Restaurant bill's including automatic gratuity (tip)

When someone goes out to eat at a restaurant usually the person waiting on them is making $2.13 per hour.

They rely solely on the customer's tip to servive.

If most restaurant's automatically add a 15-20% tip to parties of 8 or more, why not be universal and add it to all bills?

There needs to be some assurance for these people that at the end of the week, like the rest of working American's, that they can pay their bills.

Greetings.

I would like to thank my opponent for starting this debate and would like to thank the voters for reading and choosing to vote based on who makes the better argument. With that said, let us proceed.

First, the entire idea of tipping is basically an appeal to pity. Many consumer come into the restaurant thinking "Oh, he/she is only getting paid $2.13 per hour, so I think I'll show how good of a person I am by going out of my way to provide him/her with extra money." Unfortunately, the consumer fails to realize that consumers are the very reason tipping has become so mandated within our society. The REASON the employers even pay their employees that much is because they know a majority of the customers are going to fall for that guilt trap (or fall for some other superficial aspect) and pay 115-120% of their meal's price on average. However, if we (as the consumers) were to protest against this guilt trap, restaurants would have no choice but to start paying their employees minimum wage or more.

Furthermore, studies have shown that most customers don't even determine their tips based on the quality of the actual service.

New York Times: "Rather, customers are likely to tip more in response to servers touching them lightly and crouching next to the table to make conversation than to how often their water glass is refilled - in other words, customers tip more when they like the server, not when the service is good. (Mr. Lynn's studies also indicate that male customers increase their tips for female servers while female customers increase their tips for male servers.)" (1)

For the most part, these "workers" aren't really even earning most of their income. By the way, if you further read my cited article, you'll notice that 26 BILLION dollars goes into tipping every YEAR in the United States alone. That's a lot of money for shooting the breeze with customers, flirting, and being well groomed, don't you think? =D

My opponent makes the claim that most restaurants automatically add a 15-20% tip to parties of 8 or more. First, I would like him to back this up with credible statistics. Second, I would like to know whether or not he means that restaurants should make this mandatory for all parties of 8 or more, or merely parties in general. Some clarification during round 2 would be nice.

Finally, it is the restaurant employees who CHOOSE to work at restaurants; they come in knowing the gamble they are taking. We (as the consumers) should not be OBLIGATED to fall into the restaurant employer's traps created to swindle the consumers out of their money under the guise of "pity."

If a customer wishes to tip, that is fine. However, based on the information that I've presented, if a customer is FORCED to tip, it is unjust on the restaurants part.

In spite of the information I've presented, it is my opponent's job to prove that gratuity (tips) should become automatic. He has yet to do this and I assure you that he will not be able to do this in round 2 either.

Source:

1) http://www.nytimes.com...

It's a shame my opponent was not able to continue this round. Please extend all of my arguments to round 2.

It saddens me that my opponent could not continue this elaborate dance with words as dancing alone doesn't produce the kind of feeling which many enjoy. Alas, extend all of my arguments.

Bottom line: My opponent has provided you with a good enough reason as to why restaurant bill's should coerce automatic gratuity (tips). On the other hand, I've pointed out the errors behind the very ideals in tipping and have shown why the procedure should not be obligated. Thus, you should vote in favor of my case. However, I understand that many of you wish to treat this as a mere poll. You're free to do this, but considering the new format this website is insured, I doubt you'll be able to do this for long.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hasta la vista, baby!