I don’t mind tipping in those scenarios. My thinking is as follows:
1 - They are working minimum wage which is usually high-volume work that is not easy.
2 - I appreciate good service in the form of nice interactions, etc. Even if the physical effort was only a few steps, the mental effort to be pleasant when serving 9,000 people per day is something.
I think it makes a difference where you are. If somewhere is a nice restaurant with sit-down service, you should tip at least 10% on carry-out. But I agree that the line is more blurry for places that just have counter-service. There’s a restaurant here that not only expects you to bus your table, but has detailed instructions about where to put bowls, plates, trays, and silverware. I sorta feel like at that point asking for a tip is crazy.
Actually I just thought of a related question to the OP. Tipping in states where servers get paid the same minimum wage as everyone else. Like here in Oregon, everyone is guaranteed the minimum wage, tipped employee or not. Does that mean the 15-20% rule doesn’t apply? I mean, I don’t mind tipping but at the same time there’s no need to ‘supplement’ a ridiculously low wage here either.
This actually brings up a related question that perhaps GESancMan can answer:
The fact is that everyone everywhere is SUPPOSED to be guaranteed minimum wage even if they receive no tips. From a plain reading of the law it appears that to pay less than minimum wage the employer has to claim a tip credit - meaning they have to start with minimum wage then subtract tips received. If a server only made, say, .50 an hour worth of tips the employer can only claim a .50/hour tip credit and must pay $6.75/hour. Yet servers claim that if they don’t get enough tips they make less than minimum wage. Are employers routinely fraudulently misreporting tips?
I’m sure some are* - but I haven’t ever seen a server claim they made less than minimum wage over the course of a pay period. Sure, they’ll say that they got less than minimum for a particular shift- but it’s not a requirement than each individual shift has to result in enough tips to bring you up to minimum. Let’s say you pay $2.13 in cash wages per hour. That means you’re taking a $5.12 per hour tip credit. If a server works 10 hours per week and gets $51.20 in tips, you’re good, even if there were 6 hours with no tips.
*I worked at a Dunkin Donuts back when they had counter service and the owner claimed our tips brought us up to minimum. He even had signed statements from us saying so - printed on the back of our paychecks. Of course, we didn’t get enough in tips to bring us up to minimum.
Federal law (FLSA) requires that tipped employees receive at least the federal minimum wage.
Where do you tip before your food is prepared?
Do tipped servers remember good tippers and treat them differently?
I just visited a “Durango Joe’s” coffee shop. They tried to charge me 20% over the displayed price for a latte because I asked for non-fat milk. Apparently that’s a “premium” milk. Then the routine of turning around the screen and strongly suggesting that I tip them for walking up to a counter and buying something. Hmmm.
I’ve been to more than one place where you order and pay at the counter but the food isn’t prepared until you order it and if you want to pay using a card, the reader asks you about a tip ( just like paying by card at the drugstore causes the reader to ask about cashback). Meaning you’re being asked about a tip before your food is prepared.
The machines that they bring to the table are clutter? How long do you keep it there? I far prefer than to the old fashioned way where an unknown person has your card out of sight?
I agree that it depends on the type of place it is. If it’s a place that does 90% of their business from takeaway or delivery, then I wouldn’t tip. If it’s a place with table service and the order is more than just one item, then I’ll tip some. Some places have the bartender handle it, which is perfect since I’ll often have a drink while waiting
They’re often not brought to the table- they stay there. You can use the machines to order, play games (trivia and such) and pay your bill.
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very common
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yes
3)rednecks and baptists.
4)I took the lesser of the two to avoid chargebacks.
I can’t view that link right now. But when did that start? Last time I bartended was the end of last century and only made $2.13/hr when the min was like 6 or so. All my paychecks were 0 due to taxes on tips.
A) Yes. Wage theft is rife in that industry.
B) Even if the employer nominally follows the rules, reporting that you didn’t earn enough tips to cover the tip credit in full may very well get you the correct amount of pay, it’ll just be your final paycheck.
I’ve seen that claim made in nearly every online discussion about tipping I’ve ever seen anywhere, including this board. That includes claiming that they have to pay taxes on ten percent of all their tickets whether they got tipped or not.
Here’s a post from a few years ago. It’s concerning pizza delivery drivers, but it’s an example of someone claiming that they only get $2.13 if there’s no tips:
It’s always been that way. But it’s cash wage + tips must be at least minimum wage. I can imagine that if you made enough in tips and properly reported them that withholding would eat up your cash wage. But in that case you’d be better off than if you’d made minimum wage and no tips, at least unless you ended up with not enough withheld to cover your taxes and you got hit with the Underpayment of Estimated Tax penalty.
I’ve seen iPads like that in airport bars and hotel bars, places where you expect a lot of solo travelers and you’re not expecting a lot of human contact with the staff. At restaurants with table service, I haven’t seen one. I’m familiar with the small machines the server brings to the table, they’ve been in use in Europe and Canada for quite a while and I’m starting to see them in the USA, at least Chicago and Washington DC.
1938
Then it seems either you, or all of the turn of the century employers I had when I was bartending missed the point.