Restaurant Charges Customers Directly For Minimum Wage Increase in Minn.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/0...imum-wage-fee/

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — People eating at a Stillwater restaurant Tuesday noticed a new fee added to their bill.

Owners of the Oasis Cafe are charging a 35 cent minimum wage fee. They say it’s to offset the cost of an increased minimum wage for tipped employees.
Customers have mixed reviews about the new fee.
For some, the thought of charging customers this fee sent them to social media to vent.
“You’re essentially blaming customers for the increase when you charge for it the way you do,” one customer wrote on Facebook.
Another said: “It’s Oasis way of blaming our government for trying to set a fair living wage. It is political grandstanding.”
Oasis owners fired back on Facebook, saying: “Thumbing my nose at the law change, you’re right. Part of my thinking was to shine a light on this matter, which I truly believe is in the best interest of both my business and employees.”
Many eating at Oasis on Tuesday said it’s not a big deal to pay a little extra to keep a small business afloat.
“I don’t take issue with it really,” Jordan Felt said.
The Oasis management says they estimate the pay increase is costing them more than $10,000 a year.
People we spoke with say they support the businesses effort to keep the employees they have working.
“For a small business, I think that’s an OK thing, but if you are a larger company and you have the money and you’re just greedy and you don’t want to pay it yourself, then that’s a whole another story,” Markie Babcock said.
The owners say if Minnesota would pass a tip credit like 43 other states have done none of this would be necessary.
The owners were on vacation Tuesday but say they are looking forward to coming home to debate this hot button issue.

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I just thought it was an odd choice on how to implement this. I mean they could just bump the menu by $x and nobody would really notice, I mean prices at restaurants have gone up over the past 4 years anyway, so another increase wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. The other idea I was thinking that they could hold a Facebook contest to see which of the servers gets the axe. Would be much easier to fire politicians, imo.

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Originally Posted by 4Dragons

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/0...imum-wage-fee/

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — People eating at a Stillwater restaurant Tuesday noticed a new fee added to their bill.

Owners of the Oasis Cafe are charging a 35 cent minimum wage fee. They say it’s to offset the cost of an increased minimum wage for tipped employees.
Customers have mixed reviews about the new fee.
For some, the thought of charging customers this fee sent them to social media to vent.
“You’re essentially blaming customers for the increase when you charge for it the way you do,” one customer wrote on Facebook.
Another said: “It’s Oasis way of blaming our government for trying to set a fair living wage. It is political grandstanding.”
Oasis owners fired back on Facebook, saying: “Thumbing my nose at the law change, you’re right. Part of my thinking was to shine a light on this matter, which I truly believe is in the best interest of both my business and employees.”
Many eating at Oasis on Tuesday said it’s not a big deal to pay a little extra to keep a small business afloat.
“I don’t take issue with it really,” Jordan Felt said.
The Oasis management says they estimate the pay increase is costing them more than $10,000 a year.
People we spoke with say they support the businesses effort to keep the employees they have working.
“For a small business, I think that’s an OK thing, but if you are a larger company and you have the money and you’re just greedy and you don’t want to pay it yourself, then that’s a whole another story,” Markie Babcock said.
The owners say if Minnesota would pass a tip credit like 43 other states have done none of this would be necessary.
The owners were on vacation Tuesday but say they are looking forward to coming home to debate this hot button issue.

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I just thought it was an odd choice on how to implement this. I mean they could just bump the menu by $x and nobody would really notice, I mean prices at restaurants have gone up over the past 4 years anyway, so another increase wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. The other idea I was thinking that they could hold a Facebook contest to see which of the servers gets the axe. Would be much easier to fire politicians, imo.

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What will probably happen is the same thing that happened when the Papa Johns guy opened his hole saying Obamacare will cost 11 most cents a pizza. Most people thought that was worth it and wondered why he hadn't been charging 11 extra cents already and offering health care to employees.

Being a server sucks, I'd pay an extra 35 cents no problem.

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Originally Posted by ToasterOven

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Originally Posted by 4Dragons

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/0...imum-wage-fee/




I just thought it was an odd choice on how to implement this. I mean they could just bump the menu by $x and nobody would really notice, I mean prices at restaurants have gone up over the past 4 years anyway, so another increase wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. The other idea I was thinking that they could hold a Facebook contest to see which of the servers gets the axe. Would be much easier to fire politicians, imo.

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What will probably happen is the same thing that happened when the Papa Johns guy opened his hole saying Obamacare will cost 11 most cents a pizza. Most people thought that was worth it and wondered why he hadn't been charging 11 extra cents already and offering health care to employees.

Being a server sucks, I'd pay an extra 35 cents no problem.

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Brings up a good point though about our way of the tipping system as opposed to the now European way of just including gratuity in the overall bill. I wonder if that happened over there based on more governmental burden on the small business owners?

Such a retarded thing to do as it points it out to people they are charging more whereas raising the food prices on the menu like most restaurants do fools some people and the others just realize what the restaurant did there but most customers kind of expected it

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Originally Posted by 4Dragons

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Originally Posted by ToasterOven

What will probably happen is the same thing that happened when the Papa Johns guy opened his hole saying Obamacare will cost 11 most cents a pizza. Most people thought that was worth it and wondered why he hadn't been charging 11 extra cents already and offering health care to employees.

Being a server sucks, I'd pay an extra 35 cents no problem.

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Brings up a good point though about our way of the tipping system as opposed to the now European way of just including gratuity in the overall bill. I wonder if that happened over there based on more governmental burden on the small business owners?

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I would actually like gratuity added in, except for those rare times when you want to stiff a terrible server.

Maybe the restaurant lobbies got the gratuity included as opposed to raising wages?

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Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker

Such a retarded thing to do as it points it out to people they are charging more whereas raising the food prices on the menu like most restaurants do fools some people and the others just realize what the restaurant did there but most customers kind of expected it

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Yeah, I'd ask them for an itemized list of all expenses. How much of my sandwich is going towards food, or building maintenance or owner profit.

You've been paying directly for employee wages and don't even realize it.

All states have a law allowing servers to be paid less than minimum wage, provided tips make up the rest. So for the first $3/hr or so, tips are paying the servers' wage rather which otherwise the owner would have to do. This should be illegal.

It was a mortal lock that this thread was going to provide an opportunity for Druff to get out of tipping someone.

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Originally Posted by ToasterOven

It was a mortal lock that this thread was going to provide an opportunity for Druff to get out of tipping someone.

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Oh I posted this for Druff specifically. :)

Seriously though, it's really terrible that you are actually tipping the OWNER in many cases, and don't realize it.

I understand the spirit of the law (for example, not having to pay minimum wage to servers who are already earning very large tips on a regular basis), but this also allows small diner owners to basically pay their servers sub-minimum wage and basically confiscate a large percentage of the tips to pay the rest of the server's wage up to minimum wage.

I would amend this law to where the server has to be clearing a fairly high minimum amount in tips to be able to pay them that sub-minimum wage. So it would be acceptable to pay sub-minimum wage to a server averaging $20/hr in tips, but not one averaging $7/hr in tips.

Or just eliminate the sub-minimum wage altogether.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Seriously though, it's really terrible that you are actually tipping the OWNER in many cases, and don't realize it.

I understand the spirit of the law (for example, not having to pay minimum wage to servers who are already earning very large tips on a regular basis), but this also allows small diner owners to basically pay their servers sub-minimum wage and basically confiscate a large percentage of the tips to pay the rest of the server's wage up to minimum wage.

I would amend this law to where the server has to be clearing a fairly high minimum amount in tips to be able to pay them that sub-minimum wage. So it would be acceptable to pay sub-minimum wage to a server averaging $20/hr in tips, but not one averaging $7/hr in tips.

Or just eliminate the sub-minimum wage altogether.

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Even worse. In many small casinos in CA the house/floor-people take as much as 75% of poker dealer tips!

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Seriously though, it's really terrible that you are actually tipping the OWNER in many cases, and don't realize it.

I understand the spirit of the law (for example, not having to pay minimum wage to servers who are already earning very large tips on a regular basis), but this also allows small diner owners to basically pay their servers sub-minimum wage and basically confiscate a large percentage of the tips to pay the rest of the server's wage up to minimum wage.

I would amend this law to where the server has to be clearing a fairly high minimum amount in tips to be able to pay them that sub-minimum wage. So it would be acceptable to pay sub-minimum wage to a server averaging $20/hr in tips, but not one averaging $7/hr in tips.

Or just eliminate the sub-minimum wage altogether.

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I've been to places where the owner will work behind the bar and if you tip the owner, they keep it.

I usually stiff the owner big time on a tip if I know they are keeping it. Fuck them cause they are making money from me being at the bar/restaurant off whatever I buy and if they were hiring/scheduling properly they would barely have to cover. Typically I'm a way more then fair tipper though.

Druff, I own a restaurant and bar. WTF are you talking about? No one confiscates anything. It's true the waitstaff make a lower minimum wage, but nothing is confiscated and when you tip, you aren't subsidizing anything. If min wage was higher, the price of everything would go up - beer = more $$, food = more $$. So by your dumbass logic, you would never have to tip but all the food would cost a lot more to make up for this.

Ever been out to eat in Europe or even Canada?? LOL. What a cesspool of liberal bullshit the rest of the world is. The service is terrible, the cars are 3 feet long because gas is so expensive and there is no toilet paper because it is illegal to cut down trees.

Also minimum wage is a scam to enrich the unions whose contracts are tied to minimum wage. Min wage laws punish high school kids and other unskilled laborers the most imo. We would have more employees if minimum wage was less - we wouldn't have the SAME # of employees and have a lower payroll, we would have MORE employees, increasing productivity and in theory, increasing business and hiring more people and a HIGHER payroll. I honestly believe this would be true if there was no such thing as minimum wage. As a business owner of course, there is no minimum wage. If you aren't profitable you don't eat. Simple as that.

Not to mention the job belongs to the employer and the government has no business dictating the labor terms between 2 consenting adults. Why people prostrate themselves at the altar of government and yield on issues like wages, marriage is just disgusting. No one has any dignity. How pathetic to gleefully allow the government to dictate the terms of your marriage, your job, etc.

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Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker

I usually stiff the owner big time on a tip if I know they are keeping it. Fuck them cause they are making money from me being at the bar/restaurant off whatever I buy and if they were hiring/scheduling properly they would barely have to cover. Typically I'm a way more then fair tipper though.

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That is fucked up though because if a place is established and rolling in dough, the owner is not pouring the gin'n'tonics. If its a newer startup, a smart owner might be pulling double time, and working behind the bar at night to save on his labor cost, while he is pulling 80 hours a week. Stiffing him just hurts his business, a poor move if you enjoy the place, or if you ever want to go back there again.

EDIT: not sure if you were referring to Druffs comment or, if like I thought, if the owner is your server.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

You've been paying directly for employee wages and don't even realize it.

All states have a law allowing servers to be paid less than minimum wage, provided tips make up the rest. So for the first $3/hr or so, tips are paying the servers' wage rather which otherwise the owner would have to do. This should be illegal.

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Incorrect, Oregon has a set min. wage regardless of job. A couple other states do as well I believe.

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Originally Posted by gut

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Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker

I usually stiff the owner big time on a tip if I know they are keeping it. Fuck them cause they are making money from me being at the bar/restaurant off whatever I buy and if they were hiring/scheduling properly they would barely have to cover. Typically I'm a way more then fair tipper though.

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That is fucked up though because if a place is established and rolling in dough, the owner is not pouring the gin'n'tonics. If its a newer startup, a smart owner might be pulling double time, and working behind the bar at night to save on his labor cost, while he is pulling 80 hours a week. Stiffing him just hurts his business, a poor move if you enjoy the place, or if you ever want to go back there again.

EDIT: not sure if you were referring to Druffs comment or if like I thought, if the owner is your server.

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I agree with you and really should clarify better then. I know of a few businesses that are doing great and the owner stiffs the staff OR is too soft where he gives them way too many days off in the summer months because it's a family owned business where a bunch of the workers are his own kids, nephews, nieces, etc... Now because he hires like 90% family and friends when all these workers want off to go to places together he allows it because they are family so he covers for them when he could still hire outside of the family/friends circle so should I be tipping him a bunch especially when imo the stuff they have is over priced and the fact he is friendly but not the best bartender/server?

Based on these things is where I can debate not tipping as much but even so I am likely going 15% still for him and 20-25% on the traditional workers because I'm a more then fair tipper so when you consider that it's not too big of a deal.