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Finally a time when this obscure Wikipedia article is relevant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_toilet


Apparently it's still a thing in places like rural India for people to squat to poop out in the fields, and then risk being bowled over by a pig rushing over to eat it.

They truly will eat anything.

As far as meat goes, they are not just scavengers - I've seen videos of wild pigs chasing after rabbits, actively hunting them down.

I'd never head of those Chinese "pig toilets", but it reminds me of a Chinese friend who said that growing up (maybe still?) it was common practice in the villages to feed infant poop to the pet/village dogs.


I always thought "be autonomous" meant "don't sit around waiting for someone to notice you're blocked", not "never consult with your colleagues".

The "why" in this article doesn't exactly make sense to me. If the argument were "economic conditions suck in the industry right now so managers have to write more code", sure. But "AI" is supposed to be saving us time writing code so we can focus on other things.

One flaw in the article is that the sample size of surveyed people is quite small and seems biased toward a particular type of company.


In CA many cities allow landlords to "bank" rent increases in some way. For example, in SF:

https://www.sf.gov/information--banked-rent-increases


None of this is relevant to Berkeley since California law prohibits rent control on vacant units (and has for decades). When renting ti a new tenant landlords can charge whatever they like.

It's honestly absurd to read this thread because everyone who has ever rented in the SF bay area knows this, yet there's a whole discussion based on some half-assumed idea of what the system is.


> Violating the constitution means that evidence gets thrown out in court and the victims get financially rewarded. It is not in the police's interest to violate people's rights.

Victims get financially rewarded by the state and the officers involved receive no kind of punishment at all. It's not hard to see why incentives lead to this already being widespread, and that's just what we know about when it gets thrown out or overturned. There's a whole shady practice of parallel construction going on.


This state of affairs benefits the ruling class of both parties. Causing harm is much simpler for the state to follow through on than improving conditions, and it's less likely to require meaningful sacrifices from wealthy elites. Republicans can run on "we'll hurt people you don't like". Democrats can run on "we won't hurt people as much as they will". Both can avoid dealing with spiraling wealth inequality, the sacred cash cow of US militarism, the healthcare system we've all been complaining about for decades and decades, etc...

These days it's mostly by card anyway though, isn't it?

Good point!

That could explain this move away from tipping described in the article: the economic incentive has disappeared, leaving all the cultural negatives.


We're going in the other direction. In Seattle it's common for restaurants to tack on an extra "service charge" that's not a tip, just because. It's supposed to be declared somewhere.

With tip your bill can easily end up 40% higher.


If I see "service charge" I'm going to assume that it covers the tip. I'm not going to tip on top of that.

This is what I do as well. Then I don't return to that restaurant on the basis of shenanigans.

Simply ask for it to be removed.

Then, if you wish, tip the staff whatever amount you prefer. (Though at this point, any restaurant that tries sneakily adding an additional charge to my bill probably isn't getting anything).


> Simply ask for it to be removed.

No, that's too unpleasant and would put a dour note on the evening. Particularly if I'm there with a date. I'm OK with simply not returning.


I suggest a date is likely to be more impressed with you taking a fair and decent no-nonsense attitude!

Granted, we all vary in our outlook :-)


Or a date would look at it as me being so cheap (or secretly broke) that I'm willing to make a production over something that isn't really that big of a deal, financially speaking.

But, date or not, it's not something I'm OK with doing. It's just not worth it when I can resolve the issue completely with much less bother.


It's pretty common where I live in Asia, and they almost always write it on their menu, too. I don't really see it as shenanigans as long as it's communicated in advance. We don't have a tipping culture, though.

They disclose it in the US as well. It's shenanigans to me because it's sneaky. Rather than being honest an increasing the price of the food, they're using a "service fee" separately to try to trick you into thinking the restaurant is less expensive than it is. I genuinely find it offensive, for pretty much the same reason that I find tipping culture offensive.

Yea, taken to the extreme, I don't think anyone would think it's fair:

Restaurant A's pasta is $14.95, printed clearly on the menu.

Restaurant B's pasta is $13, with a 15% service fee written in tiny letters on the menu somewhere.

Restaurant C's pasta is $2.99, with a 500% service fee written in tiny letters on the menu somewhere.

You're paying the same thing at each restaurant. If you think C is sneaky and unethical (which I hope everyone would), then why is B ok?


Anything where the sticker price is not the full price you pay is "shenanigans" as far as I'm concerned.

That’s also very common in the UK, and shows up elsewhere in Europe sometimes. In the UK, they are legally but not practically or socially discretionary. There are some tax advantages for the restaurant and in the ideal case for staff.

> That’s also very common in the UK

Touristy places in central London maybe. They wouldn't dare try sneaking an undeclared service charge onto a locals bill in Northern England or Scotland :-)

> In the UK, they are legally but not practically or socially discretionary.

Speak for yourself. When entertaining clients at touristy places in London, one routinely asks for this underhand charge to be removed from the bill. (Whether or not we then choose to leave a cash tip is a matter of discretion, but the chances are rather low after such shenanigans).


IME they mostly only appear for large tables in the UK.

Then is should be declared in advance on the menu.

Adding an undeclared "service charge" to the bill only when it is presented to you is what we are talking about here. It is an increasingly common underhand tactic in and around London and an charge which one should ALWAYS ask to be removed ("that wasn't on the menu mate").


> If it wasn't, then the owner would also get paid from tips.

Actually it's quite common for owners to take some of the tips, even though that's not legal.


I meant "solely from tips", obviously.

And yeah, on top of abusing the employees by not paying them (and relying on the customers to pay the employees directly), stealing from the tip is even more abusive.

And let's not even talk about those delivery (and similar) apps that also abuse the tips in their algorithms.


I think the ability to steal tips is part of the appeal for some employers unfortunately.

> I meant "solely from tips", obviously.

That was not obvious. Nor is that a common practice


Let me restate what the OP said. (quotes used for paraphrasing, not for quoting)

"Restaurant owners set a price on their dishes, because if everyone payed at will, the owners know they would make less money. Therefore we can assume owners know that paying at-will does not optimize earnings. Therefore, it's insane that they make their staff work for pay that's at-will".


Except cooking food and hospitality are two totally different things

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