Unionized Apple Store employees want to.... be tipped?!

[thewayne]

Wait a minute. NOW we're going to have to start tipping retail employees?!!!

Now, this is a bargaining item in contract negotiations. While I can agree with many of their asks, this one? This one I would say a hard 'no' to. In the USA, we tip in restaurants because, unlike most of the civilized world, we don't believe that working in a restaurant is a respectable job and career in and of itself, and we pay those people shit. Those restaurant wage floors 'because they make it up in tips' is utter bullshit and go back to discriminatory practices against black people.

But this? Retail doesn't pay great, and really doesn't make for a career outside of management, but they're paid better than minimum wage. And Apple Store employees I expect make well above minimum wage, though I do not know it for a fact. I would think Genius Bar people are paid quite well as they require very specialized and in-depth knowledge and have to pass exams to get the job.

But overall tipping for retail? No. The fundamental problem is our screwed-up economy here in the USA that demeans jobs and tries to suppress wages. I will gladly pay more for a meal in exchange for no tipping, or none of that 'surcharge for employee healthcare and wellness' tacked on to my bill. If I find that on my restaurant ticket, it's probably the last time that I'll eat there. Add a buck to every entry, $0.50 on everything else, and make it work based on additional revenue.

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-workers-union-in-towson-fighting-for-tipping-2023-5

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/23/05/05/2036208/unionized-apple-store-workers-want-you-to-start-tipping-them


In a related story, customers at SELF-SERVICE KIOSKS ARE BEING ASKED TO TIP! A tip is supposed to be a reward for good service, not for the privilege of us parting with our money! It's been seen at Newark Airport and sports stadiums. YOU ARE NOT BEING SERVED! Supposedly tips are being shared out, but do we know this for a fact?

No, if I tip, I want to see the person who is receiving it, and I want it to be justified. A self-serve kiosk is not justification saying that there are other people working there who will receive it.

https://www.businessinsider.com/customers-are-hesitant-to-tip-at-self-check-out-2023-5


While I am overall a big fan of unions, this is just overreach. Then again, if you don't ask for it, you won't get it, so what's the harm in asking?

And remember: Tip Your Local Librarian!

;-)

Comments

[silveradept]

Seems pretty clear to me at this point that there's a fundamental problem with the way wages are paid in this country if everyone, including the machines, is now asking for tips. I'll bet there's some profit or executive compensation or other such things that could very easily be redirected to paying the workers that make the thing work more. (After all, these self-check machines are so that places don't have to employ so many people, so for them to be asking for tips for those who remain is particularly egregious about putting the request in absolutely the wrong place. The CEOs and executives and franchise owners can afford a little more loss to pay their workers, rather than asking the customers to part with more of their money to make up for insufficient wages and wage theft.)

[thewayne]

In Japan, the president of Toyota's salary used to be limited to X times the wages paid to the lowest-paid worker.  So for the CEO to make more money, he has to lift all the boats in the company.  Pity it isn't a law here.  (No idea if it was a law or just a Toyota rule)

[silveradept]

That would certainly be helpful to try and contain the ways that companies like to reward the person who did the least work and penalize the people who do the most work, for the benefit of people who do no work at all.