One bad tipper defended not giving tips to waiters and waitresses by claiming that minimum wage tipping laws amount to discrimination.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , a $1 million lawsuit against Red Lobster claims that a waitress faked a racist note on a receipt after the customer left no tip at all. In regards to income inequality, former First Lady Laura Bush says Michelle Obama should be not be paid for being in the White House.
This is what the letter says in full:
“I do not tip anywhere because the law governing tipping causes pay inequality between servers and kitchen staff. My meal was made possible by an entire team of kitchen staff, servers, managers, and the establishment itself. Therefore, everyone involved should be paid appropriately out of the cost of the product I purchase. I find it unreasonable that only servers have legal rights to earn tips. Therefore, I do not tip and ask that the establishment raises the cost of food and drinks to pay everyone appropriately for their work. Tipping also encourages both customers and servers to stereotype and discriminate. Appropriate salary for servers should be the responsibility of the establishment and not the mood, or habit, or any random decisions of the customers.”
Because of the reference to income inequality many conservative websites are claiming the viral letter must have been written by someone who is liberal or progressive. Such websites claim that it would be unfair to leave no tips at all because Federal minimum wage laws for servers currently has the hourly rate at $2.13, which means that waiters and waitresses would suffer from undue hardship:
“It’s one thing to have certain beliefs when it comes to equality and what not, but to punish someone who did a good job for you because you think someone else is getting screwed is ridiculous. However it falls right in line with the liberal/progressive mentality, which is bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator so that nobody feels like they’ve been treated unfairly.”
At the same time, restaurants that have tried taking the letter’s advice have found the system can work. For example, Noodles & Co. has a no tip policy and CEO Kevin Reddy say it has worked out better for them:
“Respect doesn’t cost you a thing. We don’t want our guests to feel we’re trying to upsell them. We’d rather have them feel we’d rather upserve them than upsell them. That’s why we’re really cautious even about the price increases we pass on. You can get in and out of our restaurants for 25 percent less than a Chili’s or an Applebee’s. Our prices are lower to begin with, and you don’t have to put a 15% to 20% tip on it.”
Do you think that current minimum wage tipping laws cause income inequality? If so, do you it’s fair to not give tips in protest?