Earlier this week I noted that a bunch of busybodies with too much time on their hands decided to wage a social media campaign against a local drinking establishment that had dared to point out that a massive increase in the minimum wage for tipped employees would hurt their business, hurt their workers, and hurt their customers. But the scolding scolds were not deterred from their scolding. Indeed, they've now penned an open letter to demonstrate just how much they love the restaurant and care about the plight of the working man.
Their letter kicks off by noting their bona fides:
First off, we want to thank you for being an anchor to the Bloomingdale community. Quite simply, we love what you guys are doing. As residents of Bloomingdale, Truxton Circle, Shaw, Logan Circle and other nearby neighborhoods, we have enjoyed being regular patrons of your establishment. We’ve never had a poor experience. Your food has always been tasty, your staff always friendly, your drinks always stiff. We have no reason to doubt your assertion that you pay your staff well, and yours is an example for other establishments to emulate.
Hm, they seem like big fans. Odd that they'd go after a business for pointing out that a new regulation would be hugely detrimental. Perhaps they have some sort of problem with the way Boundary Stone treats its staff?
We understand your employees are well taken care of.
Oh, guess not. Then what's their beef?
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case at all establishments.
So ... they are excoriating a business they love because other businesses are shady? That makes a ton of sense, boyos.
Tipped wage workers not receiving at least minimum wage is a problem that runs rampant in the service industry.
Brilliant idea: Instead of enforcing the laws on the books, we should do huge financial damage to the businesses that do play by the rules! Hold on, let me find an image on the Internet to show how I feel about this stance:
Again, we understand that Boundary Stone workers are paid far better than this, but opposing an increase in the tipped minimum wage enables bad actors to treat their workers unfairly.
Again, why would these "bad actors" be any more cognizant of the new minimum wage than the old one? The whole thing is absurd. It's anti-worker, anti-business, and anti-customer. But hey, it gives the authors of that letter a chance to take a brave stand and redistribute other people's money to some mythical class of exploited worker.
And for that, I salute you, the signatories, who are clearly just regular folks who eat at Boundary Stone and have no professional stake at getting the union-backed minimum wage hike passed. Good job, Asher Huey (big labor employee), Richard Allen Smith (one-time big labor member, communications director of an organization located in this office building that may or may not*** accept union funding), Sabrina Stevens (big labor employee), Mike Sager ("Dem technologist," a/k/a, more or less a big labor employee, given their funding of Democrats), Kyle Weidleman (big labor employee), Sara Lang ("CAP/DNC/Obama" alum, a/k/a, more or less a big labor employee, given their funding of Democrats/CAP), Bridget Todd (a "writer, organizer, and educator"), Emily Crockett,* Chris Stergalas (big labor employee), Gabe Gonzales (big labor employee), and Mikey Franklin (anti-intern activist** who I will just assume is funded by big labor). You are truly heroes of the people.
*Crockett works for a pro-abortion news outlet. I couldn't find any direct links between big labor and her news outlet, but, you know, they're probably there.
**If you're opposed to unpaid internships, you're anti-intern.
***Read: probably does. (I've updated his bio to more accurately reflect his current employment situation.)
Update: One of Boundary Stone's bartenders asks Richard Allen Smith and the rest to kindly screw off:
Now a group of individuals are slamming my friends and my employers because they disagree on the minimum wage for tipped employees. Well, with your "multiple decades of service industry employment combined" you should realize that not all tips get reported to the Federal Government and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics salary report is most likely off. DC is an amazing city for tipped workers because we are an affluent region with gracious patrons that visit our establishments and tip handsomely. I have yet to see a single industry person, currently employed in a tipped FOH position, support your cause. In fact, by not visiting the Boundary Stone and petitioning others not to as well, you are directly hurting the very people you are trying to defend by negatively affecting business, ergo no tips.