New - The things that really annoy you

[BillyDee]

Doesn't the USA have minimum wage laws?

I believe employers are able to pay less, if tips make up the deficit?

 

[pagey]

I believe employers are able to pay less, if tips make up the deficit?

so tips have no benefit untill your given enough to clear the employers liability?

Eg. If I was on 10 dollars an hr, and recieved only 9 dollars in tips, then the employer only has to pay 1?

 

[Alan]

so tips have no benefit untill your given enough to clear the employers liability?

Eg. If I was on 10 dollars an hr, and recieved only 9 dollars in tips, then the employer only has to pay 1?

Yes, technically, if the minimum wage in the state is greater than your hourly rate (only legal when tips are involved), you're required to report all tips received that put you above said minimum. I've never worked a tipped job that actually took that rule seriously but they are out there.

Minimum wage in NC is still $7.25/hr last I checked, and it's not uncommon for servers to be paid a baseline in the neighborhood of $2-$3/hr with tips "expected" to make up the difference. If they don't, though, you're SoL and just have to accept the pittance.

Edit: There may be some legal recourse if you don't end up at minimum wage, but I'd guess most folks won't risk bringing attention to it for fear that the rule I mentioned above also starts getting taken seriously, and you can kiss your "good" tip days goodbye.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

$7.25 is £5.59 at today's exchange rate.

UK minimum wage for over 21 year olds is rising to £12.21/hr from April.

 

[Alan]

My dad was in catering a lifetime, as a young waiter/restaurant manager when the pay wasn't great he relied on tips to boost his earnings. When he was older and had his own restaurants he used to ask for all tips to be put into a pot so that he could split out and ensure his kitchen staff got a slice (pardon the pun) too

If tips have to be a part of the economy, this is the way to do it IMO. Pool everything, then divide up by hours worked across the staff.

 

[Alan]

$7.25 is £5.59 at today's exchange rate.

UK minimum wage for over 21 year olds is rising to £12.21/hr from April.

Disgusting isn't it.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Disgusting isn't it.

It really is!

My Dad spends 2-3 months of the year in Texas and he says the cost of living isn't markedly any cheaper there than it is here. Probably more expensive in some aspects.

Plus the whole healthcare thing on top if you're resident in the US.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Pretty certain I was on more than £5.59/hr when I briefly worked in Wetherspoons after graduating in 2003 (wasn't a career move, it was a couple of months waiting for my actual post-uni job to start )

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Pretty certain I was on more than £5.59/hr when I briefly worked in Wetherspoons after graduating in 2003 (wasn't a career move, it was a couple of months waiting for my actual post-uni job to start )

Given your hatred for all things Wetherspoons, I love that you worked in one.

Although that's probably a big reason for the hatred....

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Given your hatred for all things Wetherspoons, I love that you worked in one.

Although that's probably a big reason for the hatred....

Mate, I had about £27 in my bank account and two months until my start date...

Pretty sure it would never happen now. What happened was I went into Wednesfield which was the nearest Job Centre from my house at the time (it's not there now), to see if there was any scope to claim financial support of any kind as a new graduate. They were absolutely no help and so in a sulk, went in the Royal Tiger for a cheap pint and a quiet seethe. Got chatting to the staff and they offered me a trial shift the next evening.

It was shit but hey, you've got to do what you've got to do. The height of the Vodka/Red Bull craze that summer, cleaning that shit off tables was fucking grim. No TV, no music, so if it was quiet it was seriously mind-numbing. Spent most early shifts telling people that no, you can't bring in stuff from Greggs to eat here, being as we sell breakfast and all that.

Proper zero hours stuff too before they became commonplace, you might have 6 hours of shifts, you might have 25 that week, who knows. No real scope to turn anything down either. Do it or find somewhere else to work.

 

[sycophantia]

When I was temping after another redundancy in 2012, I was getting £6.08 minimum rate, although it did rise to about £6.23 later in the year (I think). Interesting it's doubled in 12 years.
I used to dislike the minimum rate because initially gave employers license to drop their rates. Now it seems like a decent rate.

 

[Keef]

When I was office bound working for and employment agency in Lincoln for a while around 2000, we were paying £5ph to staff, we were the best paying agency in the city, and had a long waiting list of people wanting to work for us.
We were changing £20ph hour to companies to employ our staff, boss was coining it in.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

To be fair on Wetherspoons:

Negatives:

- Brexity melted Thundercat cunt of an owner
- Tend to attract atrocious clientele
- Can and do put decent independent pubs out of business because they're massively undercutting them on price

Positives:

- Have contributed in at least some way to decently brewed beer becoming mainstream over the last 20+ years
- They do actually pay their staff reasonably, all things considered
- They do save nice old buildings from being condemned and written off and do a decent job of converting them in some spots

I save my ire primarily for the Moon in town because that is just an absolutely horrible pub. No redeeming features whatsoever, it's dirty, it's dark, it's horribly designed and it's always been run atrociously, they have never ever had a clue. I have been in some nice Wetherspoons elsewhere in the country, they'd always be way down my list of places to go because I'd much rather give someone else my money, but they're not ALL terrible.

 

[Del Woppio]

I probably eat in spoonies every 4-6 weeks tbh, there's something there for everyone, the quality is always decent, and it's good-excellent value

 

[Keef]

The ritz in Lincoln high street was an old cinema, had a policy of no tv, no music and 4 huge bookshelves as you walked in the door, with a take one bring one, and yes lots of punters sat inside reading, chatting and people watching the high street, did get rammed on home games day as it’s a ten minute walk to sincil bank and 5 minutes to the station

 

[sycophantia]

I probably eat in spoonies every 4-6 weeks tbh, there's something there for everyone, the quality is always decent, and it's good-excellent value

Yeah I don't mind Spoons, I agree with DW about the owner but the food I've had in there is never terrible, usually ok and terrific value. I try never to go in there after 6pm though.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I probably eat in spoonies every 4-6 weeks tbh, there's something there for everyone, the quality is always decent, and it's good-excellent value

Nah, I wouldn't be entertaining the idea of food there other than as a last resort. It's slam in the microwave crap, I mean you do get what you pay for but there's got to be a better option.

Their breakfast will be their top seller by some distance but it's so poor. Any halfway reasonable cafe will knock that out of the park and I'd much rather pay the extra couple of quid.

 

[Del Woppio]

Half a piri chicken and chips and coleslaw with a pint for £9! Bargain. Weirdly I've never been unhappy when I've had the steak either. Don't get be wrong, I'm not talking spoonies for date night, but it's sound when you're out with the folks/sprogs

 

[sycophantia]

Nah, I wouldn't be entertaining the idea of food there other than as a last resort. It's slam in the microwave crap, I mean you do get what you pay for but there's got to be a better option.

Their breakfast will be their top seller by some distance but it's so poor. Any halfway reasonable cafe will knock that out of the park and I'd much rather pay the extra couple of quid.

That's fair but I've had much worse food in other establishments for double the price. As I said it's not great food but it is consistently OK, in the ones I've been in anyway.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Oh yeah, that's fair. There'll be other bog standard chain pubs where you're paying more for less (in terms of volume and quality).

Del "Fake Nandos" Woppio

To be fair I last ate there in about 2013 when Darlo dragged me in that fucking shithole in town, as he tended to do back then. Philly cheesesteak baguette or similar and it was absolutely dismal, it might have only cost about £4 or something but it wasn't worth 40p.