John W. wrote:

> Declan Murphy <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<40D99EEE.2050505@hotmail.com>...

>>In principle a minimum wage should be a
>>living wage - if that can't be done without an increase in the
>>non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (nairu) then some form
>>of negative income taxation system would do the job.
> 
> I think tipping is no different than any other incentive-based system,
> at least in theory. Unfortunately it gets taken advantage of. Some
> people think they have to tip regardless of the service; some waiters
> think they have to get a tip regardless of the service. I personally
> don't want to wait tables; for one thing my balance sucks and I'd drop
> food everywhere and probably never get a tip.

In theory sure - the problems are as you described above. Probably more 
effective would just be to give all staff a percentage of the take each 
night, with the percentage increasing if sales cross pre-determined 
threshold. Similar to what Ryan suggested. That might be enough to 
encourage the staff to try to attract repeat customers, not spit in the 
food etc.

> Another good thing about tipping is that it should keep the costs down
> in the restaurant because the restaurant doesn't have as much
> overhead. Not sure if that's the reality or not.

I'd say its pretty close to reality. For the hospitality sector, 
particularly for food & beverage operations, the major outlays are for 
rent and labour. One thing that is noticeable in Sepponia is the higher 
ratio of waiting staff to kitchen staff, and the higher ration of 
waiters to tables/customers compared to Europe and Australia. It doesn't 
make the service noticeably better, but it does make it easier to get a 
waiter to your table etc.

-- 
"Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit/ No, don't you give 
me none more of that Old Janx Spirit/ For my head will fly, my tongue 
will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die/ Won't you pour me one more of 
that sinful Old Janx Spirit"