Comments on: Mandatory Tipping

By: Benzade

Benzade — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:57:35 +0000

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.

By: Randall Mckinney

Randall Mckinney — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:12:53 +0000

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

By: Cochise

Cochise — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:53:52 +0000

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.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:20:35 +0000

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?

By: Johnny

Johnny — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:16:26 +0000

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!

By: Vicky

Vicky — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:22:50 +0000

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.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:44:56 +0000

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.

By: Angelo

Angelo — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:52:06 +0000

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.

By: Angelo

Angelo — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:47:22 +0000

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.

By: arnold

arnold — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 06:33:39 +0000

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!