Tipping....is it optional?

[icoupon2]

The problem is (IMO) that the server (waitress went out with stewardess :lol is the front line person, which puts them in the line of fire for everything. Cases in point:

Your steak took 45 minutes to arrive. On the surface you think she's a crappy server. The truth could very well be that A. The ticket printer was out of paper and no one behind the line realized it until servers started asking why their food wasn't up. B. There was a run on the steaks and yours had to be defrosted in the microwave C. The chef was drunk behind the line and the boss through him off and is now attempting to cook himself. All of these are true stories from my days on the battlefield, but most restaurants don't let the servers tell you what actually is going on.

Your drink took 15 minutes and the place is practically empty. A. The bartender working the server station's boyfriend dumped her and she's been sobbing in the bathroom for an hour B. Her boyfriend is sitting at the bar and she's been leaned over the bar flirting while the tickets are stacking up C. They were out of your J&B in the stock room so the manager has been running around to all the banquet room bars looking for a back up. Again, true stories but the server takes the fall for it because policy says you can't tell the customer anything "bad" that's going on in the back of the house.

Is any of that the servers fault? Nope, but she's the one whose pay will suffer for it not the other people in those scenarios.

 

[mrs.melton08]

What's the deal with tip jars popping up in every food place? I'm talking Dunkin Donuts, bagel places, deli's etc.

Seriously, I order a bagel & coffee (to go) and I'm supposed to leave a tip? Come on now. :surrender:

Based on what I have read here...you should make your donut yourself or go back there and get it because if they had to make the coffee for you, they deserve a tip since you decided not to make it yourself. They had to cut on the coffee machine, put in the coffee, go set up the cream in the lobby area, etc.






I dont think I have ever not tipped, but I do think that the issue is that these people should just be paid an atcual wage and not compute tip into it.

My main test of your tip is if my drink is refilled or some other thing I ask for is done in a timely manner. And the thing is that any normal person will accept a waitress coming buy and saying "just waiting on the meal to come through...we had a lot tonight, would you like a refill why you wait?" os something like that.

Yes, I go out to be waited on...so I expect to be waited on when I go out. Too often people expect something when they don't do anything for it and I think that if you choose this line of work then you need to be on your toes and work for a tip. I typically do 15% for normal/average service and go up or down from there. And there have been times where the food was cold and nasty and a lot of other things happened, but the server was wonderful and she still got 20%ish. There have been time were all the food was great, but the server was horrible and he got 10%ish.

The system is broken and instead of hollering at the people who are there and not getting you back up to minimum wage, maybe the way the system is done should be fixed. Overall, unless a place is pretty dead a wait person will get minimum wage on average for that day at the very least and that covers the issues with the IRS.

Question for those who say we should tip heavily because of all the background stuff, the IRS, splitting the tip and the low pay...if all that was fixed: Pay is now regular minimum wage or more for everyone and there is someone hired (also at min wage or more) to do the background work, and anything else that is "unfair". Do you still feel tipping should be handled the same way and what would be your reasons then? Just curious?

 

[skincarekathy]

Is any of that the servers fault? Nope, but she's the one whose pay will suffer for it not the other people in those scenarios.

AND everyone else in all of those scenarios (bartender, hostess, manager, busboy, cook) makes at or WELL ABOVE the state-mandated hourly minimum wage (not server minimum).

So, the waitstaff gets to make $4-something an hour, shake their **** to please you for your tips, take customer abuse, do scut work that truly the busboys or kitchen helpers should be doing, all that with a smile, PLUS THEY GET TO SPLIT THEIR TIPS WITH ALL THOSE PEOPLE!

:sex:

 

[fords8]

Based on what I have read here...you should make your donut yourself or go back there and get it because if they had to make the coffee for you, they deserve a tip since you decided not to make it yourself. They had to cut on the coffee machine, put in the coffee, go set up the cream in the lobby area, etc.

Those people get paid at least min. wage, servers do not.

 

[skincarekathy]

Question for those who say we should tip heavily because of all the background stuff, the IRS, splitting the tip and the low pay...if all that was fixed: Pay is now regular minimum wage or more for everyone and there is someone hired (also at min wage or more) to do the background work, and anything else that is "unfair". Do you still feel tipping should be handled the same way and what would be your reasons then? Just curious?

Well, I never said tip heavily, I thought this was about tipping in general.

And to answer your question, I have one for you to answer first: What kind of service do you want? Typical McDonalds? If so, then that's what you will get for paying wait staff minimum wage.

There are tradeoffs to being a server, and what you get is often dependent on what you put out there. But when people arbitrarily decide they "don't tip" or the "restaurant should pay more so I'm not tipping" or "my food was cold, no tip" or "the restaurant charges for my refills so no tip" or any one of a hundred other excuses, then that is what's unfair.

Customers know full well how it works. Cheap people don't want to tip.

I am FINE with tipping to be served. If the chick at McDs came to my table, took my order, then brought me my stuff, I would tip her, too.

 

[anniefarrell2]

something to consider is that every place is different. if it is a family owned business you MIGHT make your table's salads, AND fill the water, AND clean the table.

I guess I tip well because I'm glad I don't have to waitress any more.

I also start out the dinner by letting the wait staff know, "I tip well, but we're here to sit and talk. Is that ok?" I make sure we're not holding up the table if there's a wait so the waitress doesn't lose. Just what I think is kindness.

I ALSO over tip if my boys have made a HUGE mess and I don't clean it up.

 

[newfly]

Cheap people don't want to tip.

Foreigners are not used to tipping. It isn't a common practice outside the US/Canada.

 

[fords8]

I read this book years ago and never forgot #4:

[SIZE=+3]Sample Entries[/SIZE]
1. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen every day.
2. Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
3. Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
4. Overtip breakfast waitresses.
5. Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.
6. Never resist a generous impulse.
7. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
8. Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.
9. Leave everything a little better than you found it.
10. Call your mother.

Breakfast waitresses run their asses off refilling coffee, etc. for a very low bill so for breakfast I usually tip 50% (which is why we rarely eat out for breakfast anymore).

 

[fords8]

Foreigners are not used to tipping. It isn't a common practice outside the US/Canada.

Well then they can add this to the list of things to get used to. :9:

 

[KG]

Foreigners are not used to tipping. It isn't a common practice outside the US/Canada.

Is the tipping/wages situation the same in Canada? I've always tipped the same in Canada as we do in the US. In fact when we were in Ontario last summer, the server brought a credit card scanner right to our table (so the CC never left our sight), and there was a button on it to automatically add 15% or 20% for the tip. I thought that was pretty cool :dance:

 

[focadima]

breakfast is one of the only meals we eat out ( i HATE cooking breakfast) anyway I cant stand when they dont refill my coffee cup--I want it refilled ( I mean I could just drink my cup before I leave the house and be done with it..) most restaurant cups are maybe 8 oz tops--I need like 24 oz of coffee

 

[fords8]

Is the tipping/wages situation the same in Canada? I've always tipped the same in Canada as we do in the US. In fact when we were in Ontario last summer, the server brought a credit card scanner right to our table (so the CC never left our sight), and there was a button on it to automatically add 15% or 20% for the tip. I thought that was pretty cool :dance:

I agree that is neat.
Although as a former server, I try to always tip in cash even if I put the bill on my CC because they don't have to claim all of their cash tips.

 

[KG]

I read this book years ago and never forgot #4:

[SIZE=+3]Sample Entries[/SIZE]1. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen every day.
2. Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
3. Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
4. Overtip breakfast waitresses.
5. Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.
6. Never resist a generous impulse.
7. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
8. Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.
9. Leave everything a little better than you found it.
10. Call your mother.

Breakfast waitresses run their asses off refilling coffee, etc. for a very low bill so for breakfast I usually tip 50% (which is why we rarely eat out for breakfast anymore).

Oh my Lord I hate hate hated working breakfast. The food is cheap, so the tips were smaller, the food came up faster, plus I had to make and butter toast for every order, and I was moving slower because I am so not a morning person. I never really liked eggs anyway, and delivering plate after plate of jiggly sunny-side up eggs turned my stomach and turned me against eating any eggs for YEARS.

Oh, and then I would be so busy I'd forget that we stopped making breakfast at 10:30 or 11 or whatever it was... so I'd keep putting breakfast orders in because people would order it... and the cooks would get SO MAD because they'd put the breakfast stuff away already. I can still hear Fernando yelling at me, "NO MORE BREAKFAST!!!" I would beg him every time to please make this one order and I would learn... I never did. :laugh:

I do eat eggs now. Only whites though.

 

[mrs.melton08]

And to answer your question, I have one for you to answer first: What kind of service do you want? Typical McDonalds? If so, then that's what you will get for paying wait staff minimum wage.

Not sure how my answer will determine your answer, but I want the type of service I am paying for and that that restaurant states they provide. I assume the rest of the post was not directed to me because I was not talking about not tipping.

your turn...

 

[mrs.melton08]

Those people get paid at least min. wage, servers do not.

There are some servers who did get minimum wage mentioned in this thread and it was stated to tip them because you are getting a service still...

But that is why I asked my question about if it was really about the wages and the IRS part, or was there a bigger reason.

 

[fords8]

There are some servers who did get minimum wage mentioned in this thread and it was stated to tip them because you are getting a service still...

But that is why I asked my question about if it was really about the wages and the IRS part, or was there a bigger reason.

Really? Huh, I hadn't heard of that.

 

[KG]

I read this book years ago and never forgot #4:

[SIZE=+3]Sample Entries[/SIZE]
1. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen every day.
2. Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
3. Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
4. Overtip breakfast waitresses.
5. Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.
6. Never resist a generous impulse.
7. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
8. Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.
9. Leave everything a little better than you found it.
10. Call your mother.

Breakfast waitresses run their asses off refilling coffee, etc. for a very low bill so for breakfast I usually tip 50% (which is why we rarely eat out for breakfast anymore).

oh and then there was the customer who yelled at me and stiffed me because I didn't bring him milk (automatically) to pour over his oatmeal (he made it seem like he ordered fries and I forgot the ketchup). I'd never heard of that before and wasn't trained to bring milk with every oatmeal order. If he'd asked for it, I would have brought it. I wonder to this day if many/most people pour milk over their oatmeal?

 

[skincarekathy]

Not sure how my answer will determine your answer, but I want the type of service I am paying for and that that restaurant states they provide

My point is without tipping, the restaurant will charge so much, you will not be able to afford to eat there.

Letting the boss decide the price (based on his overhead and the profit he wants) is always gonna cost more than "10 percent is recommended."

I made well over $30 an hour when I waitressed (some of that time at Pizza Hut). No restaurant owner is going to pay qualified wait staff $30 an hour.

So, change the pay scale, change the level of service.

 

[newfly]

Is the tipping/wages situation the same in Canada?

10 percent only at full service restaurants, 15 percent if the service is amazing.

I think that's what pisses me off here the tipping is 20-25 percent.

 

[skincarekathy]

I'm starting to feel like Andy Rooney...

Aaaaanneeeeeway..... My pet peeve with wait staff is when they bring me un-tippable change (large bills). When I waitressed I knew exactly how to get the tip I wanted, and it was not by bringing back a $10 and a single on a $29 ticket (implying they are either stupid, or they want the $10). When this happens, I ALWAYS call them back (which annoys me) and tell them to bring me better change or I will leave them the smallest they brought. If it happens more than once with the same server (we generally frequent the same places on our occasional meals out), I leave them the small stuff and tell them why.

Good waitstaff know how to make it easy for people to leave an appropriate tip. Bartenders are never going to break your $50 for $10 in drinks and give you 2 $20s back.