Michael Bauer of the SF Chronicle makes an argument for automatically including a tipping fee on your restaurant tab.
I say, Bull Shit.
I’m already seeing A Surcharge To Tabs To Pay For Employees’ Healthcare on my restaurant bill.
Its up to me to determine how much, if any, gratuity to leave. If I see “All prices include service.” on the menu, I walk. What a bunch of pretentious turds.
-Maybe this post should go to The Pit.
the notion of it being a “gratuity” is absurd when the base wage for “tipped” employees is less than $3/hr in a majority of states, and less than federal minimum wage in all but a few states.
Tipping is weird, confusing, inconsistent, and obfuscates the true income of both both low-wage waitstaff and high-wage waitstaff. I wish I lived in a culture that didn’t have it baked into the income of so many services. That said, knowing that tips account for, in most cases, 100% of a server’s income above minimum wage (jz78817 is not quite rite in his/her statement, as employers are required by law to make up the difference between tips and minimum wage), pretending that it’s nothing more than gratuity for good service is being willfully blind to the facts of the situation.
Waitstaff income sits at “what the market will bear” (as I perhaps throw out a phrase incorrectly). Whether that income is paid for through the chaotic social construct of voluntary tipping or through restaurants charging more directly on the bill/menu, it all is basically the same.
As a former longtime tipped employee, I welcome the demise of tipping, although I suspect it will be a long time coming. Instead of promoting good service, tipping leads to variable income, which is one of the big drivers of turnover among tipped employees, which results in a overall lower level of competency. I’d prefer higher prices across the board, although a per diner service fee isn’t bad either.
As it is today, it is in a waiter’s best interest to push more expensive options and additional food. I feel like a dick when the waiter realizes the the check total isn’t going to be huge, and assumes that the tip will be proportionally smaller. It’s not reasonable for people’s income to vary wildly depending on whether the customer ordered booze or split a giant main dish.
I’m fine with the idea that there is no tipping and everything cost 20% more, as long as it’s clear and that the servers are actually paid whatever they mean by “a living wage.” I don’t feel I need to retain the discretion to give less of a tip if I’m not happy with the service. I don’t pay less for my groceries or my car if I don’t like the service at the establishment. I’m also fine with the traditional system.
I’d actually prefer a “prices include service” system. Tips could still exist, but would revert back to around 5% for really good service. Now, I don’t feel right if I don’t give 15% rounded up to the nearest dollar, even for ordinary service. The service has to be noticeably bad to go as low as 10%. Maybe if a waiter accidentally set me on fire, I would stiff him on the tip entirely. If he did it intentionally, I definitely would.
Meanwhile, I hear 20% is becoming the new standard, but I rarely go that high. Am I being a cheapskate?
Except CA is not one of those states. I say that since the article was published in the SF Chronicle.
[QUOTE=jz78817]
the notion of it being a “gratuity” is absurd when the base wage for “tipped” employees is less than $3/hr in a majority of states, and less than federal minimum wage in all but a few states.
[/QUOTE]
Minimum wage in San Francisco (Where Mr. Bauer is from) is $11.05 an hour
An article from a few years ago:
Observations from a Tipless Restaurant
The author had two restaurants, one of which followed a standard tipping model, and the other of which tacked a fixed service charge onto the bill and specifically disallowed any tipping beyond that. The no-tipping restaurant made some customers angry because it took away a perceived element of control (i.e. they couldn’t decide how much the server got paid), but the reality is that on average, tipping amount is only very weakly correlated to quality of service. The flip side of this is that the traditional tipping system does not promote high-quality service. In fact, quite the opposite: a server who wants to maximize his income will compromise his quality of service and simply work a lot of tables, increasing the number of tips coming in while only slightly reducing the quantity of each tip. Tipping also creates social tensions, as servers may or may not share with the rest of the staff, or may demand special favors/treatment from the rest of the staff for doing so.
I tip well, but I’d be happy to see the tip system go the way of the dodo. I’ve been to Japan several times now and while I’m there I enjoy not having to think about tips at the end of a meal, or see tip jars on the counter next to the cash register.
I’d support a no-tip restaurant, if management was transparent about it and posted salaries paid to employees in comparison to norms in the area, to show that it wasn’t just jacking up prices and pretending to give the difference to staff.
I expect this new paradigm to become the standard, right around the time that auto dealers universally institute no-haggle pricing.
Why would that be necessary? Competition should keep the prices within reason. If the prices are elevated but food/service quality are not, customers will go elsewhere. This is true for any business that doesn’t hold a monopoly.
Meh. I love the current system. We eat out often, mostly in local restaurants. I tip very well, and our service is typically outstanding; maybe it’s cause and effect.
That said, I’ve never had a job relying on tips.
Sure, but it only takes a table or maybe two worth of tips per hour to make it up to the minimum wage, and I suspect that on most shifts, a competent waiter is making many times that.
Not that I agree with the concept of tips being a part of someone’s wage, or that patrons should tip more as a consequence of that, but making more than minimum is usually a trivial thing in most restaurants.
The base wage for tipped employees is at least federal minimum wage in all states. The employer is allowed to claim a credit for tips received. What you’re thinking of as “base wage” is actually the minimum the employer must pay after the tip credit.
From the U.S. Department of Labor:
The employer is not allowed to just pay $2.13/hour and expect the employee to get the rest in tips. They have to start with minimum wage and can deduct for tips actually made until it gets down to $2.13/hour. If tips only amount to $1.00/hour they must pay $6.25/hour.
In theory, that’s correct. In practice, a waiter/waitress that brings it up is likely to get her hours cut to 1/week until she quits, and good luck affording a lawyer on a foodservice budget.
Completely untrue. Why are you posting this?
You don’t need a lawyer (or to “bring it up”) to file a complaint with the wage and hour division. Complaints are confidential, and retaliation is also a violation of federal law. Employers can and have been subject to criminal prosecution for willful violations.
I think it depends on your local tipping culture. Around here (Chicago metro), I would say 20% became standard among people my age (I’m almost 40 now) around 10 or so years ago. (I’ve even seen recent articles musing about 25% being the new standard.)Here’s a Chowhound thread from 2007 that suggests 20% has been standard for awhile here. I remember growing up with 15%, myself, contrary to the life-long Chicagoans in that thread that say it was always 20%.
50% is what I’m hearing is normal in Houston among young gays
If it says “All prices include service,” then that means there’s no tip. Why would you be mad about that?
All prices everywhere include service, with the main exception being tipped positions.