Katy Steinmetz

Katy Steinmetz is a reporter in TIME's Washington bureau. In addition to working on features for TIME and TIME.com, she contributes to TIME's Swampland, Healthland and NewsFeed blogs. She pens a weekly column on language called Wednesday Words, and acts as impresario for political columnist Joe Klein's annual road trips.

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+Smart Spending | October 20, 2011

Are Mandatory Tips at Restaurants Legal?

By Katy Steinmetz
Getty Images

Last week, news outlets went crazy after a small Bay Area paper reported that servers in San Francisco were demanding a mandatory 25% gratuity on every check. Far from being an organized movement, the sources turned out to be a few servers talking about how that kind of guaranteed tip would sure be nice. (Perhaps [...]

+Psychology of Money | August 16, 2011

How Attractive Clothes Shoppers Affect Our Buying Habits

By Katy Steinmetz
Holger Winkler / Getty Images

Stores like American Apparel and Abercrombie & Fitch have gotten bad press for allegedly discriminating in their hiring by only choosing hot employees. But a new study shows that good-looking shoppers can be problematic for retailers, too.