Reply to If you know restaurant pays staff $15-20/hr no tip right?

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[quote=Anonymous]I hate the current situation where everything costs more, plus there is often a service charge, plus there is still pressure to tip (and anything less than 20% is considered cheap). This is such a weird way to run the industry.

I am all for a living wage, which I agree is probably higher than $15/hr. I do think $18/hr is livable in DC and have done it (I have also made less than $15/hr in DC and it's not sustainable). You can't live alone but if you cohabitate with roommates or a partner (or both), don't have a car, and don't spend money on restaurants/bars/takeout (ironically), it's livable. Even better if your employer actually provides health insurance. You can't have kids on this income without help or a higher earning partner, but not everyone has kids, and the restaurant industry is not conducive to being a working parent anyway.

My issue is that it's just not clear. As someone who lives on a budget but does occasionally splurge by going to a restaurant or a bar, it's a little frustrating how unclear it is how much it will cost. Places are getting better about stating the service charge up front, but I'd still rather they just rolled it into the cost of food and drink -- why keep it separate if it will be added to every check? It feels intentionally misleading. Plus many places still do that thing where they don't put the prices of alcoholic beverages on the menu. This is ridiculous, especially when I'm buying a beer that can cost anywhere from $6 to $12 depending on the restaurant. To need to figure out tip on top of this?

I should not have to pull out a calculator and engage in extensive guesswork to figure out if I can afford to eat dinner at your restaurant. Or even just to estimate how much it will cost. I feel like the assumption is that everyone in DC is a lawyer or consultant with a massive amount of discretionary income, and it won't matter if dinner costs twice what they were expecting. It feels classist and manipulative, and it makes it much harder for me to listen to restaurant owners and managers talk about their business as thought they are uniquely beleaguered in the post-Covid economy. Just tell me how much your food and drinks cost! Why is that an unreasonable expectation?

/rant, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today[/quote]

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