Servers are not servants

[misanthrope]

A wine bar customer argued about one $6 item on his $300 check. It was something intended to help the employees and it spurred the customer to scrawl an expletive on his tab.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/wine-bar-customer-writes-expletive-182310939.html

"Servers are not servants," the column concludes. From my years in the service industry, you'd have a hard time getting folks in this Old South town to adopt that line of thought.

[JoeOtterbein]

1. K n R ! Thanks for posting! nt

[Hoyt]

2. I'd just pay it and not raise a stink. Is the 20% mentioned a tip or a

charge that goes to owner? Fine with a 20% tip going to staff, and might add a bit more.

Honestly, I’d build the 2% in prices and then tout fact employees get health insurance, paid leave, etc.

[Deuxcents]

3. They are not servants

I was a server for banquets n a very nice restaurant on Sanibel a while back. My experience with other servers was some going for higher education as the hours helped their schedule. Some like me, supplementing while getting trained for a new career. Others had kids and it worked out with the schedules. Servers get paid crap wages and the side work at 2$ an hour is ridiculous. Clean up before an after and making 25 customers all happy at one time is an art. Tip your servers. It was a humbling experience until I got my license but I stayed for almost 2 years .. the staff was great and the manager was always with our back. Screaming kids n rude and obnoxious people .. agg

[2naSalit]

4. It's everywhere.

[Doodley]

5. I can see why the customer could take exception. Do I charge my clients

a surcharge to pay for my health insurance? No. There shouldn't be hidden charges like that. It is unethical. Make all charges clear before providing the service and then there can be no reason for dispute.

[Hekate]

7. A better question is to ask what wage the servers are being paid and what happens to their tips

Start there

[Celerity]

10. it was not hidden, it was right there on the bill

[Doodley]

14. Yep, but that isn't upfront. Do you pay a surcharge for the man who

fixes your car to pay for health insurance? How would you feel if you were told you'd need to do that after you get the bill?

[Celerity]

16. I live in Sweden, we have almost free universal healthcare. and our servers are paid a living

wage, so do not have to beg and fight for tips, nor worry about healthcare expenses.


IF I was in the US (I went to grad school in Los Angeles, where I was born) and saw that 2% surcharge for their health insurance, I would NEVER begrudge them it at all. I think it is a decent idea for a fucked up, broken, wealth-extracting, for-profit US healthcare system.

[Doodley]

23. I lived most my live in UK. I haven't had healthcare for most of the time I have

lived in USA. It is regarded as a basic human right in the UK. But now I am in USA, should I pay HAVE TO pay HIDDEN charges to pay for other people's healthcare?

[Celerity]

26. Again, they were not hidden. nt

[Doodley]

27. Yes, they were, unless the customers were told about the extra charge in advance.

If, after providing a service, I tell my clients I am adding 3% to their bill to pay for healthcare or whatever else, that is a hidden charge.

[Disaffected]

6. Sounds like buying a car at a dealership.

Unexpected charges tacked on at the last minute...

Poor business practice IMO.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. Yep.

[gulliver]

25. Agree

The owner should have just raised prices (as suggested in the article by some) rather than adding a surcharge without upfront notice.

[róisín_dubh]

9. Pay servers a living wage, FFS.

I used to wait tables in NJ and CA (ages ago) and the hourly was $2.13. I said I’d rather be homeless than do it anymore, I quit. I would never, ever work in a restaurant in the US again.
That said, people who treat servers, cashiers, etc badly are trash human beings.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

13. Agreed!

[sir pball]

15. The biggest obstacle to paying servers high wages is...servers.

Danny Meyer tried it in NYC a couple of years ago, eliminated tips and started servers at well over $30/hr - he lost out to the tipped competition where a server can net $3-500 for a 6 hour shift. I've been in the back of house for 25+ years, that didn't surprise me in the least. I'm all for no tips and pay more, as it disproportionately benefits us cooks, but there's very few servers who agree with me.

The $2.13 isn't the "minimum", BTW - it's the baseline a server gets paid by the restaurant but if the tips they make don't push their income over the local minimum for regular employees, the restaurant must make up the difference. A server who works a 10 hour shift in a town with a $16 min and theoretically makes $0 tips will get paid $150 for their time - do y'all really think it would be $21.30?

[misanthrope]

19. I spent years and years in the F&B biz

I worked a variety of jobs in bars and restaurants, at every level possible, fast food to fine dining. Server, bartender, bar back, manager, cook, door man, janitor, performer, if it's there to be done in a bar or restaurant, then I've done it.

Very few to none of the establishments adhere to the labor laws saying they must make up the difference so servers earn minimum wage. I've seen people fired for inquiring about it. The restaurateurs laugh about any threats of retaliation from official agencies. It's easy for them to sidestep it.

I can assure you that outside of NYC, very few servers are earning $300 to $500 every time they show up for work, especially now. In smaller cities, and especially in suburbs/exurbs, the culture for dining is far different. Patrons don't consider the tip as "part of the cost of the meal," but rather an unearned boon and feel servers should fall prostrate every time they receive a penny.

The point of the column was that this diner got so bent out of shape about such a proportionally tiny charge that it engendered the customer's hatred. Their mumbling about "socialism" was the icing, because this wasn't socialism by any measure. The server was working for the health care assistance. The private business owner was supplying the opportunity and benefit. The public sector wasn't involved at all.

The socialism dig was simply a trait of a twisted culture that believes any type of dignity thrown to those below certain esteem status is wrong. Americans talk about being "bootstrappy" but the reality is we're more interested in putting down others than pulling ourselves up.

[sir pball]

22. I wasn't talking about NYC alone.

From Torrington CT to Altoona PA to Skowhegan ME, about 80% of servers I've known want to be tipped.
I don't doubt wage theft exists, and it's a huge problem - but for servers it's a very simple "my paycheck is for $4.63 an hour, minimum is $9" unless the restaurant owner and local DA are in cahoots, and even then - I know for a fact, having processed payroll a lot, if you report to the IRS that you have people making less than minimum, you're gonna have some uncomfortable questions to answer.

At any rate, as I said, I'm 1000% in support of ending tipping and paying everyone a fair wage, with the cooks and other back of house deserving as much, if not more, of course - since serving is just glorified retail and cooking actually takes skill.

[misanthrope]

31. Unscrupulous restaurant owners

If you're not motivated to be honest with your workers, you aren't going to be honest with the IRS or local law enforcement. In places where conservative philosophies hold sway, minimum wages are as low as workers' rights and the willingness of authorities to enforce labor laws. If you're in a place where the regional culture is a product of a feudal system, that might be magnified even more.

Having worked both sides of an expedition window, I think there should be more equity in their pay scales. That said, I always refrained from saying servers or cooks, one or the other took more skill or was harder. Each has their own form of stress and their own skill sets. I viewed us all as teammates.

[canetoad]

11. Of course they are not

Sometimes I really want to bang some heads together when I see patronising, cruel behaviour towards servers.

I had a thirty year career as a chef in some very big venues and some small and funky ones. It was in a small funky cafe that a server said to me, " Everyone does something - they are artists, models, actors - me, I'm just a waitress.'

I always had an espresso and a BLT ready for the weekend morning shift!

[akbacchus_BC]

12. I agree, servers are not servants. If anyone feels that way, order the food and drinks

and take it to your table. If memory serves me right, if the table has over eight people, the tip is automatically built into the tab. A tip is still left on the table by those who are not paying.

[Aristus]

17. The Old South misses its slaves.

They have to have someone to boss around with impunity, or they just can't get through their day.

[misanthrope]

20. Amen to this

The culture that sprang from the Old South feudal system still exists. Its form has shifted and modernized in some ways, but it is still out there, bubbling around. I'll bet if you got servers from Savannah or Charleston in a room and let them speak under assured anonymity, the stories they tell would make your blood pressure rise.

[JHB]

18. Customer was told charge was for employee health but was "muttering about "socialism,""

More proof, as if we needed any more, that "socialism" is just a word assholes throw at anything they don't like.

What part of "private business paying for services" is "socialism", Mr. Grinch?

[misanthrope]

21. Exactly, that was why I linked it

And the observation seems to have eluded many of the replies in this thread. It's not about whether the charge was hidden or just, it's about the patron's reaction and the use of that word.

[ripcord]

24. $300 for some caviar, two entrees and a few glasses of wine for him and his date

If you are charging that much for food pay your employees a living wage so that tips are extra and not part of their pay.

[Ms. Toad]

28. This entire dispute seems premised on the employer trying to shift its responsibilities

to provide health care for its employees onto its customers.

If the business has fewer than 25 employees, it is likely taking a tax credit of up to 50% of the cost of the insurance costs - so it is likely taking a tax credit for the 2% it charged the customer. If it can't afford to provide health insurance, it should raise its prices to cover the costs - not tack a surcharge onto the bill.

Any business with 50 employees is required to provide insurance - so the owner's main point is out of date.

Starbucks and Amazon both provide health insurance - Starbucks at 25 hours per week. The cost for both is less than $100/month - and out of pocket expenses for the year are capped at no more than $3500.

This place doesn't have the buying power of Starbucks or Amazon, but they also charge significantly more for their products.

Shame on the employer for shifting their burden to the customer as a surcharge. Health insurance is the employer's responsibility - just like rent, wages, raw ingredients. Build it into your prices rather than shoving the responsibility for begging for health insurance - and dealing with angry customers - off on your employees.

The problem here doesn't match the title - this has nothing to do with servers being servants.

[Ron Green]

29. Coupling health care to employment is bullshit,

and of course it’s the American Way.

Money skimmed off to provide “health care” to workers is money given to insurance companies: Funding the investment schemes that Wall Street and D.C. maintain to move money upward.

Single Payer fixes so many things. Everybody in, nobody out.

[dumbcat]

30. Hmmmmm, "Servers are not servants"

I'll admit that made me think a bit. My first thoughts were linguistic. Server and servant from the same root concept. Why wouldn't a server be a servant? What does "to serve" mean? What is the definition of a servant?

But it also made me wonder about when/why did the term "server" become the accepted term rather than the waiter/waitress terms of my youth (a long, long time ago.) I know there was some stigma attached to the older terms, but I'm not sure why. I don't follow the restaurant industry, and almost never go to a restaurant. I haven't been in a sit-down restaurant in over two years, and only seldom before that. Maybe go to a drive thru for a Taco Bell or something every six months or so. I've never worked as a server, and I don't think I even know anyone that has.

I guess I have led a sheltered life. I'm sure there are some here that can enlighten me.

[misanthrope]

32. Terminology shift

"Server" is gender-neutral. That became a standard in the F&B business several decades back.

"Server" and "servant" might have an etymological kinship, but we're talking about a cultural connotation. We have given one label more esteem than the other.