Not being an American the whole idea of not including tax in the stated price just seems so alien. You expect me to work out what 12.5% of my bill is on the fly as I'm shopping? Fuck you, that's your job. You are the one actually paying the tax to the government, you work it out
You think that's hilarious? There are a lot of places in the world that still do a manual shhk-shhk of a card only a few years ago. Now that most cards don't have raised digits, they'll write it down. If they even take a card.
Places where the Internet goes down if it rains and there is no mobile service. Imagine the horror.
The other side of the coin - paying with debit (which has a pin) is stupid in the US. Unless you can't control your spending, credit card is the way to go for every legal purchase you don't mind being tied to you forever. CCs have far superior consumer protection than the law.
Not only that but many of them give you cash back, so if you never carry a balance (and therefore never pay interest), and don't use it wherever they charge a credit card service fee, it's basically a free discount almost everywhere.
Funny thing, we didn't do chip and pin because the credit card companies thought we were too stupid to figure it out, in spite of the fact that we already used pins for debit cards... We now do have chip and pin, but only for bank/debit cards
In Canada, they have the wireless chip readers everywhere. It was nice since a large chunk of stolen credit cards are when employees scan it before charging it.
Some places in the USA is starting to do the same thing. But yes, the US is way behind.
They have had wireless chip readers for years, but many restaurants still take your card anyway. Some places bring the payment device to you, which is nice, and some have it there always so you can see exactly what's on the bill (sometimes you order on it too).
But taking the card is a cultural thing, not a tech thing. Even back before wireless readers were a thing, they still had portable payment terminals and could have you swipe there or have you pay up front on the way out. It's not an issue at all.
Not being an American the whole idea of not including tax in the stated price just seems so alien. You expect me to work out what 12.5% of my bill is on the fly as I’m shopping?
well, no.
They do that when they ring you up. The price on the shelf is pre tax. The price at the register is post tax. So you just do a mental adjustment as you shop, adding about 10% or so on top of what you're buying.
It's not ideal, but it's not impossible.
I think realistically, sales tax should probably be at the distributor side. But it's kind of nice being explicitly aware of what the sales tax is.
See, I don't need to think hypothetically. I lived it. This "you'll akshually make more money this way" is the shit owners spout so they don't have to pay you. Self-serving prop to feed those who don't know better, simply and completely untrue.
I used to love looking at my negative dollar paychecks showing my paltry 2.13 didn't even cover the fuggen taxes on my tips while the manager espoused that falsehood in the mandatory monthly meetings
Sadly, though, there are a lot of servers who do buy the lie... Doesn't make any sense to me but I've seen plenty argue quite vehemently against ending tips
Yeah... You'll find those types in every industry really, thoughtlessly accepting boss-mans self-serving lies... like if you've been working any length of time you see they'll step over your corpse for a nickel but they are paying me less... for my benefit? This is for me? Maybe if it has ever seemed like any of my bosses cared that i was a human being with needs, but naw. Maybe i'm the weird one. Maybe im too prideful. Maybe im just untrusting in general . But im not wrong here, as a rule. Why would anyone believe they have our interests at heart when we live the way they treat us every day?
If youre interested, id be happy to detail the realtities of waiting tables. Here's a big one non-waiters don't always know: all your tips are claimed these days. Your gross tips are taxed, after which your tips are split (either required tip-out % or full tip pooling) between the other staff.
I have never worked a full service restaurant but I was at a huge pizza chain for 8 years, 6 as general manager. We only had the drivers report credit card tips and cash was left alone. They also didn't tip out the kitchen. What has changed to make cash tips reported? Couldn't you just lie about the amount?
When I moved cities I got a delivery job with a different company. It was fantastic. So much less volume, less stress, and the other drivers wanted to just chill and smoke weed so I would take most of the orders. A few times I broke $300 in tips on a 12+ hour shift if someone called off. Good money if you have a reliable car and put money back for when it inevitably needs repairs.
We only had the drivers report credit card tips and cash was left alone
Where i worked mgmt claimed the irs would come after them and us if we didn't claim our cash tips. I don't know if that is true though since mgmt would come have a talk with you if your cash tips claimed were less than 10%. Even back then cash was such a small percentage of my daily sales that i didn't really care bout it.
In only 10 years of experience i got to see the business change for the worse.
My first waiting job (at red lob in '97) was so so different from the last one i had in '10. In '97 there were no mandatory tip-outs. When i came back to the business in '04 i was shocked that i had to tip the bartender, the busser. I have since witnessed the restaurant business getting only worse. Expo/host tipouts, full pooling, you name it. One time i went to a restaurant where they shifted staff between front and back of house so everyone got 2.13/hr. Its only gotten more dire since i got out.
I don't have personal experience with delivery but there is a guy i know who works for himself delivering wood. He would often get tipped even so, for doing a great job or placing the bundles exactly where the customer wanted. I'm just guessing but its kinda likely you'd have gotten those sweet tips even if your boss had paid you well.
I have 1 credit card on my phone. I carry 1 debit card, my driver's license, and about 4 other credit cards with me.
I really don't like the idea of losing my phone and my only way of paying for things at the same time. At least if I lose my phone, I can still pay for stuff. If I lose my wallet, I can still use my phone to pay for stuff or to call.
I have a physical copy of my car insurance and I also have it on my phone.