Feedback: Wage laws put tips in the balance

News that a Seattle restaurant would raise menu prices and eliminate tipping while raising staff wages to $15 in order to adjust to the city’s new minimum wage law made us wonder how that approach would go over in Spokane. So we asked our Facebook friends whether they’d support or oppose a similar approach at Spokane restaurants. Here’s a sampling of the more than 200 replies we received:

Tiffany Mayo

Oppose

Jess Ponikvar

I support whatever is right for our local community. And I’ll leave that opinion to the local business owners and professionals that work these jobs. I think minimum wage should ALWAYS be re-evaluated. And the fact that this is happening at the local level rather than federal should please all of us.

Mary Berry

I’d be OK with the change

Tyler Freeman

Doesn’t really matter to me. If all the restaurants raise their menu prices I’ll just cook at home. Only thing I would lose is the convenience of going out to eat.

Steve Goped

How about instead of sticking it to the little guys (your paying customers) the higher-ups and business owner take a pay cut to offset the costs. We the paying customers shouldn’t have to be the ones paying your staff. We have been offsetting their pay for long enough by tipping when all along you should have been paying them a living wage

Gene Brake

I think this should be the norm across the board.

Chris Newberry

Stupid stupid stupid

Tanya Murphy

I’d support it … but only if the other industries paying minimum wage paid the same thing

Allyson Bradley Hansen

I think most restaurants are way overpriced already. I will be cooking at home

Steve Berde

Definitely support. If the service and food isn’t good, management will soon know it.

Ed Crosby

That is the norm in the rest of the world

Nancy Pemberton Figy

Nope!

Rick Tappan

I’d be pretty upset if I was wait staff at this restaurant. When I was a waiter more than fifteen years ago, I’d usually make closer to 35-50/hr. That’s a huge pay cut for wait staff. While some diners and other cheap restaurant waiters may not be as affected, this will cut into their take home. Not to mention the fact that waiters were only required by law to claim 10% of tips.

Brian Sawatzki

I won’t support any restaurant that takes away tipping. No tipping = subpar customer service. They are getting paid anyway so why try hard to please the customer?

Betty Conwell

I want to decide if service was worth a tip and a good waitress in a nice restaurant makes more than $15 an hour. Leave it alone.

Robin Ball

I usually tip the same for all service as I understand most have to pool tips then pay taxes, so the no tip makes sense to me. Staff should make a living wage.

Patricia Rudine

As long as staff gets a living wage, I’m for it. That’s what’s important. Good employees will always give great service. But rather than raise prices, reduce portions. Most restaurants I’ve gone to charge too much and deliver too much food. I always end up taking a share of it home to eat later and with the obesity problem, portion control should be the main focus of every restaurant.

Susan Gover

No, no, and HELL NO!!!!!!

Gordon Kendall

I would strongly support it.

Sam Crawford

I think this is a great idea.

Cris G Moore Kaminskas

Depending on how much prices go up this might kill a lot of restaurants. For dine-in places, I usually tip 20%, so if the prices go up 20% or less it would be a wash for me.

Lamonte Johnson

I would prefer the wage increase and still allow tipping for special workers.

Bethel Hoffman Adam

As a server I oppose. I feel like the better service I try to give the better tip I will get. The $15 an hour may limit my possible income. There are some areas the government needs to stay out of and sit-down, full-service restaurants is one of them

Jennifer Fletcher

Having worked in many restaurants, I would totally support this. Servers and bartenders work a lot harder than people think they do and then they’re left to the mercy of other people’s good (sometime not good) tipping graces.