Well you thought wrong. I was born and raised in the U.S. and lived there until about two weeks ago when we fled.
And in my 47 years in America, I was never in a situation where I couldn’t say, “no thanks” if someone invited me to a restaurant. And who invites you to restaurants and makes you pay?
Like, most people. Unless they offer, it’s not culturally expected to be a gift. “No, I won’t discuss this over coffee”/“no, we can’t have the meeting at a restaurant” would go over like a wet fart, and explaining that it’s because of minimum wage workers wouldn’t make it much better. (FWIW I’m also poor enough that’s a pretty big expense, but middle and upper class people hate being reminded people like me exist)
Congratulations on getting out. Best of luck wherever you are now.
And why would they tell me, a relative stranger who, while actually local, seems kinda like a dirty city liberal? Or worse, they know who I am and that I’m weird.
What I hear around the community lumps staff in with employers, and I haven’t heard people badmouthing their own employers much at all. I do avoid the antivax cafe.
Look, you seem to be making a ton of assumptions about what my local environment is like, how much time I have, how good my Lemming social skills are, and how much importance I would place on this one particular aspect of our society, versus all the others I could be thinking about. I appreciate the concern for service workers, but being hounded about this feels more like you’re arguing for it’s own sake.
The only thing I’m assuming is that you feel like you can’t talk to people who wait tables about their working conditions because “you seem kinda like a dirty city liberal,” which means you are forced to go to restaurants that treat their employees unfairly and also pay them out of your own pocket.
And I am only assuming those things because they are literally things you have said.
Those are the ones which are relevant to what I am talking about. If you feel I didn’t bring up something relevant, feel free.
But as far as I can tell, it would not be difficult for you to ask a waiter, “do you have to make up your pay in tips because you get less than minimum wage?” You just are assuming they won’t say to you because of how you look for some reason.
Well you thought wrong. I was born and raised in the U.S. and lived there until about two weeks ago when we fled.
And in my 47 years in America, I was never in a situation where I couldn’t say, “no thanks” if someone invited me to a restaurant. And who invites you to restaurants and makes you pay?
Like, most people. Unless they offer, it’s not culturally expected to be a gift. “No, I won’t discuss this over coffee”/“no, we can’t have the meeting at a restaurant” would go over like a wet fart, and explaining that it’s because of minimum wage workers wouldn’t make it much better. (FWIW I’m also poor enough that’s a pretty big expense, but middle and upper class people hate being reminded people like me exist)
Congratulations on getting out. Best of luck wherever you are now.
How about, “let’s eat at this restaurant instead, they treat their workers better?”
Is that really so hard?
I have no special knowledge of the working conditions of local restaurants.
Have you tried talking to people who work there?
And why would they tell me, a relative stranger who, while actually local, seems kinda like a dirty city liberal? Or worse, they know who I am and that I’m weird.
What I hear around the community lumps staff in with employers, and I haven’t heard people badmouthing their own employers much at all. I do avoid the antivax cafe.
Look, you seem to be making a ton of assumptions about what my local environment is like, how much time I have, how good my Lemming social skills are, and how much importance I would place on this one particular aspect of our society, versus all the others I could be thinking about. I appreciate the concern for service workers, but being hounded about this feels more like you’re arguing for it’s own sake.
The only thing I’m assuming is that you feel like you can’t talk to people who wait tables about their working conditions because “you seem kinda like a dirty city liberal,” which means you are forced to go to restaurants that treat their employees unfairly and also pay them out of your own pocket.
And I am only assuming those things because they are literally things you have said.
Yes, that is a (very incomplete) summery of my own statements.
Those are the ones which are relevant to what I am talking about. If you feel I didn’t bring up something relevant, feel free.
But as far as I can tell, it would not be difficult for you to ask a waiter, “do you have to make up your pay in tips because you get less than minimum wage?” You just are assuming they won’t say to you because of how you look for some reason.