A spade is a spade and if you choose to work in a low paid job then you should only expect to get low pay. I generally agree with most people who had the opinion of 'No'. However everyone has missed some overwhelming points. Australia is one of the highest developed nations in the world and with relatively higher living standards. This is only as a result of setting appropriate legal minimum standards to many various laws and in all industries.
The food & service industry is no exception as the minimum wage is a fair pay for the job (yes I worked in the industry when I was younger). It’s enough to live a basic good life and when it isn’t, it then gets lifted.
For the writer who claimed the industry wouldn’t survive if they didn’t under pay their staff, it’s a load of rubbish. Those who accept this only deserve such treatment. They should grow some balls and demand you get your legal entitlements. If your employer refuses then you should report the business to the correct authorities and find a job that awards legal entitlements.
If the business isn’t so successful then their prices will be lower, draw less business and they will pay their staff minimum wage. If it’s a great business it will charge higher prices, earn higher profits and afford to pay their staff higher wages. That is how business works in Australia.
Those getting paid on the lowest end have to be realistic that no matter how well they serve food & beverage the job does not merit a high wage as comparable to someone who had done the hard yards studying (at their own cost) or choosing to work hard in a developing path to eventually get a better paid job. It’s also a relatively easy low skilled job in the scheme of things.
The writer of the above article did a reasonable job of putting cases forward for both sides of the argument. However has missed the fact this argument of tipping becoming increasingly more common exists mainly in the capital cities and not in the rest of the country. Hence we cannot say this is an issue in Australia and only limited to capital cities or major tourist locations. This is due the fact these areas are filled with people (visiting or living) from foreign shores who keep their tipping habits from home as they don’t appreciate tipping is not required or necessary which then allows greedy business owners to leach off their ignorance by leaving bills on trays where tips can be left, tip glasses on bars, cab drivers taking their sweet time to give you change etc… Hence tipping is only a result of greed praying on those venerable and is no way required in any situation in Australia.
That being said if anyone is filthy rich and wants to throw away their money, then go for it, I will not stop you. However just keep in mind you’re promoting the false idea of tipping in deserved in Oz. The analogy is similar to that of feeding seagulls at the beach. The birds will definitely eat your hot chips but will have a false expectation on how easy food is to come by loosing their hunting ability and will struggle to the point of starvation should they dare to return to unpopulated parts of their natural environment in their real world.
by jonat0 (score: 0|4) 4106 days ago
