OPINION:
Finally, a tip I can use (“I’m done tipping, and you should be too,” Web, Aug. 26)! I couldn’t agree more with Joseph Curl’s advice: no more tipping (within reason, of course).
Being that I worked as a bartender (retired now) for close to 40 years in Washington, I surprised myself by agreeing with Mr. Curl. Yet I made a very good living on tips, serving the famous (or, more appropriately for our capital city, the infamous).
Yes, restaurant owners should up the ante and pay their employees a living wage. But there are two schools of thought on working for tips.
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Most of the bartenders and waiters I’ve worked with over the years were college graduates. Yet they stayed in the restaurant trade because they made a very good living through slinging whisky and/or waiting tables.
Many of them preferred working for tips (supplemented by low wages) as opposed to working for a higher wages with no tips. They did better financially that way. A higher wage with no tips would be less annual income than a lower wage with more tips.
There’s a thin dividing line in there somewhere.
But this tipping on screens when receiving a sandwich or a cup of coffee is ridiculous. Since when do cashiers work for tips? And for handing someone a box of fried chicken or donuts or something that they had no part in preparing? Where does it all end?
In Europe, waiting tables and tending bar are considered honorable profession. Our European counterparts work for high wages with no tipping, making much more than American restaurant workers. We need to watch and learn.
NICK WINERITER
Ocala, Florida
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