That’s not a class system. There is no legal difference between a hobo and a multi-billonaire. There are definatly practicle differences,and the rich have the resources to interact with the courts on a better footing, but beyond that they are legally the same.
Serfs were very close to slaves, and even yeomen owed an amount of service to the nobility. By the Victorian era I’m sure that sevents were paid profesionals, but it would not surprise me if earlier servents worked for room and board. In any case, for a long time, if a member of the gentry was walking down the street and told a peasent to move aside, they were expected to. Try that in New York.
This is a common argument in favor of tipping waiters. And, given the fact that tipping is part of American culture, it makes sense. But the “15-20% tipping rule” results in an income that is much higher than minimum wage in a restaurant that is moderately busy.
Let’s look at the numbers supplied in Joey P’s post:
Minimum wage is $7.25/hour.
Minimum wage for employees who receive tips: $2.13/hour.
So a waiter has to get about 5 bucks in tips an hour to get to the non-tipping minimum wage. At 15%, that $33 in food and drinks. At 20%, it’s $25. In many restaurants, that’s less than the price of one meal. How often have you tipped at least $5 and how often were there no other customers in the restaurant besides you and a companion for an entire hour? Add one or two other customers and the waiter’s income is more than $12/hour. In a moderately busy restaurant, it doesn’t take much to get to $20 or $30 per hour, even if you take into account the set-up at the beginning of the shift and the clean-up at the end, and the times when there are few if any customers, and the fact that some of the tips can go to the busboys and bartenders, and perhaps to the hostesses.
Also, I don’t know how tips are currently being reported for income tax purposes, but I know that years ago, many of the waiters that I worked with said that they reported only a token amount. Now, there are more credit card transactions, and I’m guessing the controls are tighter, but it seems to me that there’s still some wiggle room with cash tips, and tax-free income is worth more than taxable income.
Those of you who usually tip 20% in expensive restaurants are just subsidizing the waiter’s next trip to Aruba. If you are justifying your tipping based on pay equity then 10% is fine, with 15% for exemplary service. If, though, you are following social customs, then I guess you have to do what you have to do.
They were pretty close. Usually when the master of the house went out, the servants all had to stand in a row, bowing and scraping and muttering “Good morning, sir” while he ignored them. They couldn’t quit, because if the master didn’t choose to write out a reference they’d never get another place. What gets me was how rude the upstairs classes were to the the downsstairs. I was watching a DVD of Jeeves and Wooster the other day; Bertie never says “Please” or “Thank you” to Jeeves, just orders him around, while Jeeves always calls him “Sir.”
Yeah, I can see your point when you put it that way. I just have a hard time imagining how much more money they could need, when they’re asking $5 for a $2 bottle of beer before tip…?! If it was up to me I really would just avoid them as much as possible, but I do believe my girlfriend and her friends will likely drag me out to one this weekend.
Restaurants are different, though. I have worked in a restaurant, and the servers are not the same people who clean the dishes and kitchen (who are not tipped). I’m not saying the servers’ job is easy, but when I go out to a restaurant, I have more appreciation for the guy who saves me having to do dishes that night than I do for the contrived ritual of telling someone what food I want and having them carry it to me.
For the record, the standard restaurant margin is 70%. A good rule of thumb is that whatever you pay for something, it costs the restaurant 1/3 of that to bring it in the backdoor. You can think that’s highway robbery, but the fact is, restaurants aren’t very profitable. Even with a 70% margin and tipped employees, the owner still takes home very little at the end of the night. Much less then you might guess (typically 5 to 10%, often lower if they aren’t doing well). A restaurant is a very expensive business to run.
And yet I know few servers who live high on the hog.
In theory, yes, you can make a lot of money at a decent restaurant at 15-20%. In practice, it never works out as well as you wish.
Waitpersons get stiffed. A lot. Maybe you’re generous, but you know that table of eight loud women friends who’re drinking a lot fo wine? They’re going to fuck the waitress over, I guarantee it.
At most restaurants, if the waiter is shortchanged, they pay for it.
They often have to tip out to the kitchen, hostesses, and busboys.
My sister, my ex wife, and many other women I’ve known worked as servers, and while they did okay, never made oodles of money. There were too many bad shifts, cheap customers (quite often customers not from Canada or the USA, and so they felt entitled to ignore our tipping customs; large groups were also very hit and miss) dine-and-dashers, and tipping out. In good months they got about $15 an hour. Decent, but hardly a career.
As always, my advice: before you sit down, tell the wait staff (or, better yet, the manager) that you don’t believe in tipping and will therefore not be tipping at the end of the meal. That way, at least, you’re not committing a lie of omission. You’re still being a jerk, but the wait staff can respond accordingly. Or the manager might say, “Fine–I’ll put an 15% service charge on your bill to cover the cost of service that would otherwise be paid through a tip, and you won’t have to worry about it.”
If you don’t do that, then you accept their service knowing that they’re assuming you’ll pay them for the service according to custom, and then denying them that payment. That’s unethical.
If you oppose tipping, the way to fight it is to frequent restaurants that actively discourage tipping, and tell them that you appreciate it.
Why in the world should a server in an “expensive” restaurant be expected to make only minimum wage?! What is wrong with a professional taking a trip to Aruba? Do you find your enjoyment of the meal is compromised if your server doesn’t live a grueling existence of poverty or something?
Here’s a clue: Servers know they are making decent enough money after tips. How decent depends on a lot of factors, but it’s generally considered a good living, even though the job is very hard. That’s why they do it; they want the compensation and feel it is adequate.
What the hell. What is this push to the lowest common denominator? Everyone should be making minimum wage!!
That’s an ideal percentage of costs of the ingredients for entrees sold at full price. There are a lot more costs in getting the food out to the table, and not all that food makes it to the table, or is sold at full price. With constantly rising food costs, most restaurants are always behind the curve, often paying up to 50% of the price for ingredients instead of 30%. But for desserts, appetizers, and drinks, the costs can be lower, and profits higher. Which is why many restaurants are actually just bars, running the food business on the side.
Restaurant equipment is expensive to purchase, maintain, and operate. There’s a lot of loss from the raw ingredients. You can’t sell everything before it spoils, and stuff doesn’t come in ready to serve. If it’s not selling you have to lower the price to keep it from becoming a total loss. Laundry for uniforms and linen isn’t cheap. You use a lot of gas and electricity. Heating or cooling there can be a very inefficient in some restaurants since you’ve got huge exhaust fans going all the time. Insurance is very high for restaurants. Chairs and tables break. Silverware and salt shakers disappear. Nobody gets charged for the condiments. Waste disposal costs are high. All of the fixed costs and non-recoverable costs are higher than average for a typical business of the same size.
Most wait staff are poor, and do it because they aren’t qualified for better jobs. The high end places where you can make a career out of it represent a minority of the jobs.
Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I was commenting on one of the justifications for tipping, namely that, in some jurisdictions, the minimum wage is lower for employees who earn tips. And, I was pointing out that, if wage equity is the main justification for tipping, then it makes no sense to tip 15% to 20%, which will almost certainly result in earnings far beyond minimum wage. Also, I was implying (and now I’ll state explicitly) that it is not my duty or responsibility to ensure wage equity. If it was, then I should research the wages of everyone who provides a service to me and make sure that I tip those who are underpaid.
I tip because that’s the custom, not because I think it makes sense.
As an English barman of ten years standing, I find it both baffling and irritating that American barstaff get tipped a dollar a drink. I got paid the rough equivalent of $7.00 an hour working in a hellishly busy bar, serving several customers at once, most of whom were angry and impatient, mixing cocktails, cleaning up sick and broken glass, all the while maintaining a friendly and approachable demeanour. Did I get tips? Did I bollocks! If I got tipped £5.00 ($7.00) in a night I considered myself lucky.
Wow, you just called my husband a loser who can’t get a better paid job. He’s a bartender because he enjoys it. He likes to be behind the bar.
How do you know that barperson is not just getting experience on their way to owning their own bar one day (like my husband). Why can’t they have goals as well? I think that tarring every bartender with that brush is incredibly insulting. I worked as a bartender while I was studying to make some extra cash.
It’s hard work being a bartender - as others have mentioned, he’s not just opening up a beer for you. He’s on his feet for 8 hours a day, he has to deal with belligerent drunks, he has to serve food, bring up stock, pack glasses. Try being a bartender before you call anyone a loser.
So you’re a stand up guy right? Next time you go to a bar you’re going to tell that to the bartender before you order, right? I wouldn’t figure you for a guy wouldn’t back up his words with actions, so I’m sure you’re going to do that next time you go to a bar. And you’ll send us some video too, so we all know what a stand up guy you are, right?