Restaurants replacing tips with service charge
By Chris Macias, Sacramento Bee
The rant from Mr. Pink in the 1992 flick “Reservoir Dogs” was delivered like a salvo against the service industry:
“… This tipping automatically, it’s for the birds,” said Mr. Pink (played by Steve Buscemi) before paying a breakfast tab with his gangster crew. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re just doing their job.”
Back then, Pink’s words seemed like a penny-pincher’s rationale. But fast-forward two decades, and a tipless restaurant world that Mr. Pink craved looks closer to becoming a reality.
A movement around Northern California, and the San Francisco Bay Area in particular, is shifting away from the time-honored practice of tipping servers to simply adding a service charge to the bill. Gratuity has long been included in the bill at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Yountville’s The French Laundry, and recently become the norm at such Bay Area restaurants as Comal and Trou Normand. In Sacramento, The Kitchen has traditionally tacked on a service charge in lieu of tipping.
This will go over better than paid parking.
Sun. Paid parking has been around for decades. Replace tipping with a service charge in lieu of paying to park. Have you discussed this with Kirkwood and Sierra that charge for parking now too? Ah, the tourists own this town, so why not give them free parking to boot?
FYI, can park for free at 99% of the available spaces at Sierra. There’s only a charge for that prime right up in front 1%. Which is still free if you drive a hybrid.
And I bet that’s actually the similar deal at Kirkwood, though haven’t been out there in a couple years?
R4t got home last night and went on a high and mighty better than you blog binge.
Rock lets turn the loop road into a parking lot and charge Vail for parking for the new summer adventure park. Thats one way to get a fee from Vail.
In some countries it is insulting to even offer a tip. How about giving servers a decent wage and eliminate tipping altogether? I agree, it is their job.
I think tipping is a way to show gratitude towards how well the server did. It’s “earned” ………
I waiter or waitress who make the dining experience excellent should get the reward – and the one who failed ………. well
@Mama Bear…agreed on the decent wage thingy.