Tipping Point
[Re “Hot Tips,” March 29]: Thanks for the focus on our archaic system of tipping in restaurants. As a former restaurant server, bartender and manager, I have had times when I earned most of my income in tips and also times when I was responsible for making sure the restaurant’s bills got paid.
The article only briefly mentioned the simplest solution to the chaos around tipping: Just charge menu prices that cover all the restaurant’s expenses — including a fair wage for all employees and a reasonable profit to compensate the owners for their risk and investment. We continue to dance around this option, but it would be honest and straightforward, unlike the random collection of service charges and “appreciation fees,” tip-splitting strategies, and fine print at the bottom of menus and checks. Prices could be set so that when you total up your credit card slip at the end of the meal, the total charges would add up to the same as they do now, just without all the extra shenanigans.
The biggest challenge for restaurants may be that nobody wants to go first, because there’s a fear that higher menu prices will drive guests away to the “lower-price” competition. I’d love to see the restaurant community come together to address this collectively. Servers deserve to be paid a guaranteed wage regardless of the day, number of guests and average check. They should be treated like any other professional, not like some strange subspecies of employee.
Peter Straube
Monkton
Straube is a former professor at the Stiller School of Business at Champlain College.
Billionaires Aren’t So Bad
[Re “Still Bernin’,” April 5]: When I hear U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders rail against the billionaires, I’m reminded of a scene from Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Brian is a fictitious character who lived roughly 2,000 years ago in the Middle East and is mistaken for the Messiah. He asks his followers, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” One follower pipes up, “Well, the aqueduct.” Brian responds, “Besides the aqueduct?” Another follower offers, “Roads.” Yet another says, “Sanitation.” Similarly, if you ask what billionaires have done for us, you will find that they have shaped much of the modern world. They have provided operating systems and software that make personal computers fun and easy to use. They have pioneered mass-produced electric vehicles and developed cheap and reliable transportation to outer space. And they have provided one- or two-day shipping of almost anything to our doorsteps. These are just a few recent examples. So before his next rant, I would suggest that Bernie consider the contributions of billionaires and what life would be like without them.
David Maher
Burlington
‘Arrogant’ Authorities
[Re “Arresting Development,” April 12]: Well, as George Orwell helpfully pointed out 78 years ago in Animal Farm, “some pigs are more equal than others.” In the case of acting Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad threatening a surgeon treating a patient with a gunshot wound, and then Mayor Miro Weinberger playing loose with the facts and reporting them, I see a picture of the big boys behaving as they wish without the limits that are placed on ordinary citizens.
I am particularly offended by the mendacity of this quote: “The important piece,” Murad said, is that “there was an apology.” I note that Murad was unable to say “I apologized” and instead referred to his apology as an entity unconnected to him. With this kind of thinking, I suggest that we could do with a lot less policing and just require lawbreakers to produce an apology.
Further, when Officer Sergio Caldieri said Murad said, “‘no, I am telling you that if he were in custody you would be impeding'” — what, was Murad holding some kind of police regulations seminar in the middle of an emergency treatment for a gunshot wound?
Those who decry the growing disrespect for authority should look to the arrogance of authorities like Murad and Weinberger.
John Rouleau
Burlington
In Solidarity With LGBTQA Kids
I cannot remain silent in response to the letter from Mr. Chris Leicht [Feedback: “Don’t Persecute Christians,” March 22]. It does not present both sides of the issue of trans children participating in sports, if that was Seven Days‘ intent in publishing the letter, but expresses intolerance at best and unveiled scorn toward the LGBTQA community. I don’t even want to repeat the demeaning expressions used in the letter demonstrating bias and hate.
In addition, the letter presents a narrow, punitive view of religion injurious to the LGBTQA movement and to the broader community. I’d like to share a loving God who works through many different people for a just and inclusive world, a God who continues to create and reveal the complexities of Creation, and who calls us into love, respect and justice for all who are different.
It shows allies the need for constant vigilance to stand in solidarity with this often misunderstood but richly diverse and talented community in our midst.
Sylvia Knight
Burlington
Throwing Shade
[Re “Electric Avenues,” April 12]: When Peter Sterling notes that “panels, posts and wiring can be removed,” I wonder if he’s committing his company to doing so when the time comes. Should we be negotiating a decommissioning fund for these projects? I saw no mention of the environmental impact of the manufacturing and disposal of solar panels, which can itself be less than “green.” And why are we allowing out-of-state companies to use our land and then sell the power elsewhere? No solution is without some adverse impact, so we need to understand the long-term implications of our decisions today so we can truly have a better tomorrow and not just something differently awful.
Monique Hayden
Williamstown
Corrections
A story in the April 5 issue, “Class Is in Session,” incorrectly noted the amount of money spent on Bethel University and the number of participants in its inaugural year. About $1,000 has been spent so far this year, and 83 students attended classes the first year. Also, the story misrepresented the nature of the class taught by a 4-year-old instructor; it was a stamp-making lesson.
A Seven Days-written radio ad for that issue that ran on WCVT 101.7 misattributed the photo essay “On the Scrap Heap.” Photographer Caleb Kenna gets the credit for both the text and the images.
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This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2023.
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