Minimum wages and universal basic income

[danbrotherston]

Second, "crap service" = "crap tip"...no, If I have a plumber come and work on my plumbing and I am unsatisfied with his work, I still pay him.  If I buy food from the grocery store and I am unsatisified with the food, I still pay for it. I can complain, but I am not entitled to labor for free.

I don't think I should be the one paying for that labor, but seeing as how I am, I don't think I have a right to deprive someone of their wages based on my whims.

Actually, you (or I) should be the one paying for that labour -- we should just be paying for it as part of the price of the product (the meal).

But, regarding the crap service/crap tip, that then also implies that fabulous service shouldn't merit a fabulous tip, either. Because the tip is either a (fixed) part of the server's compensation, or it's a reward for good service. But blending the two makes it worse yet.

Yes, this is how businesses work, I understand that.

But I am not negotiating or choosing what to pay an employee of a different business, that's the job of the business owner, and they should protect their employees from my (the customer's) irrational whims.

I absolutely agree, I don't tip more for "fabulous" service either, I *might* if tipping was a reward for extrodinary service...but that should happen once or twice a year at most....maybe a half dozen times if you eat out (or whatever service we are discussing) very frequently--like, more than weekly. To put a number on it, I'd argue if you think you get extrordinary service more than 1 in 10 cases, then your standards are wrong (interestingly, this relates to an earlier discussion where "mediocure" is seen as "bad" as opposed to "average" which the word actually means).

But this is not what we have now. Right now, I feel like people who like tipping, come in two groups, the first, are the kind who like to "get deals", i.e., they want to pay for special service, they like the idea of slipping the waiter a twenty for a "faster" table.  Just something they like.

Another group, I suspect just like to feel they have control over something...

I dunno, that's just speculation. But I don't think anyone who supports tipping as we currently have it, supports the current system because they want to reward fabulous service.