Ontario urges bars, restaurants to close amid COVID-19 pandemic

[dioxide45]

You already see the higher prices with the Covid surcharges on restaurant bills. Additionally - I feel like the restaurants are pushing more and more for tips on carry out food, which in theory, is nonsensical, because a tip is for service, which you aren't getting w/carry-out.

I have noticed this too. In the past I never tipped more than a couple dollars for carry out. I actually asked about this over ten years ago. The problem now is that most of the people packaging up to-go orders are wait staff that is getting paid a tipped wage ($2.13 per hour). Now even Pizza Hut has a tip section when placing an online order for carry-out and no one there should be getting paid a tipped wage. In fact some of them make $12-$15 an hour.

 

[AJCts411]

I have noticed this too. In the past I never tipped more than a couple dollars for carry out. I actually asked about this over ten years ago. The problem now is that most of the people packaging up to-go orders are wait staff that is getting paid a tipped wage ($2.13 per hour). Now even Pizza Hut has a tip section when placing an online order for carry-out.

In Ontario there are minimum wage laws...believe the restaurants are around $13.00 per hour.

 

[Tacoma]

It always amazes me that in the US wait staff can get paid such ridiculously low wages. $2.13 an hour was quoted here. In Alberta wait staff make the same minimum wage as everyone else which is $15 an hour unless you are under 16 (I believe). However we Canadians still tip like Americans eat in 15-25% and I feel lots of us are tipping pick up etc these days. Although I always tip I am getting resentful in restaurants where I always pick up (so the money goes to them) knowing that they pay 20-30% for skip the dishes etc. and get no tip but when I pick up several offer no discount and expect a tip. I have been trying to tip others more for example I always tip my timeshare maid, any tour guide that I have used and especially everyone that provides a service in Mexico like baggers in grocery stores.
Canadian servers, particularly the young pretty girls who work at the popular restaurants that only hire for looks, make VERY good money. Approximately 8 years ago when my daughter worked at one of these establishments she usually brought in $150 to $400 a night in tips on top of her 5-6 hour salary of around $75. At 25 when she tried to get hired back she didn't meet their standards, too old or not pretty enough who knows? At least the US restaurants don't seem to only hire for looks as I have had waiters/waitresses from all age categories and you can tell that is not the reason they were hired.
Joan

 

[jabberwocky]

I never thought about the tipping angle. I never would tip before for take-out. I always figured I don’t tip for fast food, and take-out levels provide a similar level of service.

Lately I have been tipping about 15% for take-out. I guess I just feel sorry for the establishments. Most that I frequent are smaller “mom-and-pop” places and have laid off most of their staff. Invariably it is the owner staffing the front pick-up desk and taking orders with maybe a couple of employees (or family) cooking in the back. You can see the strain on the owner’s face.

 

[PrairieGirl]

THe post you quoted is from March.

Oooops! Thanks!

 

[jabberwocky]

Oooops! Thanks!

Don’t feel too bad. It seems like not much has changed since then. (sigh...)

 

[DannyTS]

Not directly related to the OP but it seems that the travel shaming has reached a new level in the Canadian media in the last few days.

 

[jabberwocky]

Not directly related to the OP but it seems that the travel shaming has reached a new level in the Canadian media in the last few days.

They are running out of “exciting” covid stories.

Cases are dramatically dropping in the west. Cases are stable in Ontario and Quebec (not sure when they aren’t dropping given the lockdowns).

The handful of cases in the Atlantic (where anything above 0 is considered abnormal) are somehow related to travel (especially those horrible oil workers returning from Alberta). Add in the angry dad sitting in Queen’s Park blaming a lack of testing of international travellers for potentially letting in a horrid British strain (shouldn’t quarantine work for this?).

Given this the only legitimate story to attract eyeballs is travel shaming, even if it accounts for less than 2% of cases.

Of course they are starting to pick up on how poorly we are rolling out the vaccine. It has to be an embarrassment when the US is able to vaccinate over 400% more of their population (on a per capita basis).

Slow vaccine rollout across Canada draws criticism, anger

Despite Canada securing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the rollout and implementation of vaccination programs has been slow, drawing criticism and anger from the public and health sector alike

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[DannyTS]

They are running out of “exciting” covid stories.

Cases are dramatically dropping in the west. Cases are stable in Ontario and Quebec (not sure when they aren’t dropping given the lockdowns).

The handful of cases in the Atlantic (where anything above 0 is considered abnormal) are somehow related to travel (especially those horrible oil workers returning from Alberta). Add in the angry dad sitting in Queen’s Park blaming a lack of testing of international travellers for potentially letting in a horrid British strain (shouldn’t quarantine work for this?).

Given this the only legitimate story to attract eyeballs is travel shaming, even if it accounts for less than 2% of cases.

Of course they are starting to pick up on how poorly we are rolling out the vaccine. It has to be an embarrassment when the US is able to vaccinate over 400% more of their population (on a per capita basis).

Slow vaccine rollout across Canada draws criticism, anger

Despite Canada securing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the rollout and implementation of vaccination programs has been slow, drawing criticism and anger from the public and health sector alike

www.ctvnews.ca

I doubt it is even 2%. If that was the case, the planes would be flying without flight attendants, they would all be in the hospital or dead by now. Not the case it seems.

 

[jabberwocky]

I doubt it is even 2%. If that was the case, the planes would be flying without flight attendants, they would all be in the hospital or dead by now. Not the case it seems.

2% is a high estimate and includes people who acquire it from someone who has travelled outside of Canada. The flights I have been on have been quite good at ensuring the flight attendants have proper PPE (unfortunately it also means service has suffered).

2% is probably not too far off. The Alberta testing pilot program has shown only about 1.4% of incoming travellers tested positive on arrival. A further 0.7% tested positive 8 days later in the follow-up, but it’s not clear that they were positive prior to entry or whether it was acquired within Canada. The one caveat to this would be that the vast majority of travellers are coming from the US, Calgary doesn’t have as many ex-US international flights.

Regardless, 2% is incredibly low, and IMO it would make sense for them to introduce this across Canada as it would then let the 98% who don’t have covid the opportunity to return to their normal lives 48 hours after arrival (with appropriate restrictions for those who work in high-risk setting like long-term care).

 

[DannyTS]

Interesting to note that Ontario announced they want to start a similar testing study for the incoming flights, the premiere said he hoped that he would be able to knock the quarantine requirement. Quebec is going the other way, requesting stricter federal rules.

I am not sure how the math works but 1.4% of those that fly, provided that most will respect the 14 day quarantine upon return should not be a significant contributor to the spread of the virus in the community. By contrast somebody who gets infected at Costco will carry on with the "normal" life so will have a much higher chance of infecting others. Is the 1.4% that you mentioned differnt from testing the population randomly? In other words, does the travel really add any new cases that would have not have been added through the normal activities in Canada? We know the prevalence is a lot higher with the general tests although we know those are not random. We also know that the tests come positive a long time after the infection due to the high number of amplifications. Could some of those 1.4% been infected in Canada prior to the departure? It is quite possible and this is another reason why disclosing the number of cycles should be made mandatory. Additionally, I assume those that those who fly abroad these days are typically in good health and younger in average so not a significant contributor to the ER rooms or to the number of deaths. It is incredible though how little public information about the spread from the International travel we still have after 9 months. I would not mind knowing the % of infected travelers but also their age, symptomatic or not, where did they return from, how many end up in the hospital and how many dead, and how many have transmitted the virus to somebody else in the community and of course the number of amplifications for the tests performed.