Random Rant

Some companies should not be entitled to do business. 

Probably a bit of a harsh statement, but I don’t feel that it is untrue.  Here are my feelings regarding things:

1.  If you cannot afford to pay your employees Federal minimum wage, then you cannot afford to be in business.  Too bad, so sad, sucks for you.  But honestly, restaurants are making a killing off of the backs of their servers by paying them slave wages at $2.13/hour.   That might be fine if the restaurant is a busy one, well-managed and able to provide a decent crowd reliably.  However, restaurants which are slow, poorly managed, and unvisited are not paying their staff, and they are not bringing in the customers to ensure that the tips are sufficient to justify it.  Tips should be considered ‘commission’ for a job well done, not part of the hourly wage of servers.  So truly, if you can’t pay your employees minimum wage, then you don’t deserve to be in business.

2.  If you, as a customer, go out to eat in an area where you know that the restaurants are scumbags who pay their servers $2.13/hour, and you cannot afford to leave a tip if you get decent service…then you cannot afford to go out to eat.  No, customers should not have to pay the salary of the server, not when they’ve already paid for their meal…and in a perfect world they would not.  However, we don’t live in a perfect world.  We live in a world where servers are treated like slaves by the restaurants and you, the customer, are basically paying their living salary.  If the server treats you well and provides good service, then leave a decent tip.   And a tip to some of you cheapskates:  a tip is not a religious pamphlet telling the server about your religion of choice.  This is not the place to proselytize.  If you want to impress the server about your religion…leave the pamphlet and a 40% tip.   That will make them think a lot more highly of you and your religion than leaving a pamphlet AS your tip.

3.  Any employer who cancels their employees’ insurance without notifying them is no longer going to receive my business (if I know about it).  So several restaurants that I enjoy are now on my “no, I’m afraid I don’t eat at that chain” list.

Yes, there is a reason for this rant.