Slog Comments
Florida Denny's Owner to Add 5 Percent Obamacare Surcharge to Bills
1
Or they can go to another restaurant instead.
The market cares nothing for your flawed mercantilist ideologies, Teahadists.
The market cares nothing for your flawed mercantilist ideologies, Teahadists.
2
1
that is a brilliant insight.
too bad Paul didn't think of it.
in the first sentence of his post and all...
that is a brilliant insight.
too bad Paul didn't think of it.
in the first sentence of his post and all...
3
it makes us sick too, Paul.
don't these dickheads know the Obamacare Bunny will leave free universal healthcare in their baskets?
don't these dickheads know the Obamacare Bunny will leave free universal healthcare in their baskets?
4
It is pretty amazing to me that people can claim to love America so much, but piss all over basic human rights because supporting those rights costs them a few bucks a year.
All this talk about "Obamacare" expenses is such bullshit. Guess who has no extra costs due to the ACA? Decent employers who give their employees an insurance option.
You are only being asked to pay a little more because you already treat your employees like shit.
If they really cared about the money rather than just fucking people over for short sighted "revenge," they would be at the forefront of demanding a universal option. Eliminate their healthcare costs for good.
All this talk about "Obamacare" expenses is such bullshit. Guess who has no extra costs due to the ACA? Decent employers who give their employees an insurance option.
You are only being asked to pay a little more because you already treat your employees like shit.
If they really cared about the money rather than just fucking people over for short sighted "revenge," they would be at the forefront of demanding a universal option. Eliminate their healthcare costs for good.
5
Metz told The Huffington Post. "Although it may sound terrible that I'm doing this, it's the only alternative. I've got to pass the cost on to the consumer."
What cost?
Be specific.
What cost?
Be specific.
7
How should the fellow cover the cost of Obamacare, Will?
Let us help you out:
"The market cares nothing for your flawed socialist ideologies, Obama."
Let us help you out:
"The market cares nothing for your flawed socialist ideologies, Obama."
8
He's also a fucking liar.
He claims to pay $5,000 to $6,000 per year for each of his full time employees. If he has 40 restaurants, with 35 employees per restaurant, then he can get a group plan that is much better than that. I know of companies smaller than that who got better rates.
He claims to pay $5,000 to $6,000 per year for each of his full time employees. If he has 40 restaurants, with 35 employees per restaurant, then he can get a group plan that is much better than that. I know of companies smaller than that who got better rates.
9
Somehow this guy's rage fails to outrage me, because (a) I hate Denny's, anyway, and am unlikely to eat at one, and (b) paying an extra fifty cents for a ten dollar plate of food--which I can well afford--is far less of a hardship for me than going without health insurance is for a waitress busting her ass for sub-minimum wage plus tips.
10
@7:
He should just raise his prices if he has to, to do the right thing and cover his employees. By adding the surcharge, he is making a political statement.
He should just raise his prices if he has to, to do the right thing and cover his employees. By adding the surcharge, he is making a political statement.
12
What the fuck is wrong with restaurant owners? Why are all of these assholes people who own franchised restaurants? Is there some sort of cult of food service? Or is it that they are so used to treating their servers like piles of shit, all of a sudden they have to look at them like they are human?
13
@12: They are in a business which has been historically built on exploiting underpaid workers and routinely skirting tax laws. It seems to me that if a business is getting shut down for labor violations and/or not paying taxes it's either a restaurant or bar. They don't like to be told to pay their fair share because they never had before.
14
@12:
It's not just restaurant owners, believe me. There are lots of similar jobs out there.
And yes, the owners are used to treating their servers like piles of shit who do not deserve medical treatment if they get sick or hurt. God knows, the employees can't afford treatment out of pocket.
It's another case of, "I've got mine, fuck the rest of you!"
Anyone know of a list of restaurant owners (or other employers) who are being dicks this way?
I'd really like one for Colorado so I know where NOT to go. And if there is a list of employers who support Obamacare, I'd like that too. Thanks.
It's not just restaurant owners, believe me. There are lots of similar jobs out there.
And yes, the owners are used to treating their servers like piles of shit who do not deserve medical treatment if they get sick or hurt. God knows, the employees can't afford treatment out of pocket.
It's another case of, "I've got mine, fuck the rest of you!"
Anyone know of a list of restaurant owners (or other employers) who are being dicks this way?
I'd really like one for Colorado so I know where NOT to go. And if there is a list of employers who support Obamacare, I'd like that too. Thanks.
15
The fact that he suggests taking it out of the server's tip says everything you need to know about this guy.
16
Will he then lower costs when his healthier employees miss less work and are more productive?
Some sick waiter breathing on your Grand Slam Breakfast is the "current" state at his Denny's reasturants.
Some sick waiter breathing on your Grand Slam Breakfast is the "current" state at his Denny's reasturants.
17
People who own franchise restaurants are people who had a little money, but weren't bright enough to figure out a marketing or business plan their own.
19
@10: Seriously. Should businesses add a separate surcharge for every government program they don't like?
This is pathetic crybabying and it'll probably lose him more business than the higher price would have on its own.
This is pathetic crybabying and it'll probably lose him more business than the higher price would have on its own.
20
In San Francisco we passed universal healthcare and most restaurants now have a healthcare surcharge. It hasn't hurt the restaurant scene here in the slightest. Most people know that the charge is going to provide care to people who need it and prevent sick workers from showing up to handle their food. We really don't mind.
21
Funny that the places that serve the shittiest food are the only ones busy whining while screwing over their employees.
22
Yay, now I have an iron-clad excuse to go somewhere else when my mom wants to go to Denny's for breakfast! I never have to hear anyone order Moon Over My Hammy, ever again.
23
@19
As I said above (@10), I'm unlikely to eat at a Denny's, anyway. But assuming, for the sake of argument, that all restauranteurs are going to feel a crunch, and they will all have to raise the prices by 5% to cover health care costs for employees (as part of the listed price--not as a politically labled surcharge"), I return to the second part of what I said, above. I can afford an extra fifty cents on a plate of food far more easily than a waitress can afford health care under the current system.
As I said above (@10), I'm unlikely to eat at a Denny's, anyway. But assuming, for the sake of argument, that all restauranteurs are going to feel a crunch, and they will all have to raise the prices by 5% to cover health care costs for employees (as part of the listed price--not as a politically labled surcharge"), I return to the second part of what I said, above. I can afford an extra fifty cents on a plate of food far more easily than a waitress can afford health care under the current system.
24
wait, wait, he's going to both CUT the employee hours so he doesn't have to pay insurance, and then raise prices 5% to pay the penalty? Makes perfect sense. Especially since Denny's reported an increase of only 42% in net profits this year. Obviously, they can't afford it..... Restaurants in general pay the absolute minimum they can get away with, they don't generally offer full time employment anyway, and rarely offer medical except to upper manangement. I scrape by with my own company, my lowest paid employee makes roughly 70% of what I make and they get insurance that I pay a portion of..... WTF is wrong with these other business owners?
25
I love how the chain restaurant CEO's of America think that raising their prices by a few cents will make us all see the folly of our ways. I can imagine their internal monologue: "Oh you thought not being able to get treatment for your cancer was bad America? Well guess what, now you have to pay 50 cents more for my shitty food! Bet you regret electing Obama now!"
26
Guess if you're too chickenshit to go Galt the next best thing is to find places to shop where they treat the help like shit.
(The big story in the next 5 years will be talented professionals who quit their corporate gig to start a small business because now they can get insurance for their sick kid. Watch and see. These whiners are just giving the next wave of entrepreneurs a wider niche to fill.)
(The big story in the next 5 years will be talented professionals who quit their corporate gig to start a small business because now they can get insurance for their sick kid. Watch and see. These whiners are just giving the next wave of entrepreneurs a wider niche to fill.)
27
@26 Good point. I know a lot of people who are stuck in jobs that they hate but can't leave because doing so would mean losing the family insurance coverage. Now they'll have options.
28
I'll never understand why American employers don't lobby en masse for universal one-payer healthcare. As a non-American, it seems nuts to me that jobs and healthcare are linked in the first place. I understand it as a perk, but not how it came to be the whole healthcare enchilada. I wish Obamacare had gone back and unlinked insurance from healthcare - it ain't the same thing.
29
So first we, the noshing consumers, have to subsidize his cheapassedness by leaving a gratuity to supplement the piss-poor wage he pays his servers, and now we have to further subsidize his cheapassedness when it comes to healthcare? Charge me what you need to charge me to make the whole picture work for your business, don't bait and switch me with low menu prices that cannot support your needs, and then add the 20-25% for the server and 5% for the server's ACA-required healthcare, and 1.5% for the fork that I drop on the floor and 0.5% for the fresh flowers on the table...
30
Instead of boycotting this place, what locals should do is simply stop in, leave a one or two dollar tip for a waitperson, and leave. No business for Mr. Metz, but at least the staff will make a few bucks.
32
@29,
That's really the logical conclusion to tipping in the first place. Restaurant owners won't compensate their employees fairly, so we, the customers, have to do it.
That's really the logical conclusion to tipping in the first place. Restaurant owners won't compensate their employees fairly, so we, the customers, have to do it.
34
I've never eaten at Denny's or Chick-Fil-A. These restaurant owners forget that customers have so many options that we can easily avoid their restaurants if we don't like their politics.
35
0.) Not caring for the health of food industry people is stupid on the order of growing several states' worth of identical maïze, or being habitually rude to the guy who gives you straight-razor shaves.
1.) Maybe he assumes that anyone already eating at Denny's feels they have no other choice.
1.) Maybe he assumes that anyone already eating at Denny's feels they have no other choice.
36
@28:
The story I heard, and which seems credible, is that during the Second World War, the wage controls in effect made the provision of health insurance about the only good employers could offer employees at a time when the workers were being worked particularly hard.
Add the negative power of the word 'socialism', the system's working fairly well for the Good People (and very well for the Best People), and a great deal of inertia, and you have the current situation.
The story I heard, and which seems credible, is that during the Second World War, the wage controls in effect made the provision of health insurance about the only good employers could offer employees at a time when the workers were being worked particularly hard.
Add the negative power of the word 'socialism', the system's working fairly well for the Good People (and very well for the Best People), and a great deal of inertia, and you have the current situation.
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