In Praise of ... Service Compris

A decision by an American court to order Starbucks to return £50m in tips to staff in California has added a fresh twist to the debate about remuneration in restaurants and bars. Starbucks was redistributing cash left in jars for bar staff to supervisory staff as well. In Britain, because of an EU ruling, gratuities paid with a plastic card legally belong to the restaurant owners, who can even use them as a contribution towards paying waiters the minimum wage. If you want to be reasonably sure that the waiters who serve you get the tip then a cash payment is the best way. But this doesn't solve tipping's more systematic problems. There is no right answer as to whether one should tip when the food is dreadful but the service excellent, or when two waiters are great but a third is diabolical. For you can never be certain who exactly gets a tip once the waiter has whisked it away. It would be far better if, instead of relying on handouts, waiters were paid a living wage. But if one restaurant does that while its rivals do not then it risks appearing expensive to customers who only read the menu outside. At the very least, every restaurant should be required to put its tipping policy on the menu. But the real answer is abolition, so restaurants are forced to pay proper wages. There is a successful precedent in France. Would it be too much to hope that, during this week's tête-à-tête, Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy will add to their joint initiative on nuclear power a joint endorsement of one great French practice: service comprise.