My old friend Bryce has gotten me inspired two days in a row. He shared today on facebook this New York Times article asserting that tipping restaurant servers is archaic and screwy and solicited some commentary from me. I'm often happy to oblige such solicitation, and today was no exception:
Okay, without going into the same length of diatribe I went into yesterday on another of your posts, here's a quickie.'Nuff said. For today, anyway.
Good essay. I read it earlier today. The writer focuses more on the consumer side, I think, than I do, but I'm a server these days, so I'm seeing it from that angle.
And the bottom line to me is that even though, in the end, I feel like I make enough money, the fact that most servers are effectively NOT PAID by their ostensible employers, and instead must grovel for the sinisterly euphemized handouts known as "tips" creates some truly bizarre workplace incentives and guarantees friction on the job, between server and management, server and host or hostess, and between servers.
Example: closing sidework. This is when your wages drop from, say, thirty dollars an hour to nothing. Is it any wonder servers completely resent doing sidework? I mean, I get that it's necessary for the overall job. But there's no way around the fact that closing sidework is done for free. That's a source of friction with management.
Example: seating. Because a server's tips depend on getting tables, if the hostess isn't doing her job correctly, allocating tables in a fair and just way, he's screwed. Unless management makes good hosting a priority, fights between servers and hosts are inevitable.
Example: running sidework, running trays, etc. Because your table is your sole source of income, why the hell should a server give a damn about anyone else but that table? I know, I know, some restaurants have a decent teamwork culture, but it's often easy to blow that off, and unless management is constantly pushing teamwork, there is no teamwork, and the good servers who believe in the concept then become chumps, taking time away from their tables to pick up the slack for other servers who refuse to do their fair share. That translates into dollars and cents. The less time you spend with your tables, the less service you give, the less upselling you can do. The sidework-lazy server effectively transfers tip money to himself away from the conscientious teamwork server.
And this just goes on and on. And it's all because of the cockamamie compensation system that turns economic incentive on its head. I would personally prefer a system that allows me always to do my best without second guessing all the time whether I'm being ripped off.
On the other hand, one assumes that any transition away from the tipping system will be to a system that benefits ownership, instead of labor. And that's something to think about.
Damn it. I did it again. Obviously, I'm long winded.
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