Restaurant’s ‘No tipping’ policy is catching on

Q: I appreciated Dianne Isbell’s response on tipping in places where you pick up carryout orders or mainly serve yourself. I think all restaurant help work hard for their patrons. Until the time they are given a decent wage and are not reliant on tips to help feed their families, we will tip. However, we were told by two people who worked for one of our favorite restaurants, McAlister’s, that we should not tip there. They told us that all tips had to be turned in. We were told any tip money went to the owners for disposal at their discretion and did not make it back to the waitresses and other help. We know McAlister’s does a lot of good in emergency situations to send workers and food after natural disasters, but did not realize that their servers did not receive the tips they earned. Can you shed any insight on the truth of this and if other restaurants operate in the same manner?

A: What you were told is true — but not because the owners are a bunch of modern-day Scrooges.

As I tried to explain last year, employers have to pay only a minimum of $2.13 an hour to employees who derive part of their income from tips. It is expected that tips will bring these employees’ hourly rate up to the prevailing minimum wage (now $7.25 at the federal level). If an employee’s salary with tips doesn’t meet this level, the employer must make up the difference.

In the early ’90s, McAlister’s took the lead in a trend that appears to be slowly catching fire: More and more restaurants are tired of playing these tipping games. Instead of paying $2.13 or another paltry figure, McAlister’s founder (and retired dentist) Dr. Don Newcomb decided to pay his waiters at least minimum wage or better. Then, instead of fooling around with all the tipping paperwork, the wait staff donated all tips to local charities. Since 1998, the chain has grown from 30 to 373 locations across the country, and all McAlister’s restaurants owned by the Saxton Group follow a written no-tip policy.

“No employee of the Saxton Group shall earn less than minimum wage as set by Federal and/or state law,” the policy, revised in 2011, states. “ No employee shall be paid on a ‘tipped employee’ wage rate. All employees within the McAlister’s brand are prohibited from receiving tips or gratuities from customers. Operations within the McAlister’s brand should ensure that there is communication on or near the menu boards that educate the guest that tipping is neither expected nor necessary.

“Great customer service is inclusive of the McAlister’s Deli value and is a basic expectation of the job. Our customers should not feel expected to tip; however, if a customer chooses to do so, all gratuity funds will be donated to charity. Charity donations will be managed at the corporate office level.”

If you search online, you can find several McAlister’s customers who radically changed their “I-won’t-eat-there-again” stance once they learned the company’s policies. As mentioned early, these policies are slowly grabbing a foothold. As I reported last year, the Dirt Candy vegetable restaurant in New York City had to find a bigger location even though it pays at least $15 an hour to everyone who is hired. No tipping is permitted at Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York, Grant Achat’s Alinea in Chicago (named best restaurant in the world in 2013 by Elite Traveler magazine) and Alice Water’s Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.

Q: It might be germane to remind everyone that most gun deaths in the United States are suicides by men. My question: How does this affect life expectancy for men?

A: For being one of the most advanced countries on the planet, the United States is shooting itself in the foot in life expectancy when it comes to guns.

According to a report in the Feb. 9 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association, the life expectancy for U.S. men is 76.4 years — about two years shorter than men in Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and nine other countries. The reason? About 48 percent of the difference — about a full year — is due to drug poisonings, car crashes and guns, according to an analysis of U.S. and World Health Organization data.

As you astutely point out, most gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides, not homicides. According to a 2015 report in the New York Times, more than 60 percent of people in this country who die from guns kill themselves. Overall, suicide by all means is the second leading cause of death for Americans between 15 and 34 and the 10th-most common cause of death overall.

According to the new report, about 18 of every 100,000 U.S. men die of a firearm injury each year compared with one or two in other high-income countries. If 60 percent of those are suicides, it means about 11 self-inflicted gun deaths per 100,000 men. Overall, that’s roughly 20 percent of all deaths due to guns, drugs and auto accidents. So, gun suicides account for a decrease of about five months in the life expectancy of U.S. males overall compared to men in other developed countries (20 percent times two years).

And, sadly, gun suicide rates have been on the increase since 2006, according to the New York Times report. One can only wonder what will happen if guns disguised as cell phones go on the market in a few months as the developer — Ideal Conceal, of Monticello, Minn. — plans later this year. (It will cost $395 and the company claims it already has 4,000 orders.)

Two final notes: Researchers found these causes of death for men were less of a problem for women, so they are less likely to affect life expectancy numbers. And, interestingly, Israel reportedly cut its suicide rate by 40 percent after 2006 when it prohibited soldiers from taking their service weapons home on weekends.

Today’s trivia

In what unusual container were some of Fredric Baur’s ashes buried when he died?

Answer to Sunday’s trivia: Daws Butler was one of those kings of cartoon voices. During a 30-year career, Butler gave life to characters from Yogi Bear and Elroy Jetson to Cap’n Crunch. But when his Snagglepuss character began hawking Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies in 1961, actor Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz,” thought it sounded so much like him that he threatened to sue. As part of the settlement, Kellogg’s was required to add “Snagglepuss voice by Daws Butler,” making Butler the only voice actor ever to receive a credit in an animated TV commercial

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Restaurant’s ‘No tipping’ policy is catching on."