08-14-2020, 07:40 PM
(08-14-2020, 02:42 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: Even if it were legal, it's shady as hell since customers obviously believe tips they leave go to the baristas, not the owners.
This is why I think it’s fraud. If I say I have some wasting disease and need money to buy a wheelchair, people are likely to give me some money. If the only reason they give me the money is because they believe my false statement that I have a wasting disease and need a wheelchair, then I’m defrauding them. Similarly here, putting out a tip jar is implicitly a statement that the tip jar money goes to the servers; some people might contribute to a tip jar for the owners or other staff, but many contribute because they believe it is going to the servers. So it looks like fraud to me.
If our legal system is incapable of recognizing this as fraud, there is something wrong with the legal system.