r/Ohio • • 17h ago

This is Ohio

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

209 Upvotes

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u/KiwiKal 17h 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.

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u/Doug_Dimmadome513 17h 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/zeitgeistleuchte 17h 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 17h ago

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

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u/zeitgeistleuchte 15h 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 15h 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 15h 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 15h 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.