How about the boss paying you? That’s how it works just about everywhere else.
Sorry, I didn’t make myself clear. What I think ought to be required is for everyone in America to have to take a job serving the public for a while. I know it’s not going to ever happen, I just have fantasies about it.
Your tipping tradition sounds just perfect. I don’t suggest that you ought to tip extra because food servers have to deal with assholes who aren’t you.
If you feel you have received lousy service, you should make it clear to the management what you feel went wrong. The tipping or not tipping in that case is up to you.
I’d be tempted to open a restaurant called WYSIWYG, then try the innovative tactic of paying my staff a decent wage, and using the tagline that What You See IS What You Get - no hidden charges, no tipping required.
Be interesting to see if it took off or not.
When you go to a $1000 restaurant, presumably the entire operation is kicked up a couple notches. I go to Wildfire occasionally. The waitstaff explains each dish in detail, is much more attentive, the wine thing is more complicated, etc. If it’s done right, it’s definitely worth at least 15%… to me, anyway.
In realtion to tips, one thing I have never really been able to understand is why it should be related to the COST of the meal, instead of the WORK involved in serving the meal.
OK - Granted cost does bear a rough n ready correlation to work, but wouldn’t there be better methods?
By linking to cost, you are telling me that there is more work in serving that $20 rib-eye than there is in serving that $10 rump.
Or that it is measurably more difficult to bring out that $50 plate of lobster than that $8 plate of fries, which seems patently ridiculous.
The level of tip should be related to the level of skill the server displays (which bears a rough correlation to the price point of the restaurant) not neccessarily how much I spend.
How is a “per person” or a “per plate” tip not more appropriate?
Then if you want to carry the analogy any further - how is there more work in serving a top class whisky than a cheap ass bourbon? Yet both attract different tips.
To answer some of the questions in this post -
- if the tip is compulsory, add it the cost of the meal, and use a sign saying “not tip required”
- Nobody has any right to question the level of tip - if you are unhappy with the tip your host left, feel free to augment it.
- Where does a manager get off telling a guest the tip is “not enough”, asking if there was a problem with the service fine - but bluntly stating the tip is not enough is in no way acceptable - I will tip what** I ** fell is appropriate, not what the restaurant tells me is correct.
Sorry I should have refreshed before posting…
AN upper class restaraunt definitely earns a bigger tip than a steak n chips joint, no questions asked.
The level of attention and skill displaye is more than “worthy” of extra money.
I would certainly give a bigger tip to the server that can knowledgably and intelligently discuss the menu, and wine list than to some know nothing order taker.
I would also tip more for the pure talent of a server who can remember six orders without an order pad, get all mains to arrive at the same time, remember what we are drinking and ask about refills the second the glass is empty - this sort of service deserves a higher tip.
What does not make sense to me, to cite an example, even at Moretons the wines may range anywhere from $30 per bottle to more than $200 (or even more) - the question is, what does the server do that means I should giva $30 tip for the more expesnive bottle, but only $4.50 for the cheaper bottle - the skill or knowledge of the server hasn’t changed, neither has the actual service - only the cost of the goods being consumed. In this instance wouldn’t a flat charge of maybe $10 for corkage be more appropriate?
There was a piece in some publication or another recently about that exact point. Various titans of industry remarked that an important part of the interview process was evaluating how applicants responded to waitstaff during a business luncheon. They felt it was quite revelatory.
I’m afraid you need to understand that as a restaurant owner, you need customers frequenting your establishment a hell of a lot more than they do. Otherwise you may as well go ahead and close shop. I’m not saying that this means you should take shit from a customer, but if one decides not to tip, you calling them on it is not good for your business.
The amount they charge for parties of 6 or more is printed on the menu. By ordering from the menu, and having 6 or more in my party I am accepting that I will have to pay that amount. I have no problem with that as everything is established beforehand. And as I have said before, I am an above average tipper in that I always tip 20% and I usually just round up to the nearest dollar. Tipping isn’t a problem for me. What is a problem is when someone is trying to force me into paying more than I am required and using a bullshit idea like ‘social norms’ to fuel the mandatory extra cash that is indeed customary and is a monetary reflection of the appreciation for level of service provided. I also reject the premise that management should approach me about it under the guise of genuine concern for my quibble with the level of service I received. If you weren’t concerned about the level of service while I was being served then you’ve ruined the mood and atmosphere of the meal, and coming to me after the fact just because you happened to notice that I didn’t tip well or at all isn’t going to help your case. Ultimately, tipping is at the customer’s discretion. It always has been since the idea came about.
Repeat after me: “It is not mandatory to tip.”
No, you don’t have to serve me food any more than I have to leave you a tip, but with an attitude like that toward your customer base, I can see why owning a restaurant wouldn’t be a good idea for you.
Now if you argue that people not leaving a tip is hurting your wait staff in that they aren’t making enough money, then I would suggest that if there are that many customers not leaving tips then you have a larger problem with your staff than how much money they are getting. Something is really amiss with the service in your establishment. That should be your concern.
It is never a good idea to approach a customer about the lack of leaving a tip. You risk pissing them off further than they already are. Just accept that something was wrong with the service and try harder to address it in the future. calling a customer out because they didn’t leave a tip, no matter how well you handle it, is a mistake. Word of mouth will fucking kill you in this business faster than the bitch slap of a humming bird.
I’ll pass on the nut kicking and call it even as you have to go through Brunswick to get to SSI, and that means you have to deal with the stench that is ‘The Hercules Plant’. You’ve suffered enough. I’ll buy you a beer in your favorite hole, and if the service sucks, you can tip. 
Tips should be calculated on the total before taxes and alcohol. I don’t know of anyone who expects 15% on your bottle of wine.
The OP’s mom would probably have been very surprised at one of my favorite places in Mountain View, California. It’s kind of like Beni Hana but it’s good and reasonably priced. Well, the last time I went there, the chef who was cooking at the table for my date and me and the others at the table was 100% white guy.
I’m confused about something, I guess. I thought the tipping at a restaurant if the service was up to snuff was 20%. Luckily, Korea doesn’t go in for tipping! Anyway, the manager could’ve worded his query much better, IMHO. Perhaps, “Excuse me, I noticed you left a small tip. We would like to serve you better in the future so could you tell me what was unsatisfactory with your service tonight?”
I never separate it out. I tip on the bottom line…including tax. I know most people don’t but I always have.
Heh.
On my tab, with my friends, there goes 75% of your tip out the window. I tip on the gross, usually 20% plus.
Reading these threads reminds me of my waitressing days - and why I hated it so much. The most pleasant, easiest to please customers were generally the best tippers. The rude, overbearing, demanding customers were the worst tippers.
And please, folks, don’t shoot the messenger. If your steak is improperly cooked, by all means send it back. But don’t rip the waitress a new asshole for it - she didn’t cook it and can’t tell by looking at it if it’s cooked correctly or not. Unless you’d like for her to cut it in the kitchen?
Bingo.
Just to be clear, I don’t believe tipping should be mandatory. I just think it should be reflective of the service. The times I have invited customers to “not return” have happened either after repeated instances of stiffing, or abuse of my waitstaff. Of course, that was 15 years ago. The restaurant is still going strong (in Athens).
Wildfire is a $1,000 restaurant? Is that the one in Chicago? My hubby and I ate there (filet mignon) and drank there (hubby’s multiple 2 fingers of scotch) and the bill was only about 120. Is this a different place?
BTW- the service was great and the food was great. Check it out if you are ever in Chicago.
It could easily go to $1000 with a party of 5, which is what the poster referred to.
Same place you’re referring to, by the way. We got out of there for $150 for two, but we didn’t do appetizers and only had a couple drinks, no dessert, and ordered cheap.
I’ll take that back. I inflated the total a bit. But for purposes of this conversation (15% regardless of the total) I’ll stand by what I said. I think a party of 5 could easily drop $700 though. I always eat and drink more in a party situation.
I heard he’s moving kinda slow at the junction. (I’m aging myself, aren’t I?)
Oh,goody, another tipping thread.
Tipping, by a long-standing tradition, is not optional in the U.S. The only exception is if the waitstaff is deliberately rude and in that case the manager should be notified as to why the tip won’t be left.
Leaving $10 on a $130 tip is not horrendous for a waiter, but I think more should be given to chefs who prepare meals in front of you. Leaving the waitress nothing is horrendously bad manners though I’m wondering why he didn’t leave something, even if it was $5. I know he said it’s a lean week, but Mom did foot the bill for dinner.