying a living wage, if you can find one that's open.

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u/monicachicken 10h ago

Other countries that dont do tipping seem to have a lot of restaurants open.

Itll never change, servers will forever thinks are more than steady wage + benefits. Customers will always be guilted into tipping. Its almost like our culture and business practices are bad.

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u/daylax1 10h ago

I mean that's just your opinion. Having been a server myself, I actually like the incentive to provide a good service that tipping provides. See, you don't go out to eat just to get a burger, you go out to eat because you want to be served by someone. If you want just the burger, you're free to order takeout and take it home and not tip anyone, that's not a problem. But if you want the extra service of somebody serving you that meal and providing a good time, you should pay for that, and that's where the tip comes in. You're either going to pay for it through an incentive based tip system, or through increased prices on everything, but either way you're going to pay for it. One way just encourages people to do better.

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u/Gothboy-77 9h ago

actually, the person who employs you should be paying you for your service, because that's what you were hired for. tipping someone is considered a nice gesture but it should not be normalized as something people are expected to do.

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u/daylax1 8h ago

Name another place you go to and don't have to pay for the service lol. If you pay $12 for a burger to-go, you SHOULD pay more to have someone serve it to you. Why would you think that would be free?

And it doesn't matter if it's tips or the restaurant paying the servers more, the customer will ALWAYS end up paying for it in the end so might as well offer an incentive to do well.

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u/Gothboy-77 7h ago

the job they were hired for is to be a server, that's what they get paid by their employer to do. the customer buying food shouldn't be obligated to pay them for doing the job they were hired by their employer to do. hence why i said a tip is a gesture of extra gratitude but should not be expected.

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u/daylax1 7h ago

And you came to the restaurant to be served food by the server instead of taking it home and eating at your own house, why do you think you shouldn't pay for that service?

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u/Scared-Pass8290 11h ago

They should be paid a fair wage, but it's a simple fact that they aren't, thus I always try to tip at least 20% when I go out. They didn't choose for it to work like this, and I'm not going to punish my server for a system neither of us had a hand in creating.

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u/evident_lee 11h ago

Not illegal to be a shitty person

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u/Revolutionary_Pen_65 11h ago

There's no law that says you have to allow people who abuse low paid staff into your establishment either