5 ms·

Go to dinner in Europe. The wait staff is paid a humane wage and they won’t bother you at all unless you wave them over. This was my experience across Germany,

Go to dinner in Europe. The wait staff is paid a humane wage and they won’t bother you at all unless you wave them over. This was my experience across Germany, Poland, and Italy, so I assume it’s a continental preference. YMMV.

dvtrn 8y ago
This is my preferred method of service, not as a means of disparaging service industry workers (hell I still am to this day part time because I make one hell of an old fashioned #humblebrag) but rather in support of them. One shouldn't feel like they have to go and figuratively grovel their patrons into a tip by showing up every three bites to ask if I need anything, just to walk out at the end of their shift feeling like they've earned something. If there's ever a call for a workers revolution in food service (in addition to the Fight for Fifteen) sign me the hell up.
- zeth___ 8y ago
  A summary of why I don't expect good service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9PSg0sQyfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9PSg0sQyfs
hrktb 8y ago
You have the opposite problem though. Getting a waiter's attention is a PITA and you'll easily wait 15min to get more water or order something else. This is solved in Japan with the call button in family restaurants, I'd actually want an app to queue requests without needing the waiter to come to the table first.
- 8xde0wcNwpslOw 8y ago
  >You have the opposite problem though That is a partially solvable problem, though. While you cannot fix a restaurant when it fails at that, you can simply not visit there. Well, assuming not all restaurants fail at this (which at least isn't my experience).
Symbiote 8y ago
Yes, all of Europe. (Most of the world, in fact. The USA and Canada are the exceptions.) It's occasionally difficult to catch the waiter's attention if you want to pay in a hurry and it's a bit busy, but I prefer this to the unwanted interruptions from waiters in America.
adventured 8y ago
Wait staff in the US earn more than wait staff in Germany, France, and Italy. Your supposed humane wage is less humane than the US wages being paid. The cost of living is also higher in Germany and France than in the US. Median waiter pay in the US: $20,820; mean: $25,280 (per the BLS). Mean waiter pay in Germany (the median is always lower): $16,500 to $18,000 (depending on your source). Germany pays atrocious waiter wages. The US pays about 40-50% more at the mean for its waiters, while having a lower cost of living. If the German mean is that low, I hate to see the median ($14k?). The French average at near $21,000 is about 16% below the US average, and is barely above their required minimums: "French waiters are paid, on average, 1,495 euros [$1,749] a month, only a shade more than the statutory minimum wage, and they usually expect some sort of tip. " https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28793677 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28793677
- rdm_blackhole 8y ago
  I am French so I can respond to your comment. In France, tipping is not mandatory and if I do it I usually leave 1 or 2 euros in change. Waiters in France do not have to pay for their own health insurance. They can actually afford to go to the doctor and get help if they need it. No risk of medical bankruptcy here. Waiters get paid the minimum wage in low-end restaurants but make more money in the upscale ones. Waiters dont need to rely on the patrons' generosity to pay their bills.
- TheCoelacanth 8y ago
  You are leaving out that Germany and France are not as rich as the US and wages in general are lower. US, Germany and France have average wages for full-time workers or respectively 60k, 42k and 40k nominally.
- dmode 8y ago
  It's not really comparable as France has universal healthcare, massive social safety net, free education, cheap public transport. A waiter in the US has to buy insurance, own a car, and support themselves when a re establishment shuts down.

dvtrn 8y ago

This is my preferred method of service, not as a means of disparaging service industry workers (hell I still am to this day part time because I make one hell of an old fashioned #humblebrag) but rather in support of them. One shouldn't feel like they have to go and figuratively grovel their patrons into a tip by showing up every three bites to ask if I need anything, just to walk out at the end of their shift feeling like they've earned something. If there's ever a call for a workers revolution in food service (in addition to the Fight for Fifteen) sign me the hell up.

zeth___ 8y ago
A summary of why I don't expect good service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9PSg0sQyfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9PSg0sQyfs

hrktb 8y ago

You have the opposite problem though. Getting a waiter's attention is a PITA and you'll easily wait 15min to get more water or order something else. This is solved in Japan with the call button in family restaurants, I'd actually want an app to queue requests without needing the waiter to come to the table first.

8xde0wcNwpslOw 8y ago
>You have the opposite problem though That is a partially solvable problem, though. While you cannot fix a restaurant when it fails at that, you can simply not visit there. Well, assuming not all restaurants fail at this (which at least isn't my experience).

Symbiote 8y ago

Yes, all of Europe. (Most of the world, in fact. The USA and Canada are the exceptions.) It's occasionally difficult to catch the waiter's attention if you want to pay in a hurry and it's a bit busy, but I prefer this to the unwanted interruptions from waiters in America.

adventured 8y ago

Wait staff in the US earn more than wait staff in Germany, France, and Italy. Your supposed humane wage is less humane than the US wages being paid. The cost of living is also higher in Germany and France than in the US. Median waiter pay in the US: $20,820; mean: $25,280 (per the BLS). Mean waiter pay in Germany (the median is always lower): $16,500 to $18,000 (depending on your source). Germany pays atrocious waiter wages. The US pays about 40-50% more at the mean for its waiters, while having a lower cost of living. If the German mean is that low, I hate to see the median ($14k?). The French average at near $21,000 is about 16% below the US average, and is barely above their required minimums: "French waiters are paid, on average, 1,495 euros [$1,749] a month, only a shade more than the statutory minimum wage, and they usually expect some sort of tip. " https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28793677 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28793677

rdm_blackhole 8y ago
I am French so I can respond to your comment. In France, tipping is not mandatory and if I do it I usually leave 1 or 2 euros in change. Waiters in France do not have to pay for their own health insurance. They can actually afford to go to the doctor and get help if they need it. No risk of medical bankruptcy here. Waiters get paid the minimum wage in low-end restaurants but make more money in the upscale ones. Waiters dont need to rely on the patrons' generosity to pay their bills.
TheCoelacanth 8y ago
You are leaving out that Germany and France are not as rich as the US and wages in general are lower. US, Germany and France have average wages for full-time workers or respectively 60k, 42k and 40k nominally.
dmode 8y ago
It's not really comparable as France has universal healthcare, massive social safety net, free education, cheap public transport. A waiter in the US has to buy insurance, own a car, and support themselves when a re establishment shuts down.