Proof, if needed, of corporate cuntery

[faceless]

This brought a smile to my face! What a bunch of bastards to take the tips like that... it wouldn't do to give the actual workers what the customers think they deserve eh?

[Skylace]

Geez, that's disgusting. I know when I was at the little ice cream and coffee shops the managers never took the money of the tips. They're not making minimum wage after all. I am glad they are having to pay it back with interest.

[maycm]

Actually, I think the policy of not letting the front line staff have their tips is:

"fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason".

[major.tom]

I'm not in favour of management getting a piece of the tips. As Skylace says, their salaries reflect their increased responsibilities already. But another question this raises is why non-management needs tips to make a living. If Starbucks (or anyone) paid their staff a living wage, wouldn't that eliminate the need to tip?

On my 1st trip to Europe, I learned that Australians don't tip as a habit. This was a shock; where I live, not tipping would be a rare exception. Heck, in France (and maybe other places) you have to "tip". So isn't it just a way to subsidize workers salaries?

Maybe the Aussi's have discovered a magic formula which eludes the rest of us.

[nekokate]

Tipping is something that always confuses me. I hear that in North America, not tipping is seen as incredibly rude, but in the UK (where I am) it's only certain places like sit-down restaurants and casinos that you have a social "obligation" to tip at. Infact, if you tipped in a coffee shop in the UK, people would probably look at you funny.

I think it has a lot more to do with tradition than anything else.

[eefanincan]

I'm with everyone on this.... I think they deserve all their tips, especially for the schtick they have to go through just to serve a cup of coffee!

[Skylace]