Why give someone a gratuity for a job he/she is getting paid to do ?
Why should a surly bar worker expect a tip for getting an overpriced bottle of Bud from the fridge then opening it ?
It hardly requires any skill or talent.
This madness has to stop.
One good reason: They are paid an amount expecting that they will be tipped. If you don’t tip, you lower their pay significantly.
Another good reason: The culture you live in expects it.
Another good reason: If you’re a regular they’ll have no desire to serve you well.
Another good reason: Some people don’t like being perceived as cheap and petty.
Another good reason: So you won’t be an asshole.
Either for doing the job well and making your experience more enjoyable, or because they’re being undercompensated. It doesn’t work this way in all countries, but in the U.S., waiters and waitresses can be paid less than the minimum wage because it’s assumed they’ll make it up in tips. A lot of people think that’s unfair and it very well may be, but it’s a good reason to tip - if you don’t do it, the person who serves you gets screwed.
The good reason is that these guys are paid substandard wages, and they have to earn a living from the tip. If you received the services, you should pay for them.
It’s a bad system, it’s not your fault, but it’s not theirs either.
But then you said this:
So I have no problem saying now: Oh yeah? Let’s see you do it.
Mr. Pinkjoins the SDMB.
Do what, take a beer out of a fridge and open it? It is ridiculous that people get paid to do that. (Does a bar exist that has vending machines instead of bartenders?)
You’re right. People who serve me should work for free.
Well, the concept of service itself is kind of dumb. It would be of practically no inconvenience for me to get the beer out of the fridge and open it myself. But of course the bar owner isn’t going to trust me to do that, so I’ll just drink at home.
Former waiter here…
Most waiters are paid less than minimum wage. A LOT less. This is allowed because tips make the difference.
Your server lives and dies by tips.
In the end it is your choice. As a former waiter I am pretty good at discerning the good ones from the bad ones.
If they are merely competent tip them 15%
If they suck (surly/slow/whatever) tip less than 15% as you see fit
If they are awesome and made your dining experience better tip more than 15%
You should consider the cost of your meal to be +15% before you go to eat. The tip should be considered part of the cost ahead of time.
Choose wisely.
People could seat themselves, get their own food, and bus their own tables at every restaurant in the world. The problem is that it starts to become less relaxing and fun and the whole thing doesn’t work as smoothly. That’s why somebody else gets paid to do with it.
So that the people I’m with and the people that are serving me will be fooled into thinking that I might not be a raging asshole beneath the nicey nice facade. Let them find out some other way and in the meantime I get plenty of business referrals. You do realize that once we find out that someone doesn’t tip, or is a crappy tipper, that we don’t trust them about anything? Get to know the servers at your regular hang outs well enough and you can learn who isn’t worth trusting. And to answer the next question, yes, I wouldn’t trust a person who doesn’t tip in a culture where it is customary.
Move to [pretty much every country in the world apart from the US - (is tipping bartenders in Canada de regeur too?)]. You don’t have to tip: just get your drink and relax. Though usually when there’s table service you tip. Don’t ask why. In particular you could move to Japan, where tipping is hardly even understood or even considered rude in some cases.
One tips in this country so one is not considered a raging douchebag.
Until the system in which bartenders and waitstaff are paid significantly less than minimum wage and expected to make up the difference with tips and are TAXED on those tips is changed, not tipping doesn’t make one an edgy rebel, it makes one a douchebag.
Yes.
If you don’t pay for your overpriced beer, it may become a police matter. If you don’t leave an (overpriced?) tip, it won’t. I would ask OP whether that’s the distinction he makes; i.e. that his policy is to make the minimum legal payment.
Tee hee, you Yanks are all touchy today.
You tip because you are all idiots, you are perpetuating low paid drudgery, if you douchebags stopped tipping the need for it would die out overnight.
In other, superior, countries to tip someone would be a grave insult to that person.
Studmuffin, insults are not allowed in this forum. If you want to call names, you start a topic in the BBQ Pit.
Consider this a warning. Don’t do it again.
How can tipping be considered a reason to not pay minimum wage? Isn’t minimum wage a legal requirement?
Out of interest, is there a special minimum wage for bartenders / waiters, or will it vary from place to place just how inadequate their basic wage is?