The freedoms we experience in America are so plentiful that they even include preserving the choice of whether or not we should tip the people who wait on us. When we go out to eat, we expect good service in order to have a good meal; and if we receive that good service, we provide a tip to show our appreciation. If we don’t get that service, and we have to wait more that 10 minutes for a refill, we can choose not to tip, thereby showing our disapproval with that particular waiter.
It is something I had taken for granted. I never thought twice about not tipping someone, merely out of courtesy. But having lived in France for a prolonged amount of time, I have found a new appreciation of the plethora of freedoms we have in America.
To even comprehend what it’s like in France, imagine that you are sitting down for a nice dinner with some friends or a loved one, and are looking forward to a relaxing evening. Twenty minutes later, you start to wonder if anyone is working at this time, when suddenly, in comes the waiter with a cold greeting and a notepad ready for the order. After you order your drinks, he remains standing there, pen on the paper, waiting for you to continue. If you don’t order immediately, he mutters something indistinguishable and stalks away to get your drinks. Well fine, don’t tip the guy. If he’s going to be an ass, then forget it.
But here’s the catch.
Added onto every bill, every drink, and every food item, is a 19% tax which goes towards the employees. Not only do you not want to tip the guy, but he is also given 19% anyway, despite his lousy service; and you had absolutely no say in the matter, even though it's your money. I could complain to the manager, but this problem doesn’t just end with the restaurant's inability to hire decent employees. The lack of economic freedom runs deeply in the veins of the French government and society.
When a French company hires someone, they take into consideration the wages that must be paid to them. But then they also have to think about the government, which, among other things, requires half the person’s salary to support them if they injure themselves, retire, etc. So the company has to pay a person 150% when they hire them, which, in the end, means that companies don’t hire as many employees, and therefore the service isn’t quite as good as it could be. And, on top of all this, it is nearly impossible to fire someone here.
In America, if someone is slacking on the job or not keeping up with the program, we have every right to walk up to him or her and say “you’re fired”. Not so in France. Example: If an employer starts pushing the employee too hard, the employee can go to the doctor and say he is under too much "stress". If the doctor agrees about this “stress”, the employee goes on a two-month break at full pay.
Yes, I know, it’s absolute crap. But it's the main reason that France is always a step or two behind the rest of the rich world: because they just don’t understand the value of decent hard work. It really is amazing how much a government can inhibit economic (and social) growth with such absurd regulations.
The end result of the French government sitting on the food industry means that waiting times are absurd, employees are overworked, companies lose out on profits, and customers pay for lousy service. It looks like everyone is losing out on this deal, doesn’t it?
So remember, next time you are in an American restaurant: if you don’t want to tip, you don’t have to. Now you can understand just what sort of power you have over the restaurant and over the quality of your own experience. It's all thanks to economic freedom. Anyone know the lyrics to “America, the Beautiful”?
The above work is the opinion of the author,
and not necessarily that of the Prometheus Institute.
