Tipping

[guifa]

Haven't read whole thread, sorry if others have said something similar:

I was in a restaurant in the US this summer, and gratuity was already included on the cheque. There was also a space for 'additional gratuity', which seemed ridiculous, but I went along with it. The waiter then argued with me that the % of this added tip was not enough. I was being asked for extra, extra gratuity.

Odd that it's a percentage system. I'd imagine serving a cheesebuger is as taxing as serving caviar, but clearly not. If your meal cost $200, then the waiter gets a bigger tip than someone who does the same work at a cheaper place. It doesn't add up.

Now in Iceland it's rude to tip, because that implies that the waiters are not being paid enough. That must be the case in the US, which is sad.

On the additional tip thing, just two weeks ago I went to a place in Atlanta. All of us were 21+ except for one guy and then waiter carded us as soon as we sat down. This was a normal restaurant and no requirement to be 21. When he saw the under 21 card the guy tried to send our friend to the cops.

Needless to say my surprise when I had a mandatory 20% tip on my bill and not only that, but a blank asking for an additional tip.

When I signed it and handed it back it looked like this:

Amount: 18.00
+ Included Gratuity: 3.60
+ Additional Tip: -1.80
= Total: 19.80

Thank goodness the courts have already noted that gratuities are never mandatory. But, I still got billed 21.60. So I just called up the credit card company (copy of receipt in hand just in case) and got it changed back to the 19.80 it should be. The nerve of some waiters. I only gave the 10% because I knew the busboys would get some of it.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

Tips, to me, is reward for above the norm service. Mandatory tip thats figured in, is all I will give. They complain, I say fine, I'll eat at Mickey D's next time. I still won't pay extra if the service doesn't warrant it.

 

[philamac]

I don't know how to make it any clearer: this does not always happen.
As I know from my own experience with friends working as servers - and as other people have pointed out all over this thread - there are plenty of times folks go home making $2 an hour, end of story.
Whether this is due to ignorance on their part or because of the employer, I do not know.
I realize it must come as a shock to you to hear that something illegal is happening at a business in the United States, but it happens.

Its not a shock at all. If your friends are staying somewhere, where the employer is illegally underpaying them, then they are just enabling this crook of an employer, and they only have themselves to blame. That, my friend, is the end of the story.

PS - If you think it's due to ignorance, maybe you should u know, clue in your friends... or whatever.


2nd argument, to people saying if we don't tip, it just raises the price of the food, so anybody who does not regularly tip the customary >10% is selfish and cheap....
This argument in itself is selfish and cheap. So you're saying that you want everybody to pay tip, so you can save .50 cents on your hamburger? Blindly tipping any kind of service, especially bad service, does no good for anybody. It doesn't solve any problems, it just maintains the status quo. And the status quo is what I am questioning, as is the OP i think.

 

[teflon]

Its not a shock at all. If your friends are staying somewhere, where the employer is illegally underpaying them, then they are just enabling this crook of an employer, and they only have themselves to blame. That, my friend, is the end of the story.

People do have to make a living you know. Would you choose sleeping on the street over enabling crooks? Or giving up the chance of an education, or an education for your children so you can tell your boss what an ass he/she is?

2nd argument, to people saying if we don't tip, it just raises the price of the food, so anybody who does not regularly tip the customary >10% is selfish and cheap....
This argument in itself is selfish and cheap. So you're saying that you want everybody to pay tip, so you can save .50 cents on your hamburger?

No one is using the rising price of food as the only reason to tip. In fact, many of the posters that are for tipping have said that they're willing to pay more for the food if that means the workers can get minimum wage. However, there are posters who are against tipping who have said that they are against restaurants raising food prices in order to pay their employees. If one does not want to tip, does not want price of food to increase and just want the waiters to suck it up and swallow the cost, then I see no reason why they shouldn't be called cheap and selfish.

 

[angelneo]

I think in short we can all agreed the tipping system in States is screwed up. The only people that stands to benefit from it are the establishment owners.

I can't believe that they can screw with the customers and servers and still get away with it.

EDIT: I think this section sort of explain most of the sentiments expressed in this thread
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip#United_States

 

[teflon]

I can't believe that they can screw with the customers and servers and still get away with it.

Well the establishment owners are not the only ones that are screwing over the customers and the servers. After all, the government is the one that is allowing them to pay people below minimum wage.

 

[j3nsen]

Sorry for taking so long to reply about the $0/week paycheck thing. Since we make so little hourly, and take home our tips in cash at the end of the night, our taxes are taken out of our paycheck.

I don't know the exact hourly wage, but I believe it's $3.75. So when we claim our tips at the end of our shift, they calculate how much to take out for taxes and it all comes out of our weekly paycheck.

And just to make it clear, I don't mean you should tip everyone [i.e. people at the counter who rings in your food], but when you go out to eat with your family at a sit-down restaurant and have a nice dinner, more than likely your server makes less than $4/hour and gets no paycheck every week due to taxes.

 

[angelneo]

Well the establishment owners are not the only ones that are screwing over the customers and the servers. After all, the government is the one that is allowing them to pay people below minimum wage.

Agreed, I doubt this practice will be changed in the near future.

 

[dukebound85]

Sorry for taking so long to reply about the $0/week paycheck thing. Since we make so little hourly, and take home our tips in cash at the end of the night, our taxes are taken out of our paycheck.

I don't know the exact hourly wage, but I believe it's $3.75. So when we claim our tips at the end of our shift, they calculate how much to take out for taxes and it all comes out of our weekly paycheck.

And just to make it clear, I don't mean you should tip everyone [i.e. people at the counter who rings in your food], but when you go out to eat with your family at a sit-down restaurant and have a nice dinner, more than likely your server makes less than $4/hour and gets no paycheck every week due to taxes.

taxes are % based you know.. and witht tips, servers can make quite a bit per hr (15-20 is not uncommon)

 

[j3nsen]

taxes are % based you know.. and witht tips, servers can make quite a bit per hr (15-20 is not uncommon)

Yeah, I do know that.. I'm not saying I don't make good money, but if everyone I waited on left me a dollar or two like people on here are saying, I wouldn't have a dime in my pocket. Honestly, when people leave me a buck or two, I'd rather them have just kept it. If someone can only leave me that when I go above and beyond just to make them happy, they obviously need it more than I do.

I don't expect people to tip me if I were to give them terrible service but I bust my ass left and right for every single one of my tables and sometimes still get people who don't tip. It's different if I were to be punching in your order and handing you the food, but when someone gets your drinks, food, cleans up after you, makes your deserts and salads, etc., just tip them. Honestly, what's $5 when you don't have to make your own food, get your own drinks, clean up after yourselves, or lift a finger to do anything?

 

[Doctor Q]

I followed the customs when I was in Japan, including not tipping in restaurants. It felt odd, but it sure made planning meal expenses easier!

I did give a gift to the ryokan owners when checking in, which I think is an accepted custom. They gave me a gift in return. To add to the fun, I made a fool of myself thanking them for their hospitality in fractured Japanese (memorized from a phrase book). It's the thought that counts, right?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

People do have to make a living you know. Would you choose sleeping on the street over enabling crooks? Or giving up the chance of an education, or an education for your children so you can tell your boss what an ass he/she is?



No one is using the rising price of food as the only reason to tip. In fact, many of the posters that are for tipping have said that they're willing to pay more for the food if that means the workers can get minimum wage. However, there are posters who are against tipping who have said that they are against restaurants raising food prices in order to pay their employees. If one does not want to tip, does not want price of food to increase and just want the waiters to suck it up and swallow the cost, then I see no reason why they shouldn't be called cheap and selfish.

I will hit you on the 2nd argument. First off not willing to tip and expect the restaurants to cover it means food prices will raise more a lot more than 15%. More like 20-30% more and the waiters will get screwed out of the normal 15% so in the end everyone but the restaurant owner gets screwed. No motivation do good service since the pay stays the same.

Now I am not saying tip bad service. It reduce the tip and keep taking it down. It is not hard to meet my standard for 15% but I do consider as a general rule the 15% to be part of the price of eating out and most people should in the US.

 

[balofagus]

I work in a restaurant while I'm at school. In Canada tips can't be counted as part of your wages**, so everyone makes minimum wage + tip pool. If the managers hear you bemoaning about tips in the dining area you'll be fired at the end of the night (you can moan all you want in the back though ). I don't think people should be expected to tip if they don't want to... tipping is the diners prerogative. When I go out I budget to spend an extra 15% on a tip. If the waiter/waitress sucks they get nothing, and if they're REALLY good they might get a little more.

The only thing I don't like about the restaurant is when people sit at a table for and hour and half AFTER we've closed... happened last night

** Just reading the Wikipedia, and apparently this is wrong in Ontario (where I live) and Quebec... at my restaurant we make minimum wage and I've never heard from any of my friends who have similar jobs making less than either

 

[teflon]

** Just reading the Wikipedia, and apparently this is wrong in Ontario (where I live) and Quebec... at my restaurant we make minimum wage and I've never heard from any of my friends who have similar jobs making less than either

Wikipedia is wrong in this case. I can't say about Quebec, but in Ontario only the liquor servers work for $7.60 instead of $8.75, all waiters and waitresses earn at least minimum wage.

 

[SeVeN]

why do i tip? because its how they make their money.


20% all the time