(no subject)

Steven Shaw, in today's New York Times, advocates the elimination of tipping at restaurants, suggesting a European-style service charge instead.

Personally, I disagree with him. He argues, for example, that because a tip is usually considered as a percentage of the bill, servers are trained and inclined to "upsell" -- to sell higher-priced dishes for a better tip. That may be true, but I am the stubborn sort, who prefers to make up his mind, and will decide on a dish based on its content unless my wallet is a factor -- in which case upselling won't work, and will likely cause me to tip less.

He also says the practice of tip pooling, which is the norm in fine-dining restaurants and is becoming more common in every kind of restaurant above the level of a greasy spoon, has gutted whatever effect voting with your tip might have had on an individual waiter. I'm sorry to hear it. But I don't run the business nor have I any way to indicate that this practice is offensive to me, save not eating out. Which, I'm afraid, would hardly affect the restaurant business (but if three people did it, it'd be a movement...) Nonetheless, I reward my waiter or waitress based on hir service; it's up to hir to be smart enough to fight off the coyotes who perform inferior service.

I have a formula for tipping that works pretty well. I take the "raw" price of the bill, before tax is added, add 25%, and that's what my total is that I'm laying out. It works pretty okay here in high-tax (8.75% or so) New York, leaving >16% for the server. And in low-tax (5%) states, it works out to an excellent tip, mostly. Of course, that also leaves room for adjustment up or down; if the service stinks, I can easily subtract up to 10% (and have, except in those really rare cases where $0.02 is my definitive statement that I will never return to that place); likewise, I can add up to 10% (or, rarely, more; it takes a lot to get me to go over 35% of the raw score). I also tip in cash; since this income is supposed to be a gift, it's no damn body else's business what I give the server. Even the tip pool.

Largely, I dislike the idea of a service charge because, in theory, if I'm going to be charged for the service, it should be built into the cost of the food and a flat No Tipping, No Charges policy adopted. Service charges are another case of creeping Big Brotherism -- "we know better than you what's right" from the company to the consumer. No, thanks. I get enough bullshit from other businesses; I don't need it from a place where, when I encounter it, my first and least reaction is likely to be heartburn.

Finally, says Mr. Shaw, most restaurants don't even offer service as good as at the average McDonald's. While it lacks style, service at McDonald's is far more reliable than the service at the average upper-middle-market restaurant...And come to think of it, at McDonald's there is no tipping. Of course, at McDonald's, you're talking about walking through a 40' x 10' segment of store, for the servers. Not comparable. And I have seen tip jars at fast food places (if not McDonald's), Mr. Shaw. Sorry, I'll tip. You eat at Big Brother's.

(no subject)

There definitely are no coincidences. Immediately before reading this entry by filkertom, I read this article excerpt, The Christian Paradox, from Harper's. Here's the key point: America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior.

Yes, Dobson's doublethink (go read filkertom's link!) is more stupidity than ignorance. But the two are tied intimately together. Here's how: "The end is in the beginning. If children are taught to ignore their minds and merely believe, grown men will never do otherwise." (from A Plague of Angels by Sheri S. Tepper)

(Note: I know a number of Christians who do NOT fit this description. You know who you are. Yes, you, even the ones living outside the US. This stuff above isn't you. I know it, and you know I know it. But you are clearly in the minority, which is a shame.)

Go read the excerpt. And then go reread the novel that is the origin of the world "doublethink." And then we can be sad and angry and scared for our country together (as if we're not, already).