LETTER TO WALL STREET JOURNAL
Dawn Lafreeda argues against doing away with the system of tipping in US restaurants, to be balanced by higher base wages. She claims servers would be worse off and would object to the change. As an owner-operator of 81 restaurants her views certainly deserve respect.
Dawn Lafreeda argues against doing away with the system of tipping in US restaurants, to be balanced by higher base wages. She claims servers would be worse off and would object to the change. As an owner-operator of 81 restaurants her views certainly deserve respect.
But I find them odd. I live here in Hong Kong where tipping is purely voluntary and in fact rare. Instead, restaurants usually add a 10% Service fee to the bill. This seems to work to everyone's satisfaction, servers, customers and owners alike. By contrast we find it discomforting to deal with America's tipping system. Judging by Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, many Americans do as well!
Perhaps Ms Lafreeda ought to treat herself to a holiday in Hong Kong to check out how our FnB system works here — which is, in short, very well.
Pf, etc
