I’m pretty sure cruise ship employees get paid quite well. Room, board, and food are taken care of, and while they work like dogs, their paycheque goes a long way. This is all anecdotal friend-of-a-friend though.
Perhaps you should develop a skill set which includes empathy.
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seems a pretty double standard that the lunch truck workers actions were immediately assumed by “company x” to reflect on the lunch truck and they had him fired all the while their employees actions don’t reflect on them even though they were the ones acting like a-holes.
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This is the first time I’ve been in the US for seven years (and it’s the Midwest, so not necessarily representative). However, where are all the independent restaurants nowadays? I can hardly find a single restaurant in my area that isn’t a chain, and there are a LOT of restaurants and cafes in my area. It’s kind of difficult to tell the difference between different areas, as everywhere has a selection of 10-15 of the 25 chain restaurants or cafes out there. Knowing that chains tend to be less generous with salaries than independent places just makes it more depressing.
I know BoingBoing loves it, but I think Internet shaming for minor social infractions ends up doing more harm than good.
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It reflected on the company because the social media accounts the workers were are explicitly used to promote the company the worked for.
Why anyone would use a private account for this is beyond me, but if they agree to this, they can’t do stuff that reflects badly on their employer.
Firing of course is a waaaaay disproportionate response - but Americans seem to like firing poeple.
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Isn’t that against the Official California Restaurant Workers’ Solemn Oath of Ethics and Cleanliness?
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Why, yes, it is. You may have missed the sly winking emoticon at the end of the sentence.
Do you mean “lived comfortably,” or “technically stayed alive”? 
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Yeah, if you’re in the center states, the big box stores and chain restaurants are killing it right now, and hardly anyone is putting up a fight. Almost 30 years ago, they were concerned about the effects of the “brain drain” (smart graduates growing up and leaving the state), and now we’re seeing the result.
Actually, as a former (horribly paid) food service worker, and long-time member of the low-ish classes, my take on this incident/response has been fairly similar to NickyG’s.
Guess I’ll shuffle off to my under-bridge lair, then.
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Restaurant workers are not a homogenous group. Besides generally being bitter bastards
I spent quite a long time in that industry, and would typically jump to the support of any ill-treated fellow kitchen-monkey. This guy? Nah. Have you read his original linked article/post? He pretty clearly didn’t want to keep his job, but now wants to get credit for losing it. Can’t really have it both ways, IMO.
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“I think they call this concern trolling.”
You think wrong. The use of the word “trolling” has been completely bastardized to the point that any post that one’s in disagreement with gets so labeled. Ditto with tacking “concern” on as a prefix. That’s not what trolling is. Please stop contributing to the misuse of the word.
And the person that cooks your food at a restaurant doesn’t deserve your tip? The person who checks out your groceries doesn’t deserve your tip? By the same logic, you are one cheap person for not giving money to everyone who serves you in any capacity as part of their job.
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This is a weird situation, and no one comes out looking very good.
- Food truck operator, apparently relying solely on social media feedback to judge the performance of staff? How the hell can you punish someone for the color of food in an instagram photo, anyway (the whole point of that format is stylized, inaccurate color)?!? I’ve worked for owners who were over-reliant on comment cards, and it’s hellish. Most of that sort of feedback is, by definition, negative. And contradictory! Weee.
- Big shot masters-of-the-universe types who overreact to a negative mention on twitter, and apparently pressure an employer to fire the offending twit? Ugh.
- Seemingly entitled little whiner who deliberately sabotages his employment and then complains about the consequences? Where’s my violin? (Can’t find it, 'cause in this case it’s microscopic…)
Look. I don’t want to get in to the tipping debate (suffice it to say that I’m a default twenty-percenter). But the social requirement to tip in non-waitstaff situations is not firmly established in the US, and certainly not in the relatively new arena of food trucks. The mere presence of a tip jar is not a reliable indicator that the workers actually need said tips to build a full paycheck. I worked in a coffee bar setting for a minute, and although the wages weren’t excellent the jar was just gravy at the end of the day. Furthermore, many, many restaurants discourage tip-sharing between the kitchen staff and the waitstaff. I worked at a place that was one of the classier joints in my town, but paid the cooks for crap (I was only at eight-odd bucks after several years of excellent work, and even the head chef only pulled down about $25/hr.). But the waitstaff routinely walked with $300 – $500 a night, and only tipped out the kitchen on extremely rare occasions (usually due to specific customer direction). In a situation – like a truck – where the staff both takes and fires orders, things can get murky. I mean, do you tip your diner cook? Probably not, even though he/she might engage with you (including handing over your food!) at least as much as the server (who you do tip).
Dude clearly doesn’t understand the basics of food service. “The business practice of running a restaurant is to cultivate great customers and spurn bad ones,” he says. Um, no. The business of a restaurant is serving f*cking food to people, whether great or bad. At least in this reality.
I get that the whole social media angle really complicates things. The owner put himself at risk by building it so heavily into the business model, for sure, and I join many here in sort of relishing his miscalculation (as well as noting the lack of class on the part of G,L & Co.). But for an employee to go so specifically public about a “bad” customer is just not acceptable. Would it be okay to take out an ad in the local paper, badmouthing an otherwise lucrative customer who tipped poorly? Maybe from some sort of abstract social justice perspective, but not from a business one. Immediate termination.
Termination, we need to understand, that the employee fully admits he anticipated and had the luxury to afford. So, yay for him (I wonder how his former comrades are enjoying the increased scrutiny and pressure from above?). I think it’s safe to say that those decrying class oppression are barking up the wrong tree, at least this time. (And I assure you, as a 12+ year veteran of that scene, I’d normally join in.)
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Wait, how the Hell did this story suddenly get 155 comments?
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Regardless of how you feel about Wall Street, food trucks, tipping protocol or Twitter, can we all agree that the headline for the BB story is plain inaccurate?
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I love the many ways that cheapskates try to justify stiffing people whose livelihoods depend on tips. They’re just so… so… cheap!
If you run a business and expect tips, put up a sign or a jar indicating that tips are appreciated.
The general public isn’t supplied a list of places where they are expected to tip. That’s on the business owner.
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I overtip. I like to overtip. I feel good, despite generally being an awful person, and I get great service. Plus it leads to fun observable results. I had a favorite Chinese delivery place right out of law school, and I overtipped, and the delivery guy would bring free food the next time, and I would overtip more, and he would bring more free food, and so forth, until I moved away before the theoretical zero-point when he was bringing me ALL THE CHINESE FOOD and I was giving him all my money.
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Dickishness is not a zero-sum game.
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An argument can be made that tip-shaming is dickish.
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However, even if tip-shaming is dickish, a disproportionate response is dickish. A non-disproportionate-response might be a response tweet “hey, if you eat at @foodcart, and they don’t like your tip, they may tip-shame you. Act accordingly.” Calling up the employer and whining is disproportionately dickish and sensitive.
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Also it’s stupid and likely to have this reputation-catastrophic result.
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Not tipping on a $170 order that takes over the whole food truck is highly dickish.
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