Minimum wage, food costs & tipping guidelines in other countries

[bicker]

Forget the Tip...
Market Trends Drive a Wage

Interesting article, and a massive rationalization for solely-self-enriching, counter-cultural behavior. The most remarkable aspect of the article is that the writer seems to have no shame about taking out his/her frustrations about aspects of our society on people just doing their job.

 

[sjaakie]

Interesting article, and a massive rationalization for solely-self-enriching, counter-cultural behavior. The most remarkable aspect of the article is that the writer seems to have no shame about taking out his/her frustrations about aspects of our society on people just doing their job.

It's not my opinion just an American giving his view on this matter.

 

[bicker]

Absolutely -- understood.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I agree w/ Bicker!!
And the math in that article is very questionable. Raise the wage from $2.00 to $23 and hour--plus benefits, etc and the entree price just goes up $4.00?? I don't think so...
Plus almost all of the restaurants in this country are exactly the opposite of those described--and certainly not Per Se!! I can't think of any restaurant that I go to that has just 15 tables and 2 waiters--even V&A has more than that.
And we rarely get "pushed" out of any restaurant--even at WDW. We always tell the server we're in NO HURRY and almost always the pace of the meal is perfect for us.
sjaakie: Who wrote that article and where was it published?

 

[sjaakie]

I agree w/ Bicker!!
And the math in that article is very questionable. Raise the wage from $2.00 to $23 and hour--plus benefits, etc and the entree price just goes up $4.00?? I don't think so...
Plus almost all of the restaurants in this country are exactly the opposite of those described--and certainly not Per Se!! I can't think of any restaurant that I go to that has just 15 tables and 2 waiters--even V&A has more than that.
And we rarely get "pushed" out of any restaurant--even at WDW. We always tell the server we're in NO HURRY and almost always the pace of the meal is perfect for us.
sjaakie: Who wrote that article and where was it published?

Sorry I forgot the mention the link.

http://www.thinkandask.com/2005/0901notip.html

I don`t know if this link is allowed by the mods? If not please excuse me and I will remove it.

 

[bicker]

For the record, and not speaking for the moderators, but online you'll find posting links are preferred to posting the entire article. While I doubt The DIS would get in trouble for a few postings here and there, technically, allowing the posting of an entire article is arguably a violation of copyright (note that at the bottom of the article it says, "This content is copyrighted by Think & Ask, reproduction of any kind is not permitted without written consent."). Beyond that, reproduction of an entire article is not protected by Fair Use. You can generally (rough rule-of-thumb ahead...) repro about 1/3 of a copyrighted article for such use to still be considered Fair Use, and even then, Fair Use requires that you provide some commentary.

If I remember The DIS rules correctly, you can post links as long as the link doesn't go to a competing website, or to a travel agency. There might also be some deference with regard to posting links to the websites of competitors to site sponsors, but I don't remember if that's the case or not. Regardless, Think & Act is almost surely safe.

 

[TLSnell1981]

It's not difficult to understand the tipping in Europe or other countries. If you are unsure...just ask if service is included.
I too find it unfair to "blame" our foreign guests for "mandatory" fees now added to checks at Disney. Give our guests credit for being a little more savvy than that. It is also hard for me to believe the servers do not EARN a good wage with Disney. I think some just feel entitled to at LEAST 18% regardless of the job that is done. I have had servers do the very minimum when I dined on the DDP or other plans in the past. I didn't receive "bad" service most times just very average service.

 

[SandraVB79]

As someone who has lived in a restaurant family my whole life, this is always a big thing for our family when we go out. My parents and siblings, who actually run the restaurants, are pretty strict when it comes to tipping and in some cases, I don't feel they leave enough - they have high expectations as they live and breathe this each day. Also though, here in Canada our minimum wages are approx. $8.00/hour (for bartenders it's $6.95/hour), so you add tips to that, and in some cases, the servers make more than my family does when times are lean, and when compared to other jobs, servers do very well, much better than those who have higher waged jobs, but don't get tips (eg. retail).

In regards to our meal costs, they are pretty reasonable in most cases, yet we have very high food, labour and tax costs (we pay some of the highest tax rates in the world), yet this isn't necessarily reflected in soaring meal costs. Customers will only pay so much for their food, period, so I guess I'm wondering why people are so acceptable of Disney paying such low wages, yet charging such high prices for food?

Tiger

I didn't read any other posts, so no idea whether the thread went a completely different way.

As some already know, I am from Belgium. If you want to come to a country where you pay a lot of taxes, this is THE place to be.
My employer pays about 2.3 times what I get into my bank account. If I earn 1600 EUR, my employer pays 3680 EUR. Yes, more than half goes to taxes and etc.
I have no idea what minimum wage is, but people working in restaurants earn money comparable to people working retail or whatever. Belgium is not a tipping country, and they make a decent wage.
The price that you see on the menu, is the total price that you will pay. Tax (sales tax = 21%) is included, tipping also.

All this, compared with the low dollar, makes eating in Disney not expensive at all.
Even Disneyland Paris, where we don't have the dollar-advantage, isn't more or less expensive than an average restaurant in Brussels, but the theme and food at DLP is usually way better than the average Brussels' restaurant. (btw, DLP restaurants have/ used to have (not sure about it) Michelin stars. There is no way I can afford Michelin-rated restaurants in Belgium or France or anyplace else).

Everything is relative.