… I didn’t say they can’t do so. I said they’re allowed not to. Since it’s allowed, that’s what they do.

Because they’re allowed not to do so. The answer is shitty yet simple.

Someone not tipping won’t change that either; all that will do is stiff a worker. This needs to be fixed by changing labor laws.

Service charge I would presume is primarily paid out to the non-wait staff at the restaurant. The kitchen in particular.
Tips go to the wait staff, and they will pay some of that out to other staff (e.g. front staff) depending on how the restaurant works.

These are going to be separate. The service charge is there so they can increase prices by a tightly controlled amount without needing to fuck up the carefully targeted price points ($8 or $7.99 is a lot better than $9.44). Which is shitty, to be clear: it’s a hidden way to increase prices while still advertising the same price. But it’s not something that replaces or complements the tip, it’s just a shitty price-adjustment.

A waiter or waitress is still going to be dependent on the actual tip.

I cannot be 100% certain but I’m confident I was using it not long after the 1.0 release. That’d put me at 2004. 19 years!

Although I did briefly switch over to Chrome when it was new and fast. Then switched back when Firefox had a major optimization pass.

Yeah you can usually turn it off, but it’s still annoying.

I bought a mechanical keyboard that I otherwise really like. But it came with full RGB on it. I can disable the rainbow pattern it does by default with the software, but the manufacturer cheaped out and didn’t include onboard memory for settings. I didn’t realize this would ever be an issue so I didn’t look for it when buying… The end result is that every time my computer turns on, my keyboard looks like it’s trying to summon a leprechaun, and that only stops once Windows has loaded the software up in the background.

Thought this was going to be a more specific complaint about computer hardware/accessories. So much of the high end stuff is just littered with bullshit RGB lighting. Coolers, GPUs, keyboards, mice, monitors, case fans, even fucking RAM sticks! It’s insane.

For general appliances my complaint wouldn’t be the single LED on it but the brightness. Like you I cover up the bright ones with electrical tape. It wouldn’t even cost them any extra money to make it lighter. Just requires a different resistor value.

Convenience fee is the best name they can apply to soften a fee, which is really just a way for them to charge more than the list price.

Fees should be universally folded into the list price by default.

Wrong. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped “Basic Combined Cash & Tip Minimum Wage Rate” means that if tips do not meet the federal minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.

I think the point is that if all the staff do is pack up take out orders, they legally cannot make them do it for $2.13/hour. The employer legally has to pay tipped employees minimum wage if tips do not cause them to reach minimum wage. More time on take out orders is less time earning tips.

More broadly, most wait staff aren’t going stick around even if they’re being paid minimum wage and getting no tips. They’ll go elsewhere where they can earn better — presumably somewhere they can consistently earn tips.

The value that chain and fast food restaurants bring isn’t quality. Their value is (1) convenience, and (2) consistency.

Many people will often prefer to have a known quantity quickly in preference to a highly probably better but uncertain quantity slower. Every Dunkin Donuts has donuts that taste the same as all the other locations. That’s more valuable than people think.

That’s why those locations are successful.

Feels oddly specific.