Restaurants in most states in the US are allowed to pay their tipped employees 40% less than minimum wage. If they changed that, they would have to increase the cost of the food, probably somewhere in the vicinity of that same 40%, to cover the higher wages. The current system works very well for the restaurants, since even if an employee makes less in tips one week and has to be compensated for that extra, they only have to compensate up to minimum wage.
Good servers make quite a bit more than minimum wage. If tipping were abolished and all servers paid a wage commensurate with their ability and experience, you’d either be paying a lot more for your food or getting really crap service (or no service at all).
Anyone who thinks waiting tables is easy should try it for a couple of weeks. It’s a very stressful, physically demanding job.
Just because you don’t like tipping doesn’t mean you shouldn’t - heck, you pay for things you don’t approve of all the time in the form of taxes. Why should you penalize the person who worked hard to see that you had a pleasant dining experience? Because you don’t approve of the way they’re paid? Stiffing your server won’t do anything to change that, and will get you the reputation of a tightfisted asshole.
I’ve worked as a server for five years at a casual dining restaurant, and let me tell you, the “verbal” tip is the worst. I appreciate praise, but I’d rather you be rude to me and tip me well than be all over my dick just to stiff me.
You think that’s something we don’t understand? We’d pay about the same price for our night out, and you’d have a regular salary and be able to plan for your life knowing you’d have a regular income. And you wouldn’t fall prey to the bad tipper that you hate so much.
You know this attitude always bugs me. I am very sure that there are “non American” waitstaff on this board that would also get slightly offended.
I have waited before, my father was a barman, my mother a waitress (all in New Zealand) to say that any of us did less than our level best to serve our customers to the best of our ability is just plain wrong. And tipping in New Zealand is rare, unless your waiter goes above and beyond in some way - in which case $10 - $20 on a meal is more than adequate.
Today, when we go out as a family (anywhere from 3 - 6 people) we normally spend in the $120 - $250 range. We take around an hour to eat. At 20% that’s $50 per hour (for the upper range). To me that’s a BIG tip, even at only 4 tables a night (which would be REALLY low for these restaurants) the server would be making around $200 + wages. Hell - I would throw in my 60 hour a week, uni grad job for that in an instant.
Would you? There’s really no room for growth in a restaurant unless you want to be the manager. Also, the included benefits wouldn’t be that great. In my restaurant, we didn’t have any health coverage at all. Sure, the money could be good, but would you really walk away from a well established job to wait tables? Would that make you satisfied in life? There are professional waiters out there, and they make enough money to live comfortably… but ask them if this is where they could see themselves 10, 15 years ago.
Let me explain something again. It’s in my OP. You see a server during the dinner or lunch rush most often, unless you make a habit of eating at 3PM and 10PM. You don’t see the nights when no tables come in after 8:30. Or the afternoon where from 2-5 there’s no one. Or if your restaurant opens at 11 but no one wants to eat until noon. It happens. Often enough. So yes, during the dinner rush your server probably made a lot of money. But there are many hours during the week when s/he has no tables, or one table. And there are many nights where a server will be lucky to make $40 (Monday nights are the worst).
If servers made consistently fantastic money, a lot of people would throw in their uni grad jobs for that. But people don’t. That’s because for every great night you have, you have a shit night where you stand around bored and make nothing.
I’m an American and I go to Ireland once or twice a year. I know that tipping isn’t customary in Ireland, but I can’t understand it. I almost always leave at least 10%. One time I left 30% for particularly outstanding service. I know it’s not expected, but I can’t not leave a tip.
Now look at it from the point of view of a European in the US. He’s not used to tipping. When he does tip, it’s a small amount (10% or less). He knows that 15-20% is the expected tip in the US, but that’s twice what he’s used to tipping when he gives anything at all. Sure, if he travels to the US frequently and has lots of money he’ll get the hang of it. But the average European probably can’t see why he has to pay extra for his meal when he’s already paying what the menu said it would cost. He doesn’t tip the bartender in his local because the bartender gets paid a real wage. Do the guidebooks explain the reasoning behind tipping in the US? Probably not, so he doesn’t know that the bartender in the hotel bar depends on tips to make up for his sub-minimum wage salary. He just thinks the guy is looking for a handout.
What, you don’t like the implication that waiters use to justify tips (or tipping at all) that they are lazy good for nothings who won’t do their job without a tip and for a mere wage…
“Hey, at six tables per hour, of the course of a six-hour shift, making $10-15 per table… that’s a lot of money!”
Hmm? And what about the shifts where management schedules 10 servers when a huge rush is expected, leaving them with a few tables each? Oh, right… you send some home, of course, so that the remaining servers make more money. Ok, so then the servers that get cut don’t make jack shit, and the ones that stayed on don’t make much either since it’s a slow night to begin with.
There are good nights, and there are bad nights. Hell, there are bad nights even if the tips are good… you might just not be getting a lot of tables. It’s those people that don’t tip, because they feel the “system is wrong” that irk me. I don’t much agree with it either, but that’s how it is. It’s the custom, it’s how servers make their money, it’s the nice/right thing to do. No one is going to ridicule or chastise you for leaving a decent tip.
As you say, you worked in a country where tipping isn’t the norm. Here, it is. And were you being paid the absolute minimum wage for your efforts? Did you get pay increases for doing good work? The only way a server in the US gets a raise is if the minimum wage increases.
In the US, your server is making whatever tips you feel like leaving. I waited tables for over three years, and I don’t recall ever receiving a paycheck, as opposed to a void slip. All of my income was in the form of tips. My restaurant had tip share (or tip out), so 3% of my sales went to support non-tipped employees that the restaurant claimed as tipped in order to save money. On several occasions, I went home with less than $10 to show for a night’s work.
Most servers don’t work your usual M-F, 8-5 job, they don’t receive any health benefits, and don’t get sick days. If you can’t make a shift, you’re expected to find someone to cover or you’re AWOL, and can be fired. What serving does offer is flexible hours and the possibility of making more than minimum wage.
My feeling is, if you don’t approve of tipping, don’t go anywhere that expects it. The restaurant management doesn’t care if you stiff the server, and your little rebellion against their system is hurting only the server.
Yep - but my cultural perspective is a bit different. You see in New Zealand we have universal, state-provided healthcare, we have a minimum wage (which depending on your persepctive and attitude is livable), we have a universal retirement benefit so there are different things working for you.
I remember at around age 16 working for (1990 or so) working for a little over $4.00 an hour in the local convenience store, I worked on the forecourt of the local service station for $5.00 per hour, at the local hotel I was the “gofer” - this one was $10 per hour.
Oh - and right now my job is not really well established - I have just spoken to my local Casino about rejoining them - I do quite genuinely love the “service line” more so than client servicing (consulting). So while I may not want to be a “waiter” the rest of my life, I would not have too much problem “waitering” for the rest of my life (maybe as proprietor of my own small bar or similiar)
Just to give you an idea of how bad it can be when it’s bad, so you don’t think servers are making more than you.
One of my former coworkers worked a particularly slow lunch shift, which is 10-2 at my restaurant. She made $7. That’s it. That’s not even $2 an hour. And I used to work Monday lunch, and I would regularly make about $15. So almost $4 an hour.
Tipping 15% is offensive now? At a mid-range restaurant? (I’m guessing, from the prices you mention.)
I can get behind “if you can’t afford the tip then stay home.” May times I do in fact stay home. So would you rather someone stay home, or come to your restaurant and tip 15% but otherwise be typical customer?
If you reread that post, you’ll see I specifically said I won’t call you an asshole. I’ll just think you’re cheap.
I’ve tried to explain my mentality, and my friends’ mentality, about tipping (established long before I started waiting tables). I’m in my 20s. Most 20-somethings I know tip 20% consistently. So if I were to leave someone a 15% tip, it would mean that s/he was a bad server. Like I said, there seems to be some reluctance among the older crowd (and they get more and more reluctant the older they are) to accept the standard has been raised.
ETA: Whoa, when I first read that post, it said asshole.
I don’t share the view that 15% is sub-standard. In fact, that’s what I’d be shooting to earn, even with exceptional service. My cutoff would be around the 10% mark.
Servers tipping other servers goes two ways. Most servers tip a large percentage when they dine out, because they understand the effort that goes into it.
Others, like me, are far more critical on other servers, having been in the business myself. I also know what it takes to be a good server, and if my drinks aren’t being refilled, or other simple aspects of just decent service aren’t being provided, then I’m not going to tip as well. Also, I don’t have that system where I don’t tip under a certain amount, no matter what. Well, I shouldn’t say that… I’d tip a dollar no matter what, but it definitely sends a message that something wasn’t right.