Tipping A Waiter/Waitress

Geoff

Sir "Let's Play"
Thankfully this topic died down on my facebook, but for a good couple of weeks I had people posting this stuff constantly and huge arguments breaking out.

Which made me naturally curious, do people here tip poorly? Do you guys think you should leave a flat rate or base the tip completely off of performance? A friend of mine has been a waitress for over a decade and she set a few people straight in these facebook discussions and the responses she got made pissed me off. I can't believe some people have the mentality of "If I give you $2, you should be grateful".

So, thoughts/opinions?
 
Tipping has gone overboard in my opinion, I would like to see waitresses paid a decent wage and not have let my cheapness determine their wage. Yes I understand that would raise the price on menu's, if I don't like I can cook for myself.
 
Tipping has gone overboard in my opinion, I would like to see waitresses paid a decent wage and not have let my cheapness determine their wage. Yes I understand that would raise the price on menu's, if I don't like I can cook for myself.
The point where a tip of 10-20% is considered a "standard" base means it's no longer a gratuity in the true meaning of the word and essentially becoming a mandatory charge.

The other side of the argument I always hear is people going 'service was terrible but I left a 20% tip anyway' which negates the entire point of tips for performance.

Restaurants need to stop their shady shenannigans (not just tipping, but things like making staff pay for dine-and-dash, and tip-out methods that can result in a net LOSS to the staff if the tip is low), pay their staff a proper wage, and tips should be reflective of the service received, to the point of no tip=bad service, acceptable tip=acceptable service, great tip=great service.
 
I generally pay 15% tip if the service was good. Sometimes more if it was great. I usually don't eat at restaurants cuz I'm cheap and don't feel like paying extra for service.
 
I'm right there with Statboy... I tend to leave a "low" tip if the service sucked, but I take the entire situation into consideration. If I'm getting pretty-ok service and I see my server has a table with 25 people and is working it by herself? I generally leave a good tip in that case. It's not her fault some manager POS is dumping too much workload on her.

There is also the other side of the coin. In my hometown there is a steel traincar diner that has been there *forever*. There is a waitress there that has been there *FOREVER*. She is shit at her job. You can go in there during down-hours and she'll be sitting at the end of the bar BSing with the line cook while your drink is empty. When I eat there (very rarely, and if I see she's working through the window I keep driving) if she waits my table, I leave like 50 cents. Screw her.

On average I leave 15%, but honestly, we need to start charging people what things cost. I really hate the corporate games that you're required to play if you want a decent price for things. If I'm going to a restaurant and they're charging me $15 for a burger/fries plate (I'm talking TGI Fridays and other big chain places) then they're making enough overtop of the $3 worth of food they gave me to pay the server a decent wage.

I was raised to love capitalism. I think capitalism is great and is the best system available to us, but having unchecked, unrestricted capitalism that is run by greedy fatcats that only care about the almighty dollar is killing everyone. Capitalism worked great in the 50s and 60s here because the companies cared for their employees first and the profit margins second. If everyone was making good money, and the company was also making some money, then everyone wins. The system today is "fuck the employees, the customers, the products, and put more money in the pockets of the rich folks". The more money they end up with, and the less we have as normal folks, is going to end up backfiring one of these days and everyone is just going to go back to the barter system and trade services rather than using currency, because it'll be worthless. I'd rather fix the dairy farmer's computer for the promise of 5 or 6gal of good whole milk than do it for $30 anymore.
 
Let me just throw this out there as another discussion point, two scenarios:

1. You go to a bar, order a drink for $5.00 and leave the bartender a 15% (75 cent) tip .

2. You go to a bar, order a $400.00 bottle of wine, and leave the bartender 15% ($60).

In both cases... the bartender did the exact same amount of work (not talking about situations that require extra work such as mixed drinks, just straight pour from a bottle). Fair? Not fair? Why?

The argument I hear a lot is that the $60 tip is excessive for the work involved, but you also get the HURR HURR 15% minimum, anything less is cheap crowd (and their argument is justifiable _IF_ it's a scenario where the bartender actually has to do more work for the $400 tab - i.e. if he had a party of 10 and a lot of drinks to actually serve)

Curious to hear what folks here think. IMO tips should be more related to the amount and quality of work done by the person serving you. While the total bill can reflect that... it doesn't always correlate as described above. So what amount would you tip if you ordered the wine above?
 
First off I think a system which expects paid gratuity is silly and absurd. Many people who work today provide a service. Reechard provides a service with his job to his company. I provide a service by producing and editing videos. Do we get "tips" for doing the basic responsibilities of our job? No we get compensated based off our experience and expected work. I think restaurants should pay servers a wage that is in line with the service that they provide and not be expected to "make up the difference" between what they are being paid and the state/federal minimum wage. IF they provide excellent service that goes above and beyond what is expected, yes we should tip them. Big corporations do it with end of the year bonuses. If my brother does an outstanding job at his company and they give him a bonus at the end of the year, he earned that.

Do I feel obligated to leave something on a tip? Yes, because I know that most restaurants pay their employees sub-minimum wage and expect to earn tips to make up the difference. Do I feel that every server deserves a 20% tip just because they brought out my drinks and food? No. I tip usually around 12-15% on average for providing a service to me. If they do an excellent job I will tip them 20% or so. It needs to move away from a system which is created to lower costs of the business by expecting clients/customers to make up the difference in their payroll...

I can't believe some people have the mentality of "If I give you $2, you should be grateful".

And if we have this mentality that you have Geoff, then it is no longer a "tip" and more of an added expense that is non negotiable. People should not call it a "tip" or "gratuity" if it is borderline mandatory
 
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Let me just throw this out there as another discussion point, two scenarios:

1. You go to a bar, order a drink for $5.00 and leave the bartender a 15% (75 cent) tip .

2. You go to a bar, order a $400.00 bottle of wine, and leave the bartender 15% ($60).

In both cases... the bartender did the exact same amount of work (not talking about situations that require extra work such as mixed drinks, just straight pour from a bottle). Fair? Not fair? Why?

The argument I hear a lot is that the $60 tip is excessive for the work involved, but you also get the HURR HURR 15% minimum, anything less is cheap crowd (and their argument is justifiable _IF_ it's a scenario where the bartender actually has to do more work for the $400 tab - i.e. if he had a party of 10 and a lot of drinks to actually serve)

Curious to hear what folks here think. IMO tips should be more related to the amount and quality of work done by the person serving you. While the total bill can reflect that... it doesn't always correlate as described above. So what amount would you tip if you ordered the wine above?

If I ordered 1 bottle of wine or alcohol for $400 and all he did was drop the bottle off and 3 or 4 glasses. I would tip him as if he made 3 or 4 drinks. I generally tip about a $1.00 a drink. So I would probably leave him a $5 just because I don't carry $1 bills a lot. If I had a $25 tab and ordered 4 drinks I would tip him the same.
 
I've been out with friends who are cheap and leave a shitty tip, because our waitress was there few and far between. Than you have me, when I'm out with said friends, I leave a larger tip then my usual(which is 15%) because I look around a lot while talking, eating and drinking, and I notice they don't have many waitresses/waiters on staff at the moment to begin with, either that or that there are a lot of customers in compared to how many waiters/waitresses there on working.

If I feel like a server was doing horrible on his own behalf, not because of stress of a heavy workload, I go cheap, yes. But only only if there isn't a large crowd and we're not even ordering much to begin with.

Overall, I do think they need to get in terms with the minimum wage, many of the waiters/waitresses I know, took that waiter/waitress job to help support them through school or life in general, as they had/have shitty jobs at other places...
 
Thank you for adding nothing of value to this discussion Snuff. The only thing you have done is to continue the objectification of women and say that the only thing they are good for is the pleasure they bring to your eyes and the head that is below your belt. Also good job on continuing the stereotype that men are chauvinists and shallow.
 
Thank you for adding nothing of value to this discussion Snuff. The only thing you have done is to continue the objectification of women and say that the only thing they are good for is the pleasure they bring to your eyes and the head that is below your belt. Also good job on continuing the stereotype that men are chauvinists and shallow.

I can't say I've never given a bigger tip to a girl because she was.... gifted.
 
Minimum wage for waiters/waitresses is typically $2.15, I've had several friends and family do that for a job, I tend to leave a decent tip, cause I know that unless it is a very busy place their pay Isn't very good, they have bills to pay and other stuff. Even if they have a 60 hour week, they still just barely break 100$. Also, for some people it might be the only job they can get, due to local restrictions etc.
 
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the belief that unless they make or break minimum wage with their tips, the restaurant is required to make up the difference? I couldn't imagine restaurants that get no business being able to legally pay their workers below minimum wage when the workers have no possibility of making it up in tips...

Added:

Yes this is the case. Employers are required to make up the difference up to the Federal Minimum Wage or higher if the state law requires it.

"The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires payment of at least the federal minimum wage to covered, nonexempt employees. An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages if that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage, the employee retains all tips and the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips. If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference.

Some states have minimum wage laws specific to tipped employees. When an employee is subject to both the federal and state wage laws, the employee is entitled to the provisions which provides the greater benefits."

Source: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm

Added x2: The $30 reference is what qualifies a tip earning employee. They are only considered a Tipped Employee if they regularly make $30 or more in tips every month

Source: http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm#NewYork
 
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No, minimum wage for waiters and waitresses is $2.15 an hour that how much the restaurants pay them, they have to make the rest in tips.
 
No, minimum wage for waiters and waitresses is $2.15 an hour that how much the restaurants pay them, they have to make the rest in tips.

Despite what English said, for all practical purposes, it is this ^^. If your restaurant has to make up your pay to minimum wage... chances are they'll find some bullshit excuse to fire you. Even if it wasn't your fault you failed to make minimum.
 
Thats actually false Ragnarok. IF that is the practice of the business then that business is illegally underpaying their employees.

The issue of businesses having illegal payment practices is another discussion entirely. We have to limit our discussion to business that are abiding by the law and whether or not tips should be mandatory/expected/earned
 
Thats actually false Ragnarok. IF that is the practice of the business then that business is illegally underpaying their employees.
Restaurants do a lot of illegal things... like forcing staff to pay for the food of dine-and-dashers.
 
If you don't believe me look it up or ask someone who's done that as a job, I know thats what it is in many areas, local and nonlocal
 

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