You’re probably the type who would leave a dime or a 1$ tip on poor service just to jeer the Server as venom for the perceived wrong. Do you think servers like to give poor service? Do you really believe that is their goal- to personally offend you? Servers are human in a human situation, they’re doing the best they can.
Lord knows I’ve had to wait on easily a hundred covers by myself in an Evening, it’s hell. We do the best of our abilities… Generally, I gave excellent service on a medium might, volume is autopilot…and sometimes we crash…
On the other hand, I think a 5$ plate charge is kind of cheap play. It’s a pretty cynical extortion for the house to get 5$ a head.
I think plate charges are silly, and establishments that lecture their client in general are odious (yes, that’s you coffee place that refuses to make ice lattes, and you, stores that don’t let you take pictures with the merchandise). If they don’t want people to share then they should make the servings too small to share or big enough and expensive enough to encourage sharing at a profit margin they are comfortable with.
Automatic tips as a universal policy is silly. If you think your staff is being ripped of then pay them better. That said, an automatic tip for large parties is fine and understandable.
I think what businesses sometimes forget is that while ostensibly they may think they are selling a product or service (and that’s technically what they are charing for), what all businesses are really selling is an experience. This is why places like Border and The Apple Store work so well. Sure, you get some customers just playing with ipods or reading a magazine without paying for anything, but you’ve won over their loyalty and feeling of security. When the time comes that they are going to buy something or recommend a place for someone else to buy something, they are going to come to you. Plus, you can’t tell who is buying and who is just hanging out - having a store full of happy people is going to make your store appear popular and reputable.
I go out of my way to reward establishments that know that the tiniest bit of extra that you give the customer is going to pay for itself multiple times, but the amount of money you save by being stingy or having stupid rules is going to lose you more business in the long run.
That said, if you reward or punish a place based on these principles, it makes sense to let them know why so they know the costs and benefits of their policies.
It all depends. If your server is being paid a living wage by the restaurant owner, then you are not a “cheap bastard” by failing to tip. But if your meal is less expensive because the restaurant is paying under minimum wage and expecting YOU to directly pay the server for his/her service, then not tipping is indeed “cheap.” It depends on what country you are in, what cultural assumptions are in force, and whether the server can pay their rent if no one tips them.
“In this part of the world” is where?.. sorry, I don’t know the country called ‘travelling’ but I’d like to.
True. Just as we visiting Americans are famed for our appropriate dress, tempered parlance, trim physiques, profound historical knowledge, and savoir-faire.
Hell, I didn’t know that! When I was a server I didn’t know that, and the restaurant certainly never let me know that. In fact, back when I was a server there were some slow spells when I didn’t make quite minimum wage, which at the time, was about $3.65. I never received compensation for it. In fact, I think they also got around that by sending servers home and cutting their hours. Which is one one way of making that law totally irrelevant.
I seriously have never seen any server I worked with or knew at the time ever compensated by the letter of this law. I guess they were all making minimum wage according to the hours worked. But then again, we were all making above minimum wage generally, at different times of the year, according to our service and merit. But the slow spells and the send homes will kill you at certain times of the year.
I was mistaken… the minimum wage was changed a couple of times in that period. It ranged between $3.80 to $4.20. I think I made $1.35 an hour, or something close to that, to start with and with a few ¢10 pay increases over a couple years ended with 1.65… I’m not sure, it might have been higher.
Wooohoooo, ¢10!
I’m serious, we loved that… we were happy for that pay increase because we knew we were doing a good job.
