Just as we've come to terms with the idea of a mandatory 20 percent tip in NY restaurants (and the fact that Steve Cuozzo of all people suggested it), San Francisco had to go and shake everything up. Some members of the SF service industry are reportedly pushing to make a 25 percent tip the standard. Is this one tip that intactivists will be able to get behind?
As SFist points out, the original Contra Costa Times piece names zero sources (the writer claims to have some inside of "high-class" SF restaurants), so this may just be the foodie press trying to drum up some controversy.
But the story is already started to drum up some national press. Gawker unequivocally doesn't like the idea: "Well, I'm sorry that working in the food service industry sucks, but you know what else sucks? The economy! We are the 99 percent! And so we should only have to pay the 15 percent!"
As a recent Wall Street Journal article points out, the idea isn't that far fetched: a growing number of establishments, particularly hotel bars and nightclubs, are including the 20 percent gratuity in their bills. The Ace Hotel got called out for this practice last spring—although they were only charging 18 percent gratuity.
So what would happen if a NY restaurant started slipping in a 25 percent automatic gratuity? We imagine there might very well be a new chant spreading through Zuccotti Park along the lines of, "1, 2, 3, 4, gratuities aren't for the poor."
