I’d like your thoughts to the chaos (yet again) around the traffic nightmare during the Mexican Independence Day weekend, and in particular, the Mayor’s reaction and comments. I would give my thoughts but they are unprintable
I discussed this on the radio with John Williams the other day -- my thought is that the city should resume hosting an organized celebration in Grant Park, perhaps, in hopes of tamping down the traffic-obstructing carrying on, an activity that probably causes quite a few people to think LESS charitably about Mexican Americans, meaning it feel counter productive to me.
Good idea, but it would also have to be accompanied by breaking up the unsanctioned events and activities. The city and CPD have already made it clear to everyone that the policy is 'monitoring'. The mayor has even endorsed the 'right' of citizens to take to the streets to celebrate. So, there is no reason for anyone that wants to caravan or take-over to limit themselves to a sanctioned event. Particularly when they are free to do the same things for any or no reason the whole rest of the year.
So over 90 minutes, a restaurant server will earn $9.48 more under regular minumum wage than the current reduced MW. If he or she is handling, say, five tables during that period and each table's tip goes down by $2, the server comes out behind. I'd be happy dispensing with tipping if servers did get a living wage, but $15.80 an hour does not constitute one for anybody, much less someone providing the kind of service a server does.
I agree that servers should be paid better than, say, dishwashers, as their jobs are more comprehensively demanding. But I do think/wish that the employers would set wages and prices accordingly, as most businesses do. Expecting customers to make up the difference between a fair wage and the wage that is paid doesn't feel right to me.
“I agree that servers should be paid better than, say, dishwashers, as their jobs are more comprehensively demanding.” Almost always, whatever follows “ X should make more,less, the same as Y because ...” is irrelevant or a minuscule part of the picture.
I would think that eventually, the better restaurants will be required to pay higher wages to attract better servers. The minimum wage in many states has not prevented companies from paying higher than minimum wage for what was previously considered to be "minimum-wage type work" (McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc.). Ultimately, the market will get there, but it will be a long, very painful process to do so.
And we all know that the "Tipped Minimum Wage" was invented to keep Black women (in particular) from earning a living wage. - And requiring them to 'smile' at even the glass bowl customers.
And with the IRS assuming that EVERYONE tips at least 10% of the restaurant's revenue, the servers get taxed on the money they never received. If we don't tip, the servers are working for even less than the tipped minimum wage.
I agree with Rick. The European way of paying servers with some compensation for good service makes the most sense to me. They are a hard working group who (like everyone) deserve a LIVING wage. Raise food prices, pay the workers, and tip on a lower percentage (which with raised prices would be more expensive per percentage point). I don’t think most servers would have less income—and should be more dependable.
Little Free Libraries are great on paper. But I've come across hundreds of them and never actually found a book worth reading. People just use them to ditch their worst books.
The proprietors do need to learn to clear out the "Dummies Guide to MS-DOS 5.0" manuals and other bound detritus, but no, I have found some interesting books in them and donated some worthy titles as well.
I’ve found a few hidden gems in them, including “Cursed From Birth: The Short, Unhappy Life of William S. Burroughs Jr.”, a compelling and thoroughly depressing biography of the only child of the legendary writer. I had heard John Waters make reference to this book in a documentary about Burroughs, but never noticed it on any library shelves, but then, lo and behold, there it was, sitting beside some Curious George and Little Golden books inside a Little Free Library posted near the sidewalk in the front yard of someone’s palatial home in Flossmoor. Life’s simple pleasures.
We have a Little Free Library at my house, in Gurnee. It's on the house side of the sidewalk, not the public parkway. And to be honest it never occurred to me that it could or should be on the public parkway.
Before I put it up, I asked the village (via a web portal) if there were any permits or other red tape to go through, other than checking with J.U.L.I.E. as I would for any digging. They replied it was fine as long as it was on my property, and added a "thanks for contributing to our community."
Re: TIpping. During a trip to France this summer, EVERY full-service food establishment had all costs built into their menu pricing. There is no tipping. From talking with servers, they said that the vast majority of europeans do not tip, and that Americans are most commonly the group to leave a tip regardless. If Chicago wants to remedy the tipping/add'l fee issues, then mandate it properly. Wages should be livable and include benefits, but all of this should be figured into the prices we see on the menu. This levels the playing field for all restaurants. If anyone wants to leave a little extra, so be it, but the servers will not be reliant on it. But the way the law is written, I expect menu prices to increase and that is going to have a direct effect on the amount I tip.
"one popped up in his ward on the parkway of an unsuspecting homeowner."
LOL! What a load of crap. THAT is the reason for Lopez to create law? This is precisely the kind of stupidity that has led to the overabundance of laws that everyone complains about. First, the parkway doesn't belong to the "unsuspecting homeowner". Second, the "unsuspecting homeowner" could have simply removed the thing and donated the books via some other existing library. And, third, there must be existing laws that permit the city to remove it. There is NO need for more laws to cover every special circumstance!
Chicago's aldermen and women have failed to solve any of the big problems, but they will take immediate action on such trivialities! Get on it you 50 worthless people!
In college I worked in the summers as a waitress in an LDS town. I would have made more money if I had been paid minimum wage. If anybody came in that appeared to be a tourist from east of the Mississippi, they got GREAT service.
"This little book library sponsored by your local community school" could be a work around. Invite parents to host a box on their lot. Seriously it is a great community building action that serves those without resources. Our area has them all over. Regulation - okay - let's talk. Banning - too much. Way to go, Lopez. Let's tackle these big issues and concerns. Tipping: Destiny Fox's Op-Ed was very insightful but it did not read like a typical tip worker. Maybe with forethought anyone can look up and have so many statistics readily available to make a point more credible. It felt like a political rebuttal. Tipping issue: Used to be service related (ie restaurants) - but now it is over the top. Tip options are everywhere - Starbucks, McDonalds, Tire shops, Take out food pick-ups, Small businesses, etc. Moment of silence for WTTW. Best news round up around. Steve Dahl saying he was paid more because he did most of the work - which was harder because of his addiction - is yet another slap to Gary Meier. ***Looking forward to your take and hopefully Rascals on the ‘winterized base camps’
Sounds like somebody’s appreciation of Croce’s best songs might be colored by memories of decorated school gyms, pinned corsages, and awkwardly wonderful slow dances! “I Got a Name” is my fave, and it doesn’t require overlooking acne, chem homework, and seeing that dance partner holding hands with someone else in the hallway on Monday morning. Croce didn’t write the song, but his performance makes me think that pop music doesn’t get much better (and sadly ironic) than “Movin’ ahead so life won’t pass me by.”
With regard to tipping compensation for servers, the reality is an immense bifurcation between servers in casual dining and servers in higher-end restaurants.
The very large restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You was a client at a firm I worked for a good number of years. Most of the Lettuce restaurants are nicer dining, and I can tell you that there was great competition for the serving jobs there where the tips on the significant dining tabs resulted in excellent income for the servers.
But conversely, tipping at casual dining does not represent anywhere near the income at the nicer restaurants, and I believe it is the servers at these less expensive restaurants that are the ones much more in need of assistance.
The current worker shortage has given me an increased appreciation of servers, and my default tip is 20%, and even more for exceptional service. (But, I have absolutely no qualms about hitting the "no tip" button on the screen when I am simply handed a cookie or donut from a display case.)
Awesome to show the love to Jim Croce. The sheer number of awesome songs he wrote before he died at 30 is just amazing.
Thought zero of the regular tweets and one of the dad tweets was amusing. Time to let go of the company formerly known as Twitter.
this happens only rarely with the PS, but this was an issue where i wanted the option 'none of the above' for this week's tweets
I liked the Nerd one!! -- YMMV!
I’d like your thoughts to the chaos (yet again) around the traffic nightmare during the Mexican Independence Day weekend, and in particular, the Mayor’s reaction and comments. I would give my thoughts but they are unprintable
I discussed this on the radio with John Williams the other day -- my thought is that the city should resume hosting an organized celebration in Grant Park, perhaps, in hopes of tamping down the traffic-obstructing carrying on, an activity that probably causes quite a few people to think LESS charitably about Mexican Americans, meaning it feel counter productive to me.
Good idea, but it would also have to be accompanied by breaking up the unsanctioned events and activities. The city and CPD have already made it clear to everyone that the policy is 'monitoring'. The mayor has even endorsed the 'right' of citizens to take to the streets to celebrate. So, there is no reason for anyone that wants to caravan or take-over to limit themselves to a sanctioned event. Particularly when they are free to do the same things for any or no reason the whole rest of the year.
So over 90 minutes, a restaurant server will earn $9.48 more under regular minumum wage than the current reduced MW. If he or she is handling, say, five tables during that period and each table's tip goes down by $2, the server comes out behind. I'd be happy dispensing with tipping if servers did get a living wage, but $15.80 an hour does not constitute one for anybody, much less someone providing the kind of service a server does.
I agree that servers should be paid better than, say, dishwashers, as their jobs are more comprehensively demanding. But I do think/wish that the employers would set wages and prices accordingly, as most businesses do. Expecting customers to make up the difference between a fair wage and the wage that is paid doesn't feel right to me.
“I agree that servers should be paid better than, say, dishwashers, as their jobs are more comprehensively demanding.” Almost always, whatever follows “ X should make more,less, the same as Y because ...” is irrelevant or a minuscule part of the picture.
I would think that eventually, the better restaurants will be required to pay higher wages to attract better servers. The minimum wage in many states has not prevented companies from paying higher than minimum wage for what was previously considered to be "minimum-wage type work" (McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc.). Ultimately, the market will get there, but it will be a long, very painful process to do so.
And we all know that the "Tipped Minimum Wage" was invented to keep Black women (in particular) from earning a living wage. - And requiring them to 'smile' at even the glass bowl customers.
And with the IRS assuming that EVERYONE tips at least 10% of the restaurant's revenue, the servers get taxed on the money they never received. If we don't tip, the servers are working for even less than the tipped minimum wage.
I agree with Rick. The European way of paying servers with some compensation for good service makes the most sense to me. They are a hard working group who (like everyone) deserve a LIVING wage. Raise food prices, pay the workers, and tip on a lower percentage (which with raised prices would be more expensive per percentage point). I don’t think most servers would have less income—and should be more dependable.
Little Free Libraries are great on paper. But I've come across hundreds of them and never actually found a book worth reading. People just use them to ditch their worst books.
The proprietors do need to learn to clear out the "Dummies Guide to MS-DOS 5.0" manuals and other bound detritus, but no, I have found some interesting books in them and donated some worthy titles as well.
My wife, who scours these nooks, has also found many books of interest.
I’ve found a few hidden gems in them, including “Cursed From Birth: The Short, Unhappy Life of William S. Burroughs Jr.”, a compelling and thoroughly depressing biography of the only child of the legendary writer. I had heard John Waters make reference to this book in a documentary about Burroughs, but never noticed it on any library shelves, but then, lo and behold, there it was, sitting beside some Curious George and Little Golden books inside a Little Free Library posted near the sidewalk in the front yard of someone’s palatial home in Flossmoor. Life’s simple pleasures.
In Oak Park, Land Of Many Little Free Libraries, I haven’t seen one on the street side of the sidewalk. Who does that?
Slim pickings in both polls today. Twitter has become a mere shadow of itself.
We have a Little Free Library at my house, in Gurnee. It's on the house side of the sidewalk, not the public parkway. And to be honest it never occurred to me that it could or should be on the public parkway.
Before I put it up, I asked the village (via a web portal) if there were any permits or other red tape to go through, other than checking with J.U.L.I.E. as I would for any digging. They replied it was fine as long as it was on my property, and added a "thanks for contributing to our community."
I am a believer in small problems should get small solutions. Ald Lopez should get the one offending small library box removed and problem solved.
There does not appear to be any other library box issues, why create a problem that is not there?
Re: TIpping. During a trip to France this summer, EVERY full-service food establishment had all costs built into their menu pricing. There is no tipping. From talking with servers, they said that the vast majority of europeans do not tip, and that Americans are most commonly the group to leave a tip regardless. If Chicago wants to remedy the tipping/add'l fee issues, then mandate it properly. Wages should be livable and include benefits, but all of this should be figured into the prices we see on the menu. This levels the playing field for all restaurants. If anyone wants to leave a little extra, so be it, but the servers will not be reliant on it. But the way the law is written, I expect menu prices to increase and that is going to have a direct effect on the amount I tip.
"one popped up in his ward on the parkway of an unsuspecting homeowner."
LOL! What a load of crap. THAT is the reason for Lopez to create law? This is precisely the kind of stupidity that has led to the overabundance of laws that everyone complains about. First, the parkway doesn't belong to the "unsuspecting homeowner". Second, the "unsuspecting homeowner" could have simply removed the thing and donated the books via some other existing library. And, third, there must be existing laws that permit the city to remove it. There is NO need for more laws to cover every special circumstance!
Chicago's aldermen and women have failed to solve any of the big problems, but they will take immediate action on such trivialities! Get on it you 50 worthless people!
In college I worked in the summers as a waitress in an LDS town. I would have made more money if I had been paid minimum wage. If anybody came in that appeared to be a tourist from east of the Mississippi, they got GREAT service.
"This little book library sponsored by your local community school" could be a work around. Invite parents to host a box on their lot. Seriously it is a great community building action that serves those without resources. Our area has them all over. Regulation - okay - let's talk. Banning - too much. Way to go, Lopez. Let's tackle these big issues and concerns. Tipping: Destiny Fox's Op-Ed was very insightful but it did not read like a typical tip worker. Maybe with forethought anyone can look up and have so many statistics readily available to make a point more credible. It felt like a political rebuttal. Tipping issue: Used to be service related (ie restaurants) - but now it is over the top. Tip options are everywhere - Starbucks, McDonalds, Tire shops, Take out food pick-ups, Small businesses, etc. Moment of silence for WTTW. Best news round up around. Steve Dahl saying he was paid more because he did most of the work - which was harder because of his addiction - is yet another slap to Gary Meier. ***Looking forward to your take and hopefully Rascals on the ‘winterized base camps’
Sounds like somebody’s appreciation of Croce’s best songs might be colored by memories of decorated school gyms, pinned corsages, and awkwardly wonderful slow dances! “I Got a Name” is my fave, and it doesn’t require overlooking acne, chem homework, and seeing that dance partner holding hands with someone else in the hallway on Monday morning. Croce didn’t write the song, but his performance makes me think that pop music doesn’t get much better (and sadly ironic) than “Movin’ ahead so life won’t pass me by.”
With regard to tipping compensation for servers, the reality is an immense bifurcation between servers in casual dining and servers in higher-end restaurants.
The very large restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You was a client at a firm I worked for a good number of years. Most of the Lettuce restaurants are nicer dining, and I can tell you that there was great competition for the serving jobs there where the tips on the significant dining tabs resulted in excellent income for the servers.
But conversely, tipping at casual dining does not represent anywhere near the income at the nicer restaurants, and I believe it is the servers at these less expensive restaurants that are the ones much more in need of assistance.
The current worker shortage has given me an increased appreciation of servers, and my default tip is 20%, and even more for exceptional service. (But, I have absolutely no qualms about hitting the "no tip" button on the screen when I am simply handed a cookie or donut from a display case.)