Franconia Beer Message Board

~~Very interesting discussion so I have started a new thread as this is not now really about the Kellersaison!

Although Germany is not a particularly expensive place to live (not like Ireland!), I would not like to live here on €6 -7/hour.  Therefore, I am really pleased that Germany has adopted a minimum wage, coming into line with most of the rest of Europe.  It's not exactly a revolutionary move, as many countries are now talking about bringing in a true 'living wage', which will be above the minimum wage (the Labour Party in UK has made this an election pledge, I believe).  If I have to pay €0,20 more per seidla to ensure that the staff are adequately paid, so be it – let's face it, for most of us on this Forum, the beer is nearly for nothing anyway – just try living in Ireland, the UK or the States (as I believe from previous discussions).

The comment about tipping is really interesting, as many of us find this a most troublesome matter (I've asked several of my German friends about this business and still find it a bit perplexing!).  Ok, so the argument for tipping is usually that it makes up the wages of the waiters to a reasonable level.  Therefore, if they are now getting paid a proper wage, does that mean that we should stop tipping altogether now?  To be honest, I regard it as a heinous system in which workers have to beg their customers for help.  After all, in most jobs (I.e. engineers, computer programmers, secretaries, social workers, etc., etc.), you don't have to ask the customer to give you a 'leg up', so why should bar staff and the like?

Regarding service: I would be really happy to buy my beer from the bar or Ausschank, as almost invariably we do in a keller, where it seems to cause no problems at all.  Perhaps you were a bit before your time, Gerhard, having witnessed long lines waiting at Roppelt, among others!  It is really annoying to have to wait to pay at the end – it has even caused us to miss the bus on some occasions (probably our own fault for trying to squeeze in that extra schnitt) and, not surprisingly, waiters will always serve food/beer before turning to settle a bill.

Anyway, more importantly, time for a beer – off to Hoehn and Merkensdorf, probably Tiefernellen and Lohndorf tomorrow.