Mandatory Tipping
Nov 2nd, 2006 by What's Gotta Go
When did giving someone a tip become mandatory versus something you did to reward superior service? This practice of glorified begging has always bugged me on so many levels.
I hate tipping. I hate that it has become mandatory in certain “service” industries. I paying this “hidden tax” on things that should be paid for in their published price. I should be free to reward great service when I feel so inclined, not feel like I am a cheat if I don’t provide a generous sum on top of the (usually greatly overpriced) amount I am paying already.
Does this mean I penalize the waiter at the restaurant because I hate the practice? No, that is punishing the wrong person. I actually was a waiter for all of three months. Hated it. Hated dealing with people that were rude and hated when I didn’t make enough to merit the hard work of the night. I live in an area where, in general, people are cheap. Heck, I admit to being a bit cheap myself. What bothered me most, though, is that the restaurant completely takes advantage of the even-lower-than-everything-else minimum waged allowed for waiting tables. At the time it was $2.65 or something like that…PER HOUR. It was expected I would make my money by being a stellar waiter and getting good tips. I did ok, even in the cheap town I college live in. But, after I would work a shift (particularly a night shift) it was mandatory for me to do my counting out, cleaning up stations, floors, etc. as part of my “privilege” for having worked the shift. It would typically take me an hour and a half to close down…at $2.65/hr! That’s slave labor if I have ever heard of it.
Why should restaurants be able to factor in the profits of paying wait staff so little. Shouldn’t this cost be factored into the price of the meal? Tips should be a bonus, not part of the base pay.
Now, what is up with the handouts for even the simplest of tasks. Doormen and bellhops, don’t even get me started on that area. Taxi drivers…is a tip just to say “thanks for not killing me?” What bothers me the most is when I really don’t feel like I have gotten a worthwhile level of service, yet the “service” individual feels includes to hold out their hand or stand there in a very awkward pause obviously expecting a handout. This is nothing more than a high pressure push on your guilt factor. Guess what, I don’t have any guilt when the service sucked. I won’t see you again, so suck it up.
Do I reward great service? You betcha. Often generously. I appreciate when someone goes the extra mile and I’ll pull out the wallet to say thanks. That is what tipping is about. All the rest of you schmucks that expect the dole rather than work for it, you won’t be getting it from me.
Here are a couple of articles I found looking up the history of tipping:
Edit: This one is just for fun – I can’t image spending this much on a meal for six, but hey, you do what you enjoy. The part that sends me for a spin, the mandatory $200 tip. No way the service was worth $200 bucks.
I totally agree with this rant. One of my pet peeves. Although I am a tipper, (and now my husband FINALLY is as well) it makes me cringe to tip. I tip for the poor waitress that gets paid diddly.
What makes me rant is the fact the good service isn’t the norm, and that I generously tip the good service, when it should be the norm. When did things change, when did business owners find that giving great service should be a perk? And then don’t get me started on the automatic gratuity that is added to the bill?!?!? This seems to be a more common practice.
Oooo…this reminds me of a recent trip my husband and I made. We were in London, where tipping isn’t the source of income for waiters. In fact we were told tipping more than 10% was QUITE generous. (Ha, wish that was the case here)We dined at a nice restaurant (Hard Rock I believe ;) )and ate a very good meal, the service was superb and we decided to tip generously, atleast 20%, by placing it on the table for our waiter. Then as we were walking down the street looking at our receipt, we noticed that there was an automatic gratuity added to our bill?!?!?!? Now if tipping wasn’t bad enough, they automatically ADD it??? So we double tipped the guy, I mean, he was good, but not THAT good!!!!
Oh this is one area that really irks me! I agree, tipping should be at the discretion of the customer for good service.
One event that really stands out in my mind was at Disney World. We had taken our family to the top of Cinderella’s castle for breakfast that we had to reserve 6 months in advance. There were five of us (me, my husband, and our 3 children) and the cost was something like $30 each. Ok, we decided to splurge, after all, how often do you get to eat inside Cinderella’s castle? Well, the breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, a strip of bacon or one sausage, some mini muffins, toast, and orange juice and coffee. No ordering from a menu and all the waiter had to do was bring us our plates, refill our coffee, and take our plates away when we were done. Definitely not worth $30 each, but hey, like I said, we were eating in Cinderella’s castle! My then 8 year old daughter hardly touched her breakfast – she hates eggs! Ok, $30 down the drain, but she did get to have her picture taken with all of the princesses.
So we get handed the bill after our hour was up. $150, plus tax, plus 18% gratuity. We sucked it up and paid the bill. The kids were happy, that’s all that mattered.
The waiter came over for our payment. We handed him our credit card and when we filled out the credit card slip we did not add any additional gratuity – after all he was already getting 18% of over $150 – for hardly doing anything! Well, as we left the restaurant, and said thank you and good-bye to the waiter, he snubbed his nose at us! I couldn’t believe it! He actually wanted MORE money on top of the 18%? Amazing. I’m in the wrong line of work I guess.
I couldn’t agree more about this tipping rant. Why should I have to tip a server when the service totally sucks? You know why? Because if I don’t give them a couple of bucks, the poor sap only gets two dollars an hour. (and yes, it’s still a lousy $2 an hour) I need to be more like my husband when it comes to tipping. He tips more when the service is better and less when it’s bad . I tend to feel bad for them and tip more than I know I should! I need to get up the guts to let them know that their service stinks, and that they don’t really deserve a tip.
Here’s an idea to all the waitstaff/bartenders, etc… if you can’t tolerate the fact that some people tip well and some people don’t agree with the antiquated concept, get out of the industry. OR just shut up about it because you can train a monkey to go back to the kitchen and carry out the food. That’s why it’s a minimum wage job. It’s menial labor not rocket science ! You defend tipping so much cause if you were really paid what you were worth, you’d never get more than minimum wage. Get some education and get in another industry where you don’t have to rely culturally accepted begging and on your customers being your financial planner.
I tip; In restaurants I tip so I don’t look like a dolt, and I really hate that there is that pressure not to look like a **** to those poor waitresses who can’t make money any other way that they live off my $5.
I simply can’t tolerate tipping. In fact, I rarely eat out anymore. I haven’t done so for a couple years now, because the cost is prohibitive. I just can’t see paying the full price for a meal (already high), then another 20% on top of that. I suspect I’m not alone. Pretty soon, the waitstaff who depend on tips for a living will see fewer and fewer customers able to afford to pay it.
This is in response mostly to Byron. I would like to bring a different view to this debate. I agree that tipping should not be mandatory (except for big parties). I believe it is COMPLETELY OUT of context and RUDE to say that “a monkey could go back to the kitchen and carry out the food” and “if you were really paid what you were worth, you’d never get more than minimum wage.” OBVIOUSLY, you have never waited in a restaraunt!!! This is mostly speaking on my behalf and I consider myself a very professional and good waitress. We do not BEG for our tips. I give great service, smile, and I am friendly, I generally care about my customer’s expierence, I DO NOT BEG. I EARN MY TIPS. I would also like to point out that I am a college student paying my way through college, so thank you, I AM getting my higher education, do not assume that all servers are serving for a living and not applying themselves, and even if that is so, what makes you so much better? Here’s a little history for you: The federal minimum wage for food/beverage servers is 2.13 an hour. The owner will then deduct 3.5% of the tab for tip out, and then the IRS and taxes come in. Is this your fault? NO. But this is how the system works. It IS COMMON COURTESY to leave a tip. (and i am talking about restaurants here, leave the rest for someone else) It should not be such a burden to tip people! Give from the heart. If the server did a bad job, by all means don’t tip well. But if they did excellent? What does it say when you leave $5 on a $100 dollar tab? It says you did not appreciate the service and it is a slap in the face to the server that worked hard to give you a enjoyable evening. Customers should be able to choose how much they tip, BUT I think Americans need to rethink what a good tip is. 10% is nothing now days people! 15-20% is much better. If you don’t have the money to tip, don’t go out to eat. Or go to a restaurant or food place where you are not served on. It’s been like this for years, why such a huge problem now? Try putting yourself in someone’s elses shoes for once! It’s sad to see how hard it is to give this days….
It’s not just serving food. It’s knowing exactly what ingredient is on every dish in case you’re allergic, knowing how everything is prepared, exactly what sides and sauces come with what, and what beverage compliments your meal. And that’s in addition to the refills, the extra silverware, and the cleaning.
All that knowledge, plus witty banter, and making you want to come back for that same experience, is how I earn my 20-25% tips.
Julie:
Good for you on trying to better yourself. My beef is really with servers who increasingly come off demanding higher and higher tips with no mention of the level of service. It’s not an entitlement ! They have to earn it. 20% is the new 15%, which was the new 10%. Yet inflation (and therefore the value of the tip %) continues to go up for us customers. People who are or were in the waiting industry are constantly making the point that “you don’t know what it’s like to be a waiter, and that anything under 20% is a personal insultâ€. You’ll get the usual weak arguments (or should I say misdirection and personal attacks) from those in the industry if you question any part of the process. Such as:
• “The prices will double or triple if tipping is abolished and waiters paid an appropriate wageâ€. Yeah right. Supply & demand will continue to work. Prices will naturally seek a level where the customer can still afford to eat out, and the restaurant can make a profit. If there’s a niche, it will be filled.
• “It’s really hard work and low payâ€. Jeepers, hard work (and stress) can be said for a lot of jobs out there. Face it – It’s primarily menial labor with some basic people skills and memorization mixed in. It’s not rocket science. As for low pay & the below minimum wage stuff, save that red herring for someone else. Many waiters make good money with tips (and not reporting it all).
• “Tipping well gets you better serviceâ€. Maybe, assuming you go to the same old place on a frequent basis, get the same server, and they remember you as a regular high tipping customer, but then you should tip every service related profession using that logic. By the way, what is considered “tipping well ?â€, as many in the industry consider anything less than 20% an insult. Let’s end the bribery and the veiled threat of inflicting poor service. If an establishment wants my continued patronage it had better give me good service or I’ll go elsewhere.
• “You’re just being cheap, if you can’t afford to eat out stay homeâ€. This is my favorite irrelevant misdirection. Just insult the person asking a question on tipping culture ethics instead of addressing the substance of the question. I can afford to tip 1000 percent on a $200 meal, but what’s that got to do with anything ? By the way, I don’t like lemon pie.
Elle:
I have never had any server in all my years discuss what foods I might be allergic to. That’s a stretch on your part. Most If I need a television, I go out and pay for a television. End of story. If I order a steak from a restaurant, I expect to receive and pay for a steak, and the clean utensils to eat it with. Why then do I need to tip extra for getting the service a business offers ? It’s not like I get a steak and the waiter also details my car. When an ice tea costs 3.00, shouldn’t I expect a refill? Isn’t paying a 1000 percent markup on a product enough ? Your breakdown of every little task is BS ! You forgot to add the cost you expect for handing us the menu !
By the way – what is witty banter going for these days ? Does it raise your tip from 15 to 25% ? unless you’re in a 5-star restaurant, I can usually figure out what I want and order it without your explaining what’s in the sauce, or what type of wine goes with what.
It\’s funny how its always people who have never worked in the restaurant industry serving people, who are always the ones complaining about tipping and/or tip less than average or not at all. I myself have, for a short period of time, and I now work as an Accountant and Financial Analyst and you couldn\’t pay me twice what I make to go back! I also believe my job to be easier and less stressful than that of a server. It takes a special kind of person to have to deal with the public, and the level of disrespect they shell out to the people serving them. As we all know Sh*t rolls downhill, and when someone has been chewed out or had a bad day they generally end up taking it out on someone they feel they have the upper-hand on. Now I live in Texas and here servers were paid 2.15/hr over 10 years ago and they still get paid 2.15/hr. But there is so much more to consider to really have a good idea of what a server makes. At most restaurants, at least in this state, a server has to tip out other employees of that restaurant (usually a pecentage of 3% or 3 dollars each or more!), there\’s the busser, the bartender, and the food runner. Now I stopped working in this industry, like I said long ago, but the main reason was the wonderful law they passed that servers had to claim 8.25% of food sales as their tips, this amount is printed out at the end of your shift and turned in to the IRS! This is outrageous when you have to claim you made tips on a table that stiffed you. I think if servers get paid an amount less than minimum wage then gratuity should be automatically added to bill, then sure let it be your option to give more if you felt the service was above average. But whether or not tipping should be mandatory? this should be a no brainer.
LaDonna:
Being a server isn’t always fun. Did it many moons ago, because it didn’t take much experience, and I could earn pretty good money with tips while I went to school. But like you, I wouldn’t go back.
I still have friends that work at relatively nice restaurants and bring down a professional level pay, in some cases close to the $$ my degrees have brought me, which I personally think is ridiculous.
I often hear them complain of the “losers” that tip less than 20% and don’t get them started if they’re ever tipped. Yet in the same breath, they’ll brag about the big scores they get some nights, and point out that they don’t report the entire take to the IRS. Sure they get an occassional stiff, but they’ve also been honest enough to say that it comes out in the wash, since their average tips are over 20%. So after taxes they still 10 to 12 % in untaxed tips (which is an additional 25 % bump or so).
I’d like like to see the restaurant industry conform with other industry out there. Pay a normal wage to the server for their skill level, have one fair price for the meal (no it won’t go up 10 times without tipping), and let the customer enjoy the experience without the added complication of evaluating and being guilted into financial support for the waiter. Boy… one can only dream.
Until the industry conforms with how normal business operates, why should it be up to the customer to conform & make sure a waiter is paid fairly ? It’s nice, but not our responsibility. If that’s the game the restaurant owners want to play, then why would you expect the customer to give up their only trump card.
Have a good one.
I agree tipping sucks. Why should the customers be forced to pay the servers salary? If you ask me, the owners of the restaurants have it made, basically employing servers for no cost to them. What a joke. I say charge more for the food, and put the extra money into the servers base pay. Then if the servers give poor service, FIRE THEM. Problem solved. Instead of providing good service for tips, the servers will give good service to keep there jobs, like 95% of the other labor force in this country. Because of the added cost of tipping, I find myself eating in more, or getting carry out. I agree it sucks for a server to only be making $2/hour base pay, or whatever it is. But is that my problem? NO! The owner of the restaruant is the one who should feel guilty, NOT the customers. PERIOD.
I don’t get what all the complaining is about.
Ok, say tipping is abolished governmentally, obviously the servers cannot still be paid $2 per hour. Workers’ wages are then raised to a somewhat living wage. Prices are raised 20-25% to cover said wage increase, and most likely add a little something for the owners. Now you are forced to pay the percentage + sales tax on it, too.
As for the comment “…servers will give good service to keep there [sic] jobs…”, that is already an incentive. Service managers do generally care how their staff treats their customers. The only change would be to REMOVE an incentive to provide attentive service and only provide a bare minimum to get by.
I do believe you should be absolutely prepared to tip 15% for restaurant service (I have NEVER, EVER had anyone in the hospitality industry complain about 15%, that may be a regional thing). It’s less for poor service and more for good service. Look at it this way, you get a discount on your meal as a result of this agreement.
Byron, I don’t think your TV analogy is apt. Picking up a TV at the electronics store is equivalent to picking up a steak at the grocery store. If you had someone setup your TV at home, connect it to your DVD player and cable, you’d pay for it.
If tipping is still an issue to you all, you can eat out where there are no servers (fast food, cafeterias, any place you order at a counter, etc). Would you serve strangers and take their abuse for $2/hr?
Bob:
I don’t buy you ecomomics 101 explanation on the cost of the meal going up if you increase server’s pay. There are several states (e.g. Calif., Washington, etc.) that have incorporated higher wages for servers (e.g. $8 to $10/hr). Yet – restaurants there haven’t raised prices much at all, but have made changes to minimize overtime, and cut costs elsewhere. They remain competitive and still attract the necessary customers. So the world hasn’t fallen apart. But servers are still tipped, and as usual still demand 20% or more because of “the high cost of living”. Thank God we’ve lost the old $2/hr sympathy excuse in these areas.
Regular wages for servers = Bare minimum service ? Yeah, that’s brilliant. How many businesses thrive on giving mediocre service ? More business 101 Bob ?
You say “If you had someone setup your TV at home, connect it to your DVD player and cable, you’d pay for it.” True, I’d pay for the service, just as if I had my car into a mechanic. But your statement does not complete the obvious. That if you pay for a service in most industries, its a flat rate (NO TIP). Why is the restaurant industry so unique ? We paying for the meal (i.e. service) at a resturant and still a tip on top of that ?? Sounds like a racket to me.
As for the baloney about eating where you don’t have to tip (if you disagree with the tipping custom ). Hey – I can afford to tip 1000 % on a $200 meal, or give out $20 bills to every checker at every shop and grocery store I go to. So what ? That’s irrelevant ! Just cause I can, why should I. As I’ve seen on numerous blogs, the system adds complication for the paying customer, and I think the custom should be eliminated.
If you don’t want to tip, don’t go out. And how dare you claim that “a monkey can do my job”? I tell you what, do it for one night. remember three tables drink orders, make sure all the food gets fired in the correct order, get everything right, and be sure to be in a good mood no matter what happens. Breaks? HA. Forget about it. If you work in an office you take your regular breaks. I’m lucky if I can grab a smoke. I work at a high end restaurant and I make close to 100k a year. I wouldn’t be doing this job if people didn’t tip. I’m a professional, giving you an evening out that is pleasant and memorable. I’m there to make sure you have a good time without having to work for it. I think a tip is the least you can do.
Well go to it. Take on the legislatures. All but I think 7 or 8 states make these acommodations. I have waitressed (many, many, many years ago) and it isn’t an easy job and no any monkey can’t do it. But it put me through college and I am thankful for the experience. I taught me a lot about people. The work is difficult, the pay is limited depending on where you work. Waiting on a huge party and having a $200 tip may seem like a lot but it is probably split among 4 people who catered to your every whim and until we pay people fair wages it is just how it is. Once we do, we’ll be complaining about how high the prices have gone up in restaurants. Tipping doesn’t bother me. I have only stiffed someone twice, both times when the server was off the charts rude or down right insulting. Mostly I am in the realm or 15-20% leaning more toward the latter. The thing that REALLY makes me nuts (and usually accounts for an automatic 5% reduction) is when my server asks me “Do you need change” No I don’t NEED change, it is my change, give it to ME then I will leave you a tip. I think this was a practice that started in bars and now seems to have permeated the world. That is MY pet peeve. Tipping I think is here to stay. P.S. there is always take out if you want to avoid it.
Great Scott !!
If you are truly bringing in 100K… there’s something wrong in the world. More power to you for beating the system, but the idea of a menial labor job (yes… even at high end restaurants) warranting that kind of income is a outrageous. I don’t care if you can memorize the specials, have a great knowledge of wine, or have a degree in nuclear physics that you’re not using because waiting pays better. You’re still taking my order and shleping that order out to me, maybe with a little small talk on the side. Big deal. Maybe you can stop monkeying around long enough to enlighten us as to what you actually do that’s worth $100K.
Servers, stop trying to call yourselves professionals. It’s still considered an “unskilled” job, because for the most part it doesn’t require a degree, apprenticeship, or certification. Try not to take the word “unskilled” literally or personally (I know that’s a hard one). Individual servers can be personable, efficient, and may be over educated in other areas, but a waiting “job” doesn’t warrant a professional type salary !
Finally ….Golly & Jeepers you’re right – you work hard and the least you are “entitled” to is a tip ! After all, slackers like auto workers, construction workers, teachers, fireman, policemen, blah, blah, blah don’t work nearly as hard as you, which is obviously why they’re not tipped.
Now go have an intelligent day !
I never tip and encourage others not to tip, UNLESS, they go above and beyond their job duties which in most cases they do not.
Tipping is a bogus way of panhandling frak them, they choose their job and the customer has the right to not tip. A waiter or waitress’s job is to provide superior customer service, they should not be tipped for doing their job.
There are big discussions regarding the tipping on cruise ships.
On a cruise ship, you are assigned a certain table in the main dining room, that will remain empty the entire cruise if you don’t eat there. Long time cruisers seem to have the idea that even if the table remains empty, that we should tip anyway, even though we don’t receive any service at all, and have never even came face to face with anyone. They go on the fact that they get paid pittance, and deserve those tips anyway, because the table sat empty, and they miss out on that pay. That is ridiculous.
If one decides to pre-pay the gratuities, they will charge $140 and the tips will be split between the waiter, head waiter, Maitre De, and cooks. So, if I don’t eat in the dining room, they are receiving tips for doing absolutely nothing. Needless to say, I don’t pre-pay the gratuities anymore. I wait until the end of the trip and tip accordingly by the service received.
I totally disagree with automatic tipping. I don’t care how many people are in my party……I still should be in control of what tips I am paying depending on the service.
Tipping should be at the discretion of the passenger, and they shouldn’t have to pay anything unless they receive some “good” service. And if the service was bad or rude….I shouldn’t have to pay anything.
Don’t get me wrong….we are very generous tippers…..but only for good service. Especially when we are on vacation….we love to help out whenever possible.
Our country should be ashamed of themselves for the extremely low pay to employees in the service industry. Restaurant owners, cruise ships, etc. should be paying a decent, reasonable wage, and not be dependent upon the workers getting their salaries from tips….that’s just wrong.
And, for those of you who say…”If you don’t want to pay extra, then just don’t eat out at fine restaurants and go to fast food”. Boy will you be in deep s*** if that were to happen because without the revenue, the restaurants won’t survive.
Again…..tipping should only be dependent on exemplary service…..not mandatory. Ever.
Tipping adds politics to what should be relaxing situation, and I have never had a relaxing political discussion. “He pulled the chair out for me” “she was quite prompt taking my order” By now I am already feeling hustled. When it comes to asking for the check I am supposed to have analysed how much of a tip I should leave, based on the level of service I have recieved.
The worst is a bartender that takes a crown cap off of a bottle of beer and then expects you to just give them a $1 on a $4 purchase. Thats 25%! What have you done to earn that dollar?!
I dont blame all servers. I blame the greasy slimey maggot servers that want to brown nose you for your hard earned money in your wallet, with a cheesy smile as you walk out the door, thinking to themselves I am going to make $100k out of suckers like you this year.
If I am not mistaken it was the chef that created the excellent food, whether you work at a fancy restaurant or not, you did the same job as someone who works at a not so fancy restaurant. I think I might leave you $5 then walk in to the kitchen and slip the remainder of the 20% in the chef’s top pocket. After all I did go out to eat.
tipping is an arbitrary social convention that should be abolished through continued customer refusal.
$2.15 is indeed ridiculous so pursue other work instead of fostering economic reliance upon ill conceived guilt tripping. Why not start tipping everyone from the doctor to the lawyer, the baker, the comedian, etc…
In Washington state, all severs must be paid the state minimum wage, so the rational for tipping is diminished. Nevertheless, I pay a base of 10% for tips. The amount increases depending on the level of service. I think I paid less than 10% once, and that was when the waiter was rude to me (I really don’t care if he had a bad day).
However, I do NOT tip at a cafeteria style place. I also refuse to tip the postman (he has a pension, I don’t) or the drycleaner. In short, I need to be getting some personalized service in order to tip.
Bryon, . . . The rest of the country tips as a social grace to say thank you for the nice evening. No I really don’t think a waiter/waitress should bring in six figures no matter where they work, but whatever. If you don’t want to tip then don’t. It just bothers me that you like some are ignorant, and I wait tables and have to unfortunately wait on obnoxious people day in and day out in Los Angeles. Let me tell you with all those over privileged house wives and elderly I wait on I really do believe I deserve a gratuity for put up with their crap. You think if I don’t like it find another job. No if you don’t like it eat at Mcdonalds I’m sure the quality of food and service there is much better, cheap-o.
Steven (and other servers),
Sorry, “I have to deal with crappy people” isn’t valid. I’m working tech support to put myself through my four-year IT degree. You have the same low wages, demeaning people, dealing with crap etc. that you have as a server. How do I know? Because I was a server in high school. Low-level tech support is worse, because you’re actually skilled (A+, Network+, MCSE-in-training), but get paid $6.50 an hour… and we keep your financial data that you were too busy to back up from being fragged. My girlfriend was making more money than me before she graduated, and she was working at Olive Garden. Tech people have TRAINING. We provide a value-added service, and we get no tip/bribe. Get over yourself – you guys don’t want a ‘real’ hourly wage because you know you’d make less in the end if you got paid what your services were actually valued at, which I would estimate would be between $6-8/hour for your typical restaurant.
Byron thank you. First off, I tip according to the service.
My scale as follows
15% = average – great
20%-40% = Wow you made my evening, you were better than the food.
You dont get below 15 percent. Anything below is 0 b/c its a statment. My tips are based on the waiter thats it (not even the food or how long it takes to make, b/c i know they dont make it.) And if the waiter makes a mistake as long as the fix it and recognize the error its no problem.
Now I would like to say IT IS monkey work. Dealing with the public is hard! But it is monkey work! Dont get mad, there are a lot of vital positions monkey work fills. But none the less, it is monkey work. And dont tell me about people being as*holes. I’m a stock broker I have dealt with much more irate customers than you have, trust me. Stress is all relative so if you’re crying over dealing with a shi*y customer than you need to look for a new job.
Servers have it good. You guys make good money for what you do and the education is requires. Thats why you are still there!
Work sucks sometimes get over it.
You position can be filled.
Your*
One more note:
I was a bus boy for a year in highschool. I occasionaly go back the the restaurt that I bussed at and I watch how lazy the new bussers and waiters are. I find people who say serving is hard (and it is hard at times, but everything is!) really havent been in a decision making job where people rely on you (or they are just spoiled lazy.) I remeber busing as one of my easier jobs and i would go home hurting (literaly, muscles would ache.)
I see a few monkeys, erm… waitresses have responded. I tip when I go out to eat. I try to tip well every time. Put your *** through college and you won’t have to worry about how little you get paid, unless you do something like liberal arts. Tipping is completely out of control. The Starbucks tip jar can kiss my ***. Matter of fact any tip jar in any location isn’t worth the space it requires. Tip jars are the tackiest form of groveling. I’ve seen more polite begging from the homeless. I’m not going to tip my mailman or garbageman. They are providing government funded services. I would never tip a cab driver unless he really pulled me through some crazy ****. I only tip my barber because the guy only charges $9 for a haircut.
Learn a little math or a little biology and find yourself a job that doesn’t suck. You choose to be a waiter/waitress but I never have and never will. I guess I always saw it as a thankless job the first time I realized what being a waiter/waitress was all about.
Old rant, still rollin. Nicely done Jeremy. Here’s my two cents. To quote from one of these old posts “What does it say when you leave $5 on a $100 dollar tab? It says you did not appreciate the service and it is a slap in the face to the server that worked hard to give you a enjoyable evening.” How so? I can go IHOP, snag some hot cakes, cocoa, hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, sausage, fill up and leave the place with a ten dollar bill. Good service = a tip that I feel repays the courtesy and/or entertainment I received from my server. Then, I could head to Le Expensive, snag a bottle of Costamucha for $200 and see my server for no more than two minutes. Good service = a tip that I feel repays the courtesy and/or entertainment I received from my server. The fact I’m eating out where a tab may be higher does not, in my opinion in any way increase the value of my server.
I make over 100k a year. How much do I tip? zero.
it’s an arbitrary social convention.
http://www.tippingsucks.com
I am pretty appalled at the people who refuse to tip because they “don’t like the system”. You aren’t doing anything to further changing the system. All you are doing is punishing the server for a system they did not create. And in the economy as it is now, probably a job anybody would be lucky to have.
I understand the idea that when you go to an expensive place and drop 150 dollars on a single bottle of Champagne, that it makes the cost much higher than it would have been with just two waters, but the same service. Please don’t forget that for while you are sitting there dropping a fiver on a 200 dollar tab, you are taking up that table, and keeping the server from money that could be made on the table after you. Especially in expensive places, where the server probably has four tables at the most.
The problem here appears to be two fold:
1. The most immediate thing is that people are angry because they have to spend more money. I’m a stingy guy too, but the system is what it is and you punish nobody but the server for stiffing them or tipping 10% or less for average to excellent service. You aren’t making any other point than you are a cheap jerk.
2. There is an awful trend in this thread of people questioning the intelligence of servers. I have been a server for six years. I also have a Degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. It is not an easy school to get into or to graduate from. You are in no position to assume you know who your server is or what their education level is. Not all majors allow you to graduate from college and go right into a job in that field. English, Theatre, Music, Art, History, Geography, etc are majors that don’t guarantee jobs right after graduation. And, given the current economic atmosphere, neither is an MBA. The employment rate for college graduates is lower than it has been in 20 years or so. Maybe the waiter you have judged as “not having a real education” might just have gone to a better school and had a better GPA than you. He might not. But it’s really not your place to judge, whether you are spending money or not.
Some of you need to get off your pedestals. Tipping is not a perfect system, but it’s the one in place. And by not tipping, you are taking money out of the server’s pocket. Yes, “if you can’t/won’t afford to tip don’t go out” is a viable argument.
The argument that service crew don’t get paid enough doesn’t hold water. I don’t see why it’s my responsibility to pay for someone else’s low wages.
i don’t understand why the waiters on here are complaining. as a whole you still make good money on the average night, regardless of a few customers who detest the idea of “mandatory tipping.” and if you claim to be as good a waiter as you say, getting the tips shouldn’t even be a problem.
i worked at a corner diner type restaurant owned by my family in the city that had ridiculous breakfast and lunch rushes (every seat in the diner filled for 2-3 hour stretches). being a short order diner in the not-so-great part of the city, i made between 0-5 dollars in tips for an 6-8 hours of work (usually 0). i busted my *** waiting on 5-6 tables at a time and making sure the customers had what they needed at all times, regardless of how rude or inconsiderate they were. on top of waitering, i ran the cash register, did dishes, cleared/cleaned tables, and prepped food items (hash browns, oatmeal, carry out orders, etc). seeing even a single crumpled dollar left on a table with 6-10 messy plates, several cups, condiments, spilled water, messy food items (grits, eggs, oatmeal) splattered all over the place was an incredibly rare sight.
so needles to say, i know what being a waiter entails (an un-tipped waiter at that). my problem isn’t with the “stellar” waiters those of you you posting here claim to be, but with some of your self-entitled lazy co-workers. the ones that STILL make a good amount of money even though they put in a fraction of the effort that you do, and neglect the people they are supposed to be serving. or better yet, the ones that based on the color of your skin, the company you keep, the clothes you wear, assume you will not be tipping them generously and as a result give you crappy service to begin with. (an issue which could spark an entirely new debate).
i understand that tips are a part of your income, and that is a big part of why you got into became a waiter. my problem is with the people who become waiters and expect to make those tips without putting forth even a moderate amount of effort just because society has made it such a blind custom.
“I am pretty appalled at the people who refuse to tip because they “don’t like the systemâ€. You aren’t doing anything to further changing the system. All you are doing is punishing the server for a system they did not create.”
Actually this is how you further change. If enough people don’t tip then you will see pressure from waiters to get a higher wage. Tipping is exactly how you continue the system we have.
Plus this is a system entirely dependent on the general public to be knowledgeable. That right there makes it flawed. I’ve read about the customs changing from place to place and that we should even check the local taxes to make sure they receive a ‘fair’ tip. Why should I be responsible for that? I just want to go out to eat, pay for my meal and leave. Do you really think you deserve more? Then why isn’t it on the bill? The reason why this system continues to exist is because waiters know they get paid much more with tips then if they had a higher wage.
I try to smile and be human when I eat, this usually brings out the best in a waitperson. Which usually brings out the best in me, which equals a 20% tip, to make up for cheapskates like you, who don’t seem to realize that waitpersons pay taxes as if you tipped them as deserved. Loosen up, you might like it!
I just clicked off Oprah. What started off as sympathetic for me, abuse of customer service people, which most have been at some point, became the most off putting entitlement segment by normally sympathetic “wait staff” types.
Needless to say, Thank you. We’ve all thought this and it makes sense. Oprah’s rich and can throw her money around. As a gen xer who is sick of the debt culture I’m learning to scrimp wherever I can. I’d rather just serve myself, carry my own luggage or get take out and save a couple of bucks. And sorry but I’m not tipping a buffet, not when I’m serving myself-hello.
I’m just glad that “Waiter Rant” creator has found another job. His restaurant boss was apparently perfectly entitled to fire him.
“10% is nothing now days people! 15-20% is much better. If you don’t have the money to tip, don’t go out to eat. Or go to a restaurant or food place where you are not served on. It’s been like this for years, why such a huge problem now? Try putting yourself in someone’s elses shoes for once! It’s sad to see how hard it is to give this days….”
Wow, you had my sympathy until then. Maybe you aren’t so math savy. Given inflation, shouldn’t the percentage stay the same? Isn’t that why you use the percentage sys. in the first place. Isn’t 10% of whatever the same as it’s always been? I’m gen x and wondering how the hell it went from 5-10% as an acceptable tip all the way to 20% since I was a child?
Are waiters a charity too? Are the recipients of charity so entitled and ungrateful? If no one has to tip, shouldn’t you be grateful for what you get?
And apparently dining out is for rich people? Keeping failing to appreciate the customer, and, esp. in this economy, you are gonna be out of a job. And Restauranteer, you’ll be out of business, I learned to cook long ago because of this.
I’m sorry the system is unjust. So boycott restaurants so they give you a min. wage like everyone else in the onerous customer service arena most of us have suffered in at one time or another. Really, give up your tips or stop guilt tripping customers. Where would you be without the customer? Your lack of appreciation for the customer is I think what bothers me; me who normally tips 15%, rarely complains or blames, doesn’t care about status in employemnt, and usually has a positive experience with the wait staff. Entitlement sucks not to mention back fires.
I’ll have to admit that I don’t understand the logic.
If the cost of service were built into the menu price, wouldn’t it really THEN be a “hidden tax”? You’d never really know how much you were paying for the service, plus, you’d lose control of punishing poor service.
“Why should restaurants be able to factor in the profits of paying wait staff so little. Shouldn’t this cost be factored into the price of the meal? Tips should be a bonus, not part of the base pay”.
Because that’s the way the whole restaurant system is built in the US, and it’s been that way since the 50s. Every metric of the restaurant revolves around this basic economic “fact”. Even getting finance for a new restaurant is built on the idea that the bulk of the service staff payroll comes directly from the guest.
I’d turn this around and ask, “Why shouldn’t I, the consumer, be able to pay exactly for the service that I receive? Why should I pay a menu price that might not reflect the cost of food and service? How do I know that I’m not being gouged, or that the wait staff is being exploited”?
If I were to buy a Bloomin’ Onion in an Outback in Japan, not only am I paying a very high price for the product, but they’re going to tack on an extra 10% “service charge” that I am virtually obliged to pay (unless I kick up a real fuss, I suppose). A Bloomin’ Onion that I pay $6.50 for will cost almost $11 in Tokyo and that’s before they tack on another 10%. In Europe, they automatically add an extra 16% (much of the time) and fold it into the menu price. At least you know what percentage is going to service, although that money isn’t passed directly to the server.
I like the idea of the consumer being able to determine how much service is worth, even though I, as a waiter, can occasionally get screwed by someone who doesn’t compensate me properly for my service. Enough people do the right thing that makes it possible for me to feel as if I’m getting paid properly.
“So You Want To Be A Waiter” blog
I have worked as a nurse aide and wiped the cra#pp from the
a55es of old people, Ive spoon fed them all 3 meals of the day. I
dress them up and bathe them…I never got a TIP. Then I joined the
military where you pretty much sacrifice your body and your
life…I have a total of over 300 combat missions which fcked up my
right hearring..woopii I get 100 bucks every month…I never got
any TIPS…but a lot of thank yous …now you guys say I shouldnt
even go out to eat if cant afford to tip…shame on you!
Well it’s the same as any other industry that tries to itemize their expenses and make you pay for them separately–it’s about hiding the true cost of what you’re getting. Why does it rise over time? Shouldn’t a percentage be a set amount and if there’s inflation you naturally get more? And people are talking about 25-30% tips now. How absurd! What’s going on? The employer squeezes the employee who then has to go shake down the customer?
Maybe I should tip the cashier at the grocery store. Or in the same spirit maybe the grocery store can lower all its prices and then charge me separately for the cashier, bagger, floor cleaning fee, scanner maintenance fee, etc.
I don’t blame the waiters, but they need to push back on their employers at least a little bit.
Also one more thing… as a side note on tipping etiquette. Tip the guy at IHOP better than you tip the guy at the gourmet restaurant. It’s just fair. The straight percentage method of tipping is stupid. The guy at IHOP should get a couple of bucks even if you only spent $6.
Unfortunately the inflated menu prices are not covering the cost of service or mandatory gratuities. If so, a percentage of the total take would go to the wait staff each night. BUT IT DOESN’T. The mark up goes directly to the owners of the restaurant. We already pay a mark up on the menu price to cover the payroll of the wait staff but it isn’t reaching their pockets.
It is not the customers that are witholding anything from the wait staff. It is the owners and property classes that are refusing to distribute to their workers the payroll portion included in the menu price. Go to your bosses and tell them about how hard your job is in the same way that you tell anti tippers on this blog. Organize, unionize, agitate, speak up!
Steven said: “The rest of the country tips as a social grace to say thank you for the nice evening” Steven that is the type of attitude that keeps this illegal panhandling industry going. That is one of the most naive statements I have heard. I don’t even think you believe that especially when you need to pay your electric bill. This “social grace” as you call it is really a class project to enrich the property owning classes. Yes! Restaurant owners have been lobbying congress for years to exempt themselves from their states minimum wage laws. So they get to mark up the price and keep the money. And you Steven are more of a parasite than anything, feeding off of people’s hard earned wages.
Bill said ” What a joke. I say charge more for the food, and put the extra money into the servers base pay”
Although i agree with most of what you said I don’t think they shoud charge more and put “extra” money into the servers base pay. As I said above we are already being charged “more” in the mark up value of the menu item. This is suppossed to go not ony to put “extra money” into the wait staffs pay packet but it should at least pay them an “unliveaable wage” of 8 or 9 dollars an hour like a large percentage of wage earners. When you say “charge for more” food it sounds like the Restaruanteers profit margin is first and formost. And therein lies the reason we are even having this discussion. It’s their profit motive which has slowly influenced the public that “tipping” is a nicety or a courtesy when in reality it is the owners’ way of “rent seeking” or accumulating profit.
I was looking at a restaurant menu the other day and I seen the list of entrees. The price ranges for the entrees are from $10.00 to $40.00. Assuming all entrees on a plate weigh the same, let’s say two pounds. Let’s say you are going to tip 20%. So if you order the $10.00 plate of food your tip will be $2.00. If you order the $40.00 plate of food your tip will be $8.00. The server will only make 1 trip from the kitchen to your table regardless of what entree you order and expend the same amount of work! Why should a server expect the tip be $6.00 more for the more expensive food?
If everyone stopped tipping, the servers would revolt and a base pay rate would be established!
I have seen people complain servers only make $2.13 to $3.00 plus tips an hour. Servers really get minimum wages. If you do not make enough in tips to cover the difference between your pay ($2.13 to $3.00) and minimum wages the restaurant by law must make up the difference. If you do not believe me look it up at the US Dept. of Labor.
Should you tip 15% to 20% of the bill? I do not think so!
If a server has 4 tables that seat 4 people for a total of 16 people.
If all 16 people order $10.00 of food each for a total of $160.00.
If you tip 10% of $160.00 the server makes $16.00
If you tip 15% of $160.00 the server makes $24.00
If you tip 20% of $160.00 the server makes $32.00
The average meal time is less than one hour!
Assuming a server worked an 8 hour shift!
I think $18.00 an hour is good money!
If you tip 10%
$16.00 plus ($2.13 to $3.00)
If the server makes $18.00 an hour for 8 hours they make $144.00 a day!
That is $720.00 a week!
That is $2,880.00
That is over $34,560.00 a year!
If you tip 15%
$24.00 plus ($2.13 to $3.00)
If the server makes $26.00 an hour for 8 hours they make $208.00 a day!
That is $1.040.00 a week!
That is $4,160.00 a month!
That is over $49,920.00 a year!
A lot of fireman and policeman do not make this much!
If you tip 20%
$32.00 plus ($2.13 to $3.00)
If the server makes $34.00 an hour for 8 hours they make $272.00 a day!
That is $1,360.00 a week!
That is $5,440.00 a month!
That is over $65,280.00 a year!
A lot of nurses do not make this much
How many people work for the federal minimum wage?
all of you waiters and waitresses don’t consider one thing. “Don’t go out and eat if you don’t wanna tip.” Do you really think these “cheap” people will listen to that and say “you know what? YOUR RIGHT! I will never eat out again.” They not only will continue eating out, but now they will tip even shittier if at all. The belief that people should stop eating out because they don’t want to pay an optional salary increase for you is entitled and naive. I tip 15% if the service is exceptional, which it rarely ever is and I will continue doing this because I have worked in the back of a kitchen where all of my co-workers agreed you waiters and waitress do **** to nothing for occasionally better pay while we sweat our balls off over hot stoves and grills washing dishes in a boiling sink. The difference is that I accept my choice to work as well as my wage without screaming at customers for being financially conscious. Good luck dealing with douchebags like me who will stiff you and give you ****** tips for ****** service (Japanese do your jobs better without tip) and I will do this with the knowledge that I COULD HAVE eaten somewhere else with takeout but because I CAN go and eat at a sit down restaurant and tip like an *******, I decided why not since it is MY choice to tip you. You can always find another job if the work is truly that horrible because of customers like me, that’s what I did.
How about I eat out like I always do and not tip because despite what everybody is saying I can simply choose not to tip regardless of what angry waitresses and waiters say since its for the most part optional and I love being cheap so I can use my remaining money to go to Strip Clubs. What if I hate take out and i want to sit down but I simply think their jobs are a joke in comparison to kitchen jobs so them telling me to eat somewhere else is stupid if they think thats going to convince me otherwise. Spit, ****, or do whatever to my food if thats what you need to do to feel better about your “hard” job and life
When I go to eat out, like many others I go to have a reasonably priced meal at the advertised price.
Hopefully I’ll enjoy it, pay for it and then leave. I do not go out to hear some waiters life story which I will have to feign polite fake interest in. “You came over here from Iran in 1974 when there was all that trouble over there, wow that’s interesting…” (True story).
When really what I want to say is “Thank you for bringing me my food would you please go now so that I can enjoy my wifes company and my meal in peace.”
The constant hovering round my table “Is everything ok over here?” Just as I put a forkful of food into my mouth presumably this will stop me complaining or asking for something. “Can I get you anything else to drink?” when you’re hoping I’ll say “No” so that you can bring me my bill on a little plate with a couple of mints and a little card that reads “Our foreign guests often ask us about tipping. We usually say that is customary to tip your server 15% if you have been satisfied with the service you received. Thank you and have a nice day.”
What it should read is “Our foreign guests often ask us about tipping. We usually say that is customary for a restaurant owner over here to pay it’s staff ridiculously low wages well below the minimum wage. Due to this your server will now look to you to make up the monetary shortfall by making up their wage in the guise of a ‘tip’ and recommend that you leave at least 15%, regardless of wether you are satisfied with the service you received or not. Thank you and have a nice day”
Come on America get your act together you’re supposed to be the world leaders and superpower. Yet you hold onto antiquated customs that belong in a Charles Dickens novel set in Victorian London.