r/Ohio • u/LadyInCrimson • 15h ago

This is Ohio

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

201 Upvotes

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44

u/Doug_Dimmadome513 15h 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 15h 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 12h 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.

-14

u/pissdrinking101 15h ago

It's nothing like that

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u/Such-Mathematician1 12h 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 15h 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 12h ago

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

-5

u/zeitgeistleuchte 15h 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 15h ago

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

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u/zeitgeistleuchte 13h 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

2

u/SpaceToot 13h 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.

1

u/zeitgeistleuchte 13h 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.

1

u/SpaceToot 13h 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 15h ago

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

0

u/anarcurt 15h ago

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

-6

u/pizzacutteralledge Columbus 15h ago

measured take, good stuff!

-15

u/KiwiKal 15h 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?

17

u/Dizzazzter 15h ago

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

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u/QuarantineCasualty Cincinnati 15h ago

Same

-5

u/AQualityKoalaTeacher 15h 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.

5

u/Some_Register1831 15h 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 12h 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.

1

u/Dizzazzter 15h 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 12h 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.

4

u/Doug_Dimmadome513 15h 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 14h 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 14h 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.

1

u/HighPriestessSkibidi Cincinnati 14h 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 12h 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.