Worst tippers

[Borisdog]

A sensible attitude. People don't have to like it but they should darn well respect it.

Nice sentiment - Wouldn't mind if that happened with a fair few Australian practices.

 

[Borisdog]

Paying some spotty teenager $45 an hour to clean tables on a Sunday is not my idea of a living wage

Got evidence for that one - If so I think I might have a crack

 

[JessicaTam]

Paying some spotty teenager $45 an hour to clean tables on a Sunday is not my idea of a living wage

I just looked up the hourly rate for an 18 y.o. casual level one food and beverage attendant (not a trainee or apprentice): $15.56 and on Sundays that rises to $21.79

For a 16 y.o. (closer to the 'spotty teenager' description) it is $11.13/$15.58

Using this website: P.A.C.T Pay Calculator - Find your award

 

[TomVexille]

Nice sentiment - Wouldn't mind if that happened with a fair few Australian practices.

I agree. As someone who has lived in several countries, you really should make an effort to embrace the culture of the country you choose to travel to or live in. That doesn't mean you have to throw away your own, just that you shouldn't feel the need to change where you go to.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I agree. As someone who has lived in several countries, you really should make an effort to embrace the culture of the country you choose to travel to or live in. That doesn't mean you have to throw away your own, just that you shouldn't feel the need to change where you go to.

Agreed! The issue really isn't tipping in the U.S. It's the American idea that they should take their culture to foreign countries and promote the debased tipping culture in places like Europe and Asia, etc.

 

[TomVexille]

Agreed! The issue really isn't tipping in the U.S. It's the American idea that they should take their culture to foreign countries and promote the debased tipping culture in places like Europe and Asia, etc.

Just like the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians ect did before them?

Culture, not tipping that is.

 

[Duffa]

Got evidence for that one - If so I think I might have a crack

Try the Queensland island resorts.
Oh no, wait. They all went bust - due to exorbitant staff costs....

 

[Borisdog]

Try the Queensland island resorts.
Oh no, wait. They all went bust - due to exorbitant staff costs....

Still waiting for the numbers/evidence.
Many of the "Queensland Island Resorts" are still running quite well, at least those that weren't cleaned up by cyclones.
I'm sorry that I appear to be picking on you, but I got a little sick of the "Look at the exorbitant wages in Australia" thing a long time ago. Mainly when mainstream media was reporting mine-site cleaners on $200K. I've done 30 years in mining, fairly senior, and have never seen any of the camp staff anywhere near that cash.
Hyperbole.

 

[Deleted member]

Customers (everywhere ) already subsidise 100% of staff wages. It's called doing business !! The way the Yanks do it is like a tax. Charge the customer a fair price to cover (all) costs and allow for a profit. The only way change will come is if there are enough people with the will to make it happen.

 

[TomVexille]

Customers (everywhere ) already subsidise 100% of staff wages. It's called doing business !! The way the Yanks do it is like a tax. Charge the customer a fair price to cover (all) costs and allow for a profit. The only way change will come is if there are enough people with the will to make it happen.

And nobody over there has the will. It's generally foreigners who aren't used to it who don't like it.

 

[amaroo]

Maybe they should get the airlines to run education videos on approach .. instead of showing someone throwing food into a quarantine bin they could show a waiter eating food out of a bin with a voice-over "this is what happens when you don't tip"

 

[N860CR]

I dare say staff wages had little to do with the Queensland resort closures. More the fact that people stopped going.

I really never understand this argument. Australia is one of the most expensive places in the world to live. Are you suggesting we just pay low end staff nothing and let them slip into poverty? What does that actually achieve?

 

[Himeno]

And nobody over there has the will. It's generally foreigners who aren't used to it who don't like it.

I know many Americans who don't like it.

 

[TomVexille]

I know many Americans who don't like it.

I can see from your earlier post that you obviously don't actually know anyone who has ever worked as a server in a restaurant, or have any idea how hard most of them work. Having actually lived in America, I don't really know anyone who feels so strongly about the subject that they come out and say they don't like it.

 

[Foreigner]

I read this on the internet:


Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living.

When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. So, unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This pass enger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself.

So I walked to the door and knocked.

"Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice.

I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pill box hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knick-knacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glass ware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, and then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness.

"It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated".

"Oh, you're such a good boy", she said.

When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a Hospice".

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening.

"I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long."

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door while the woman was seated in a wheelchair.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said.

"You have to make a living," she answered.

"There are other passengers," I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.

Behind me, a door shut.

It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware~~~ beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT 'YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

 

[Himeno]

I can see from your earlier post that you obviously don't actually know anyone who has ever worked as a server in a restaurant, or have any idea how hard most of them work. Having actually lived in America, I don't really know anyone who feels so strongly about the subject that they come out and say they don't like it.

90% of my friends are Americans. A number of them have worked in such jobs. Most of them hate the tipping culture and only do it because they are "forced" to.

 

[TomVexille]

90% of my friends are Americans. A number of them have worked in such jobs. Most of them hate the tipping culture and only do it because they are "forced" to.

So they would rather work for $11/hour and no tips?

 

[Duffa]

I dare say staff wages had little to do with the Queensland resort closures. More the fact that people stopped going.

People did indeed stop going. Because they couldn't afford $300 a night for an average room when they could fly to Angkor, Bali, Vietnam etc for half that price.
And the cost of those rooms in Qld was a direct reflection of staff wages which, as any business owner knows, is their biggest expense by far.