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Comment by _zoltan_ | Hacker News Reader

finally. they should pay employees a better wage instead of relying on patrons to pay the tips (which might or might not end up with the employees...)

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I think you'd be very surprised to learn that in a lot of cases, tipping pays much better than whatever a "reasonable" hourly wage for taking an order and carrying food to a table would be. If you're serving three tables that each have $100 checks and you get at 15% tip, that's $45/hour... yes it may average out higher or lower but you're not gonna like how much eating out costs if employers are expected to pay the higher end of what a server can make (spoiler: waiters will demand that).

A famous recent example, the South Park guys bought a restaurant and eliminated tips with a very nice $30/hour wage. Seems pretty good, doesn't it?

Guess what? The waiters demanded a return to tipping[0]!

0: https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/workforce/casa-boni...

From the article: “Of 256 employees, 93 were a part of the shift and only two said they were unhappy about it, management said at the time.”

in Switzerland we almost never tip.

How much do you pay for a standard cup of coffee?

around 3 to 5 CHF, depending on the place, and what kind of coffee you want to drink.

remember, this is Europe - the coffee is not made the same nor looks or tastes the same as you get in the US. it's mind boggling to me that people get a 16oz "cup of coffee", black.

This would be at least €3 euro versus €1.60 in Spain (out of the touristic circuit, no tip expected). Tipping in Switzerland would add a surcharge to the surcharge.

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