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Some thoughts on this piece. First, the idea that because Chang has been open (almost boastfully so) about his abusive behavior does not in any way excuse it or make it any less traumatic. I wish that had been more forcefully stated. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/dining/restaurant-workers-ndas-david-chang.html?smid=tw-share
Second, restaurant workers do in fact deserve better. One thing they deserve is better reporting. This incredibly lazy anecdote: "many restaurant customers have responded...with kindness. Almost everyone I know is tipping more than usual, in some cases as much as 50 percent."
I'm sure that many of the people in Pete Wells's social circle are in fact tipping well. Some of them are undoubtedly lying to him. But it's not hard to find lots of stories about how tipping has NOT increased during Covid: https://www.fastcompany.com/90564662/the-ugly-truth-about-tipping-waitstaff-during-covid-19
Here's another one: https://www.lamag.com/digestblog/tipping-down-pandemic/
Most of all, this piece misses the single biggest act of violence against restaurant workers: a country that has forced them to risk their lives to work in unsafe conditions or risk abject poverty, or sometimes both simultaneously.
A few wealthy Manhattanites adding 10% to their tips does absolutely fuck all in the face of that, so maybe instead of celebrating their benevolence Pete could spare a word about how an entire political party is feeding restaurant workers to the wolves, gleefully.
