So I attended the Roller Dollz home opener last night at the Arena, I think it has been over 5 years since I was at a bout. The rules have changed a lot, not a lot of contact or action anymore, they should change it to ‘flag derby’.
We also noticed that the Arena still has cup holders (the EC removed a bunch of theirs).
But that is not what this post is about. As I purchased a malt beverage at the bar, I asked the bartender where the tip jar was, they told me they had to ‘hide it’. They also made a colorful comment about Denny Sanford.
I am against this for many reasons, but mainly because of greed and hypocrisy. Besides the fact they charge too much for the beer at the ‘complex’ I think the bartenders should be able to put their tip jars in clear view. Why? Well first off, nothing requires you to tip them, even if the jar is in clear view. By not having the jar in view, it says a couple of things;
1) That the bartenders may be getting paid enough that tips are not necessary or
2) that gratuity may be included in the price.
Neither is true, I’m sure.
I would assume the Arena/Events Center (Ovations/SMG) don’t allow the tip jar because of greed. They want attendees to spend their ‘cash’ on purchases NOT on their employees gratuity. Which is ironic, because we are constantly told about how many jobs the EC and Convention center has created, what we are not told is that they are mostly low paying, part-time hospitality jobs, and to add insult to injury, they have to ‘hide’ their tip jars. Like passively asking for a tip is somehow impolite.
Yet again the management of the complex has shown it will now DICTATE tipping also.
Wonder if the workers will soon have to wear armbands?
We also got a good laugh out of the office printer paper sign taped to the window in the hallway going to the Arena and EC from the Sheraton. After spending millions on signage for the new facility, they must have ran out of signage money.
I totally agree with your main points on the tipping. One point of clarification though, since I was the one who created the confusion about the cupholders.
A while back I asked the council at public input where the cup holders went in the lower level of the event center. I and other Stampede season ticket holders thought we rememebered them being there when we toured the facility before it opening. That was our recollection, but I couldn’t find any pictures to confirm it either way.
I finally got an answer from the city on this and I was told they never were there, and that it was debated for a while but ultimately they decided not to do cup holders in the lower seats (the ones that pull out – so the first 6 or 7 rows typically), because of space considerations and safety issues. So apparently they were never there to begin with. I’ll accept they were never there since I have nothing to show otherwise and it was simply our vague recollection, so I wanted to get that out there.
That being said, I have to respectfully suggest not having cup holders in the lower and most expensive regular seats is really silly. I hope the SMG staff likes cleaning up messes, because there are big cups of beer and pop routinely spilled at every game. Its getting a little annoying.
A little point about the ‘jobs created’ meme with the events center. This is always brought up by a government entity pushing stadium, event center, etc.
They leave out a few things – the funds the government have are finite, if we spend money on the event center, there are projects like road reconstructions that won’t happen, so a job created over at the event center is offset by a major road reconstruction project that otherwise would have happened. Going forward, every year we’ll spend 10 million in debt service from the CIP. That is the equivalent of the major 41st Street project for Sertoma Ave to Tea Ellis road that widened it to 4 lanes, added a boulevard, sidewalk, curb/gutter, and enhanced it greatly from its 2 lane mostly unimproved situation. That project started in the spring and ended in late October. Every year for the next 20 years about 2 projects of that magnitute won’t happen because of debt service. So all of those jobs created to construct the event center simply steal jobs from the future that won’t be funded, because we’ll be paying 10 million in debt service instead of bidding out major road and other infrastructure projects.
The other point is that the ‘permanent’ jobs created are a pitiful return on investment. Let’s say we ‘created’ 100 new jobs. That’s 1 million dollars per job given the 100+ million cost. The vast majority of those jobs as stated will be hospitality jobs like food vendors, servers, and ushers. Spending 1 million dollars to create a low paying job (I’m not denigrating those who work them by the way) isn’t something I consider a stroke of genius. Just saying.
Keep in mind most of this road work that needs to be done, (I’ll add 4 lanes on 60th street north from Kiwanis to cliff) is now on hold. Remember, our mayor, just a couple of weeks ago, lobbied hard to ramrod an added penny thru the state legislature.
No new taxes??? Just another mmm BS line.
Roller Dollz sounds fun. I’ll not go into the new EC cause I’m worried bout the structural. Something at the Arena ok but I worry about the parking. Uber is coming to town. It’ll be a better way to/from the EC, Arena, Howard Wood, or the airport. They, a private concern, could save the city from having to build parking garages.
Poly43
The history of how the City Council allocates the annual SURPLUS CIP dollars is that they put the majority towards road projects.
This year they voted to designate this surplus towards an indoor swimming pool!
Four Million Tax Dollars which could have been spent on roads will now supplement the construction of an indoor pool that originally was sold to the public as a $19.4 million dollar project.
This was also billed as a public-private partnership. Still waiting to hear about all those PRIVATE dollars that are going to be invested in this facility.
Given the taxpayers substantial investment in the $24 million dollar swimming pool, the entire facility (including the 50 meter lap pool) needs to be open and available to the general public during ALL the hours this PUBLICLY FUNDED facility is open.
Shhh! Don’t mention the indoor pool. It must be built so the VA can take control. There will be necessary expanded parking for the VA. To make it look good, the public can use it for awhile but they’ll have to take the bus. Thank you Sioux Falls.