To the Editor,
It was refreshing to read about the restaurant that is banning tipping and paying proper wages instead.
Years ago you had to pay tips to everybody: workmen, government officials, etc., to get anything done. Today, in all settings outside the hospitality industry, these payments go by their proper name of ‘bribes’ and are illegal. Isn’t it about time this anachronism is done away with in all transactions? Wait staff should not have to rely on the kindness of strangers.
I am not suggesting that we just do away with tipping and make no other changes. Hospitality staff’s wages would need be increased to reflect their proper worth. And prices for meals, rooms and tours etc., where tips are currently expected, would be raised accordingly.
This would also eliminate all the shenanigans happening today where employers confiscate tips to pay other workers or line their own pockets. Plus, it would force the hospitality industry to be honest about its prices.
Hopefully, the enlightened business plan of this restaurant will help society get rid of this last vestiges of our old bribery-based economy and force the hospitality industry to join the 21st century when it comes to treatment of staff and customers.
Steen PetersenNanaimo